Need some help: Describing BASIC Anywhere Machine

[CharlieJV]

• BASIC Anywhere Machine Web Portal
• BASIC Anywhere Machine IDE

Writing about anything, trying to describe anything: none of that comes easy to me.

So I'm trying again to put together a nice description of BASIC Anywhere Machine. Concise, yet descriptive enough.

I think the following is a good start, but I'm not super-confident about it. What do you think?

BASIC Anywhere Machine (aka BAM) is a browser-based application that provides a full-featured BASIC programming environment, entirely self-contained in a single HTML file, and requiring no more than an offline web browser when BAM's HTML file is saved to a local storage device.

If this start is okay, what kind of questions would you have that you would like to see answered in a longer description?

[johnno56]

Well... For starters... I am about to "hit the sack" for the night... I will give your request some serious thought in the morning... after my first coffee of course. lol  Word of warning. My skill (for want of a better word) for descriptions, documentation and thought provoking questions, could all be written on the back of a postage stamp... lol I can assure you that 'your' ability far exceeds that of my own... But, if there is anything I can help with, I will do my best to do so... But, remember... you did ask... Moo ha ha ha...

J

[CharlieJV]

Well... For starters... I am about to "hit the sack" for the night... I will give your request some serious thought in the morning... after my first coffee of course. lol  Word of warning. My skill (for want of a better word) for descriptions, documentation and thought provoking questions, could all be written on the back of a postage stamp... lol I can assure you that 'your' ability far exceeds that of my own... But, if there is anything I can help with, I will do my best to do so... But, remember... you did ask... Moo ha ha ha...

J

Oh Nelly, do I ever resemble every little bit of that.

That first cup o' coffee is totally necessary to get them creaky wheels in motion.  Don't even look at me until I've had at least my first sip.  But there is no amount of coffee that can ever get the wheels going quite where I'd like...

Writing for me quickly devolves into paralysis by analysis (analysis by paralysis?)  It always feels like way too much intertwingled detail in this old sponge to untangle and organise, and a struggle to piece the bits and pieces into a concise picture that somehow matches that mess in my head.

Endlessly entertaining as I blankly transfix on the wall lost in rabbit-holes of thought.

[johnno56]

Well... I must have been tired... I over slept... Woke up at 04:20 (still no coffee yet... grumble) As soon as I have finished breakfast and prepared everything before my wife heads off to work, I can then sit down and have my coffee... Yay!

Interesting response... My mother's nick-name was Nelly (Ellen)... Who knew, right? Oops. My wife is awake. Gotta go...

[CharlieJV]

Interesting response... My mother's nick-name was Nelly (Ellen)... Who knew, right? Oops. My wife is awake. Gotta go...

Ha! Small world !  (Or serendipity?  Something like that ...)

I'm not only a fan of a coffee to get me kick-started, but also a big fan of the long chew (i.e. letting things fester subconsciously in the back o' me sponge.)

[CharlieJV]

Likely to an obsessive-compulsive degree, I am a continuous improvement via iterative and incremental tweaking fiend.

My latest super-condensed description:

BASIC Anywhere Machine is a standalone browser-based "quine" for BASIC programming.

[johnno56]

My wife got off to work ok... Installed Ubuntu Mate on my old laptop... Coffee consumed...

Just noticed the time stamp on your last message... Your time is roughly 10 hours behind mine. That puts you either in Western Europe or the UK... How close was that? Do I get a prize?

"Fester subconsciously"... I tried that once... I think it either got me into trouble or caused a severe headache... I do not remember... So long ago...

Anyway... Fresh caffeine is circulating... How can I help?

[johnno56]

"Quine". Never seen that word used outside the reference to horses (equine)...

[CharlieJV]

Your time is roughly 10 hours behind mine. That puts you either in Western Europe or the UK... How close was that? Do I get a prize?

I'm just a wee jump across the pond:  New Brunswick, Canada.

[johnno56]

Ok. I obviously assumed the wrong pond! Oh well... No prize...

[johnno56]

Just giving that intro line some thought... (Yeah. I know. Funny huh?) Stand alone and Web-based seem to imply the same thing? Perhaps something similar to: BASIC Anywhere Machine: Web-based retro BASIC programming. (web or browser)

[CharlieJV]

Stand alone and Web-based seem to imply the same thing?

My understanding of standalone (as per Wikipedia's Standalone Software):

• Computer programs that can work offline, i.e. does not necessarily require network connection to function
• A portable application, which can be run without the need for installation procedure

Web-based and browser-based really aren't the same thing.

I could give you BASIC Anywhere Machine on a usb thumbdrive, and you could run it from the thumbdrive in your web browser without ever having access to or needing the web.

Although BAM does a great job running vintage BASIC programs, BAM has things that are really modern and unavailable in some other BASIC implementations.

• Functions to access browser local storage and session storage, meta-programming features, key-value storage.
• Features to support Software Development Life-Cycle things like requirements management, change management, issue/bug tracking, task management.  Source code promotion levels (development and production).
• Line numbers are optional.
• Because of all the structured programming features, GOTO and GOSUB can be ignored.
• But if you do want to use GOTO and GOSUB, use them with line labels !!!
• You can create TYPE (aka RECORD, aka STRUCTURE) composite types.

Yadda yadda, all to say I'm not quite sure I want to pigeon-hole BAM as being a retro BASIC.

But it certainly can do retro, and quite well.

[johnno56]

Well... That was certainly embarrassing... I seem to suffer from "foot in mouth" disease quite a lot... lol

Ok. I did not even consider going "line number free". I assumed that because BAM can use line numbers, that it always uses line numbers... *sigh* Stand alone and retro blown out of the water all in one salvo... lol  Oh well... I have learned something new again... Thank you for setting the record straight...

J

[CharlieJV]

Thank you for setting the record straight

Hey, hard for me to focus for all the stuff overwhelming my sponge.  This kind of back and forth really helps me parse the stuff, unclutter, and focus.

[CharlieJV]

Here's how it looks so far:  https://basicanywheremachine.neocities.org/BAM_ProgReference?target=About%20BASIC%20Anywhere%20Machine%3A%3ADescription%20of%20BASIC%20Anywhere%20Machine#Home