Short:        very basic BASIC Interpreter v1.0 beta
Author:       mbergmann-sh@web.de (Michael Bergmann)
Uploader:     Michael Bergmann
Type:         dev/lang
Version:      1.0
Requires:     some love for BASIC coding
Architecture: m68k-amigaos
Distribution: Aminet
Kurz:         minimalistischer BASIC Interpreter

About iBASIC beta2
==================
This is an UPDATE to iBASIC beta.
- changed source to compile with SAS/C v6.58 due to
  runtime issues with gcc v2.95
- added large code/data model with STACKCHECK and STACKEXTEND

iBASIC is a very basic BASIC interpreter that is based on a source
I found while plundering UNIX repositories on GitHub. It is originally
coded by a guy named JERRY WILLIAMS JR., who seems to be an ancient UNIX
guru.

I enhanced the source by a help function and started implementing a
function to load a source when the program is allready started - but 
that one is not fully working yet.

Source can be compiled either with gcc, vbcc or SAS/C. As allready said,
I changed to compile with SAS/C v6.58 because of runtime issues with 
gcc v2.95

Compile with the following options: 
 
   DATA=FAR CODE=FAR CPU=WHATEVER_YOU_WANT MATH=WHATEVER_YOU_WANT 
   COMMENTNEST OPTIMIZE 
   LINK OPTIMIZERINLINELOCAL SAVEDS VERBOSE NOERRORCONSOLE 
   OPTIMIZERSCHEDULER STACKEXTEND NOICONS OPTIMIZERTIME 
   OPTIMIZERALIAS PROGRAMNAME=/bin/iBASIC 
   OPTIMIZERCOMPLEXITY=128 OPTIMIZERDEPTH=128 OPTIMIZERRECURDEPTH=128
   
In order to compile a standard version of iBASIC using SAS/C, 
    1. open a shell
    2. CD to src
    3. Edit smakefile to your needs
    4. type 'smake'
Your new executable is to be found in the 'bin' folder.

It's IMHO useless to compile with FPU options, since the source doesn't 
use floating point calculations. In fact, even versions compiled without
any math library run flawless. Nevertheless, I've added binaries for
all targets for testing purposes.

iBASIC consists of a few keywords only - but its pretty good at them, 
nevertheless.

USING iBASIC:
Basic source has to be edited in a standard ASCII text editor - there's
no integrated editor like the one that f.e. bwBASIC has.

To start a programm, iBASIC must be in your path, Its not a bad idea to 
copy it to C:

Simply type 'iBASIC <your_src.bas>' to fire up your BASIC program. In
fact, a source doesn't even need to have a certain suffix - any name 
will do. It's just good practice to use .bas as a suffix.

iBASIC is in no way compatible to other BASIC dialects, like bwBASIC, 
AQB, AmigaBASIC, and so on. Start iBASIC and type 'help' for a summary 
of available keywords.

You will find some examples on iBASIC's syntax in the examples directory 
of this archive.

USING THE TEST SCRIPT:
In order to make use of test_me.bat, you will have to unpack 
iBASIC_beta2.lha to RAM: first.

Recent versions of iBASIC can allways be found in the download section 
of my AMIGA website first: http://amiga.mbergmann-sh.de

That's it - have fun!


Micha B. 
05/2023