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Storage buffer for a text file?

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  Storage buffer for a text file? mpower <mpower-codeworks@gmail.com> - 2026-09-12 23:46 +0000
    Re: Storage buffer for a text file? John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2026-09-14 08:21 -0700
      Re: Storage buffer for a text file? mpower <mpower-codeworks@gmail.com> - 2026-09-15 04:21 +0000

#6354 — Storage buffer for a text file?

Hi all,
For an Apple II text editor, would you consider 32kb an
acceptable max file size? I've tested up to 1300
typical size lines in a file, and 32kb might be good
up to 1500 lines ir so.

That seems like enough for anything I can think of
editing on an Apple II, but maybe someone out there
thinks differntly?

I'm already using a lot of RAM for the MGTK, and
32kb seems like a "safe" number. It is working
fine, I'm just hesitant about getting into the
RAM expansion cards because I don't really
understand that yet.

Any thoughts?

MP

github.com/mpower-codeworks

Sorry, I'm not ready to put up a repo of my editor
yet, but it's a bit like an Apple II version of
Dave's Tiny Editor (DTE)

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#6355

On Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:46:13 -0000 (UTC)
mpower <mpower-codeworks@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm already using a lot of RAM for the MGTK, and 32kb seems like a
> "safe" number. It is working fine, I'm just hesitant about getting
> into the RAM expansion cards because I don't really understand that
> yet.
> 
> Any thoughts?

32KB is reasonable enough for a small editor (worked for Notepad, all
those years!) That said, while I don't know what your internals look
like, any editor with an internal structure more complex than "single
contiguous text buffer" should be pretty straightforward to extend to
arbitrarily large sizes. Banking makes things a little more complex,
but if you're already using something like a linked list of lines or
chunks then you only need to tag the links with a bank #, in addition
to the pointer itself.

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#6356

I hadn't considered banking, thanks.

---- Original Message ----
Subject: Re: Storage buffer for a text file?
From: John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2026 08:21:19 -0700
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2.programmer
Article: 8261

On Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:46:13 -0000 (UTC)
mpower <mpower-codeworks@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm already using a lot of RAM for the MGTK, and 32kb seems like a
> "safe" number. It is working fine, I'm just hesitant about getting
> into the RAM expansion cards because I don't really understand that
> yet.
> 
> Any thoughts?

32KB is reasonable enough for a small editor (worked for Notepad, all
those years!) That said, while I don't know what your internals look
like, any editor with an internal structure more complex than "single
contiguous text buffer" should be pretty straightforward to extend to
arbitrarily large sizes. Banking makes things a little more complex,
but if you're already using something like a linked list of lines or
chunks then you only need to tag the links with a bank #, in addition
to the pointer itself.

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