I think there's something I'm missing about the way #define values are calculated, look:

I've rearranged the DIM page. It is the most complex page I've seen in the wiki.There were double contents here and there, and no clear order. It seems text was pasted from different sources several times. I tried to reorganize the whole into two subheaders (variables and arrays). I think now the order is clearer, and there are no redundant contents. I linked to the mentioned command line options, and to the pragma page (that doesn't exist yet).

May someone take a look and see, if something is missing or wrong in the contents, the order or the headers? Thank you.

Here's what I've been playing with. Weird that someone else was looking into it too. I have to thank Turkwel over at the WorldOfSpectrum Forums for a LOT of guidance with this one.

This routine prints a character at pixel position (x,y); optionally with attributes.

0 < x < 254
0 < y < 191

If the character is < 256, it assumes you sent an ascii code, and pulls it from the character set. UDG ascii code characters aren't supported in this version (use the address of the UDG - eg. USR "a" instead). If the number is 256 - 65535, it assumes this is an address for a user defined block of data (a character sprite/udg) and plots this data to the screen instead.

If the attribute byte is zero, attributes are skipped, and the routine just updates pixels. I thought, since 0 is black on black, this wasn't too bad a compromise. Otherwise it adjusts the attributes to the byte given. Note that printing one character can adjust up to four attributes!

Note also that this is not a megafast solution to printing sprites. I'm still looking into that option.

There is a Newer version of this and a "sprite" example posted later in this thread.

First case

I moved the main loop of my program into a sub, but I forgot to call the sub... so the program had nothing to do after DIMing and LETing some variables. The program returned to Sinclair BASIC with the error "C Nonsense in BASIC" instead of "0 OK".

Then I wrote a test program: just one sub, not called. The program returned to Sinclar BASIC with "0 OK". Strange. So there's something wrong with my program.

If I call the sub, or take its content out of the sub, everything works fine.

Second Case

But then I moved the main loop (out of any sub) to the end of the program... and the same error happened. I suspected two files I'm including, with character sets in assembler format, had something to do.

Here you are schematic versions of both cases:

This one works fine:

I am working in this routine pixel-precise.
It is ripped from microhobby and wos forum.
Modified by me. I need help to complete the paint attributes method, because in asm my routine works fine, baut when I passed t sub It fails.
Here is the code.
Modified 20-June-2010 included colour ripped by wos
Modified 21-June-2010 included attributes in the same sub.
Now are two independent subs methods:
1.-PlotChar(file,column,CharAdr)
PlotCharPaint(file,column,atribute)
2.- PlotChat(file,column,CharAdr,atrib)
Probably, this is the last update for this routine.

Modified 2010-07-09 including fastcall and all asm routines embebed. The on ly problem is because the rets in atributes process make me save three bytes in printer buffer. Also I can not use Ubyte in fastcall because I do not understand how it works.

#include <file> includes from the library; in order to include from the directory of the including file, the main program, i tried #include <./file> but it doesn't work. Even #include <~/path_to_the_project/file> doesn't work.

The only solution I've found is: #include </home/user/path_to_the_project/file>, that is, including the whole path from the file system root.

Is there any way to configure the including directories? It would be great to include files with relative path from the current directory if they exist, and from the library if they don't exist.

I suggest to always use brackets with functions, both in the Syntax and Examples sections, and everywhere in the docs.

I suggest to include a note in the language reference page in order to explain that brackets are optional in functions for the sake of compatibility with Sinclair BASIC (and maybe FreeBASIC in some cases). But that's all.

I think the code is much more clear with brackets; they help to avoid bugs too. And it's the standard beside a good practice, isn't it? On the other hand, it's good to have a clear convention to write the docs.

Hi all,

I've been thinking how to simplify and homogenize the docs; and also how to make them easier to create and mantain.

I'm preparing a list of detailed suggestions for your consideration, but the first one is ready:

I suggest for the Syntax section:

• to use <freebasic></freebasic>. I think it's easier to write and to read, and it looks nicer and more clear. The current combination of bold and italic is not comfortable to edit (besides, I think their Mediawiki notation is unhandy and hard to read).
  
• to show syntax variants simply one after another, without "or" or any kind of comment; simply one line of code per variant (no need to mark optional parameters). No text in the section, only clear code with proper parameter names.
  
• to use lowercase (it's a fact it's easier to read and to write) for everything (keywords and parameters).
  
• to use camelCase for parameters with compound names (they cannot be reserved words anymore, because of <freebasic>).

I've just created the first version of RND. The remarks are adapted from a recent message of boriel, and the examples are taken from FreeBASIC.

I've just realized RND() is not accepted ("Unexpected token '(' <LP>"), but only RND. I know it doesn't have parameters in Sinclair BASIC, but it's a function anyway. In fact, both INKEY and INKEY() are accepted, and the case is analogous.

I took a look at the functions list of the original ZX Spectrum manual (page 198, Spanish edition), and realized that PI is there! I never thougth it was a function, but a constant. Well, I tried PI() in ZX BASIC and it's not accepted, not a surprise.

It's clear PI is a constant (that's the description in the wiki), but what's the difference between RND and INKEY? They both are functions that need no parameter. I think RND() should be accepted, if only for syntax coherence.

(I've just read the FreeBASIC's RND syntax. It's accepted without brackets, but can have an optional parameter, the seed.)