Groups > comp.sys.apple2.programmer > #5988

Re: Colons in AppleSoft

Newsgroups	comp.sys.apple2.programmer
Date	2022-09-28 12:45 -0700
References	<72291a9a-aeb8-430e-b8e3-abd3f865c750n@googlegroups.com> <tccabf$1pg12$1@dont-email.me> <dog_cow-1659558921@macgui.com>
Message-ID	<3ee69bf1-8a92-4ff6-8c04-ac41b18d4733n@googlegroups.com> (permalink)
Subject	Re: Colons in AppleSoft
From	Martin Doherty <martindoherty377@gmail.com>

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On Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 4:35:24 PM UTC-4, D Finnigan wrote:
> Jeff Blakeney wrote: 
> > On 2022-08-02 5:15 p.m., Tom Thumb wrote: 
> >> I was entering lines in AppleSoft from an Open Apple issue. Some lines 
> >> begin with colons such as: 
> >> 
> >> 350 : GOSUB 1000 
> >> 440 :: GOSUB 1000 
> >> 
> >> I know a colon separates statements on the same line but what are they 
> >> doing it the above statements? Adding empty statements? For what purpose? 
> > 
> > It is possible they were just trying to indent the code to make it look 
> > more like a structured listing to make it easier to find sections. 
> >
> I agree. This is a technique that I've seen before in Applesoft listings.
I also agree with Jeff and Dave, it's just a programming workaround to provide a little bit of code indenting in a language that doesn't natively support doing that. There would be a slight performance penalty, but probably very little

A guy named Andres Lozano built a nice pre-processor for Applesoft that lets you code in a virtualized, improved language he calls Virtual Basic which it translates into standard Applesoft for execution. Just thought I'd mention it for those of us who wish we could indent our Applesoft code :)
https://virtualbasic.org/

rem my main program
print "this is my first test"
gosub @printhello
end
 
rem my subroutine
#printhello
    s$ = "hello world"
    print s$
    a= 10:b= 5
    print a + b
return

--Martin

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Colons in AppleSoft Tom Thumb <justliketomsthumbsblues@gmail.com> - 2022-08-02 14:15 -0700
  Re: Colons in AppleSoft Jeff Blakeney <CUTjeffrey_blakeney@yahoo.ca> - 2022-08-02 19:01 -0400
    Re: Colons in AppleSoft Tom Thumb <justliketomsthumbsblues@gmail.com> - 2022-08-02 16:13 -0700
      Re: Colons in AppleSoft qkumba <peter.ferrie@gmail.com> - 2022-08-03 08:48 -0700
    Re: Colons in AppleSoft D Finnigan <dog_cow@macgui.com> - 2022-08-03 20:35 +0000
      Re: Colons in AppleSoft Martin Doherty <martindoherty377@gmail.com> - 2022-09-28 12:45 -0700

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