Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!gegeweb.org!de-l.enfer-du-nord.net!feeder1.enfer-du-nord.net!border1.nntp.ams2.giganews.com!border3.nntp.ams.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!border1.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local2.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.bt.com!news.bt.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2012 04:33:53 -0500 From: spampling Subject: Re: BBC BASIC, Long Strings, And BeagleBoard Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.programmer Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2012 10:13:38 +0100 Message-ID: <529afdca16spam.pling@btinternet.com> References: <4ca81a1d-7657-4dbb-9868-2c29a25e7f2c@f30g2000vbz.googlegroups.com> <3e123c1e-58ab-4e2e-9e3b-dc1a51278ea5@e20g2000vbm.googlegroups.com> User-Agent: Pluto/2.05-a1 (RISC-OS/4.02) NewsHound/v1.50-32 Organization: Que? Orga-what Lines: 30 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-AuthenticatedUsername: NoAuthUser X-Trace: sv3-VgiDDpnUSPXkl+/dbUcYrvMGvsSVPtnQiIMc+Imhg8kwM/MYENt7FpQnFS2PJXUrFybV79Lqels7RkW!Mz6zsBn8KbdC14LLXeb1JW0IC3OLq57KXfJzfZaTACpHKGk+oBcEtbA40GiC8l8esxZm X-Complaints-To: abuse@btinternet.com X-DMCA-Complaints-To: abuse@btinternet.com X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 X-Original-Bytes: 2478 Xref: csiph.com comp.sys.acorn.programmer:1777 In article , David Holden wrote: > The problem is that it *is* broke. It's a hangover form the original BBC > 6502 Basic and exixts only because with a 6502 and limited RAM code > could be faster and more compact it you counted down to 0 instead of up > to a certain number. Hence starting at the end of a string and working > down the the start was 'better'. Ah, I knew there had to be a reason for that back to front stuff. > The trouble is that it makes the data > effectively unreadable for anything except BBC Basic. If you use BPUT# > instead of PRINT# and then GET$# to retrieve a string then the strings > are just put into the file 'normally' so they can be read by any other > method, including simply visually. The latter was the reason I always use the put-get version - while I find reading handwriting upside down [1] and print backwards relatively easy reading things the right way round is always easier. Mind you I've come across commercial software that screwed up the byte count and thus over-wrote the data separation markers. I had to hack a "database" used at the place my mother worked to stop it accepting data strings that were too long. [1] Handy in various across the desk situations. -- Steve Pampling