|
|
Version 8.0 from 3 March 2008 Omikron Basic now runs on Intel Macs too. Version 8.0 from 1 June 2004 Omikron Basic v8 now finally also runs as a native application under Mac OS X but the program can still be started under System 8.6 or 9 as long as CarbonLib is installed. The Extension Library was expanded with the following functions used to query and set the printer dialog: FN Get_Lprstl_Settings$, FN Get_Lprjob_Settings$, Set_Lprstl_Settings(Set$), Set_Lprjob_Settings(Set$), FN Get_Pmsession, FN Get_Pmpage_Format, FN Get_Pmprint_Settings Programs to run under Mac OS X can use the new procedure Flush_Window_Buffer(Screen_Nr[,X,Y,W,H]), which makes it possible that drawings created in the Omikron Basic output windows are also immediately visible on screen. The DIM command now functions also with pointer and address operators. The program 'Redim_2d_3d_Arrays.BAS' in the folder 'Tips & Tricks' lists a corresponding example. FILL now functions correctly with FILL STYLE 0,0. A flaw with SORT was eliminated. Version 7.5 (Beta) from 30 June 2003 This version creates so-called Carbon applications, which run native under Mac OS X but can also be started with Mac OS 8 and 9 if CarbonLib has been installed. A Carbon program is easily created by adding the compiler control word COMPILER "CARBON" into the program. COMPILER "CLASSIC" can be used to create a Classic application, which is also started in the Classic environment if Mac OS X is installed. CALLR is a new BASIC command. Use this command to call assembler subroutines in an especially efficient manner because all parameters are passed in registers and not on a stack as with the normal CALL command. Version 7.12 from 3 December 2002 An error in the window management of the editor has been removed. At certain program constructions (e.g. if a program consists mostly of DATA lines or contains many individual IF ... THEN statements) problems could occur at compilation time. This bug has been fixed. In addition a problem with OPEN "F" has been removed. Now it is possible to evaluate the subdirectories successively with OPEN "F". Version 7.10 from 14 January 2002 The 'Symbol List' function announced in the beta version is now available. Use this function to display in a window all symbols (variables, procedures, etc.) used in a program. Symbols can be sorted according to different criteria so that especially longer programs will be displayed in a clearly arranged layout. The also previously announced 'Tokenize New' function is now available as well. The 'Undo' function has now two levels. The first level of this function consists of undoing only changes within the current program line. If the function is called once more, changes extending across several program lines can be reversed as well. The LIBRARY command - familiar to some from older Omikron Basic versions for Atari computers - was reintroduced in a modified and improved form. Use this command to instruct the compiler to automatically add required libraries. The SORT command was expanded. You can now indicate a start index from which to start sorting. This makes it possible to sort only very specific ranges of a field. Of course, we also eliminated any and all errors reported by our beta testers. Version 7.0 (Beta) from 29 October 2001 The most important and immediately apparent change in Omikron Basic 7 is the completely revised and newly designed editor. The new objects for graphical interfaces introduced with MacOS 8 were used to program the new editor, which can now be individually configured for the most part. For example, it is now possible to create user-defined shortcuts and to adapt the presettings of dialog boxes to your own needs and requirements. The color settings for the color-coding function were expanded as well. Now you can use the Mac OS color picker to set any desired color-you are no longer restricted to pick one of the 256 default colors. The new Open Recent menu option offers the opportunity to restore the last workspace. This function may also be executed automatically when the program is started so that you can continue your work exactly where you stopped before quitting the program. The Edit menu now offers the additional menu options Paste and Insert. This means you can now choose whether to replace an already existing block or insert the text from the clipboard at the cursor position without deleting a marked block. The Find, Replace, and Compare functions have been improved. All three functions now work backwards (up) and all comments can be skipped if desired. The debugger control window now displays true float behavior, i.e., it is displayed above all other windows for easy access to the control elements. However, this requires Mac OS 9 or later. A new menu title named Window contains the names of all open windows that cannot be accessed via other menu options. This provides ready access to windows covered by other windows. Version 6.56 from 13 September 2001 INPUT USING now accepts the input of commas and quotation marks. Apart from this such separating marks are not convenient for INPUT USING because only one input variable can be indicated. In addition a compiler error has been removed which occured when using PUT for OPEN "F". Version 6.55 from 10 September 2000 The Extension Library was expanded with the function FN System Version and the procedure Set_Rnd_Seed. It is now also possible to use Ser_Set_Brk to send break signals to the serial interface and delete the signal with Ser_Clr_Brk. Using RETURN now results in an automatic type conversion. This means you can now also pass an integer number to a function of type floar or vice versa. The editor now enables the automatic conversion from ASCII 202 to ASCII 32 (normal blank space). This facilitates the import from sample programs from the HTML manuals using 'Copy' and 'Paste' significantly. The debugger can also depict the contents of byte and flag fields. "Save" and "Save as ... " now function again with deactivated auto backup. Using OPEN"F" with subsequent GET now returns the correct identification number of the parent directory. POINT can now also be used for off-screen bitmaps (e.g., graphic windows of the EasyGem Library). Statements that have been removed from libraries are no longer listed in the compiler window. This accelerates the compilation process significantly even with activated "Warnings", especially on computers with slow screen output. Rectangles specified by setting the left upper corner and the length and width (X,Y,W,H) were interpreted by the older version as one pixel too small in height and width. This error has been removed. Version 6.53 from 10 April 2000 The Extension Library was extended with a few procedures and functions. Now it is possible to use Get_Lpr_Pagesize to determine the size of the printed page in pixels and thus optimally adjust any printouts to the set page format. Advanced users find in the new function FN Get_Thprint the handle for the print records utilized by Omikron Basic. The procedures Ser_Hshake and Ser_Status were introduced to improve the programming of the serial interfaces, enable the many settings of the handshake options, and return accurate information about the current status of the serial interface. Program listings and other expressions can now feature page numbers if so desired. Labels that are accidentally double defined are now recognized by the compiler if the compiler warnings have been activated (COMPILER "WARNINGS ON"). All commands for addressing the serial interfaces were switched to low-level routines. This eliminates the problems that occurred with a few Apple computers (PowerBook). The printing of listings under MAC OS 9 should now also function error-free. Floating point numbers can now also be defined correctly as constants using COMPILER"DEF_CONST". When using PRINT USING the operational sign is now also issued correctly in front of the first valid location as described in the manual, if the sign is the first character within the format string. Version 6.51 from 15 November 1999 We regret to inform our users that a few errors have found their way into version 6.50, which are, however, eliminated with this upgrade release: 1. The OPEN command functioned only as OPEN "I" and OPEN "O". All other variations utilized OPEN "O". This could result in possible computer crashes. Version 6.51 has fixed this problem and all OPEN commands once again function perfectly. 2. A double-click together with a depressed [Shift] key applied to a procedure or function name used to jump the cursor to the position where the procedure or function is defined. Since this clashes with the new option of modifying block limits using the [Shift] key plus mouse button, you can now use the [Alt] key plus a double-click to jump to the procedure/function definition. The input buffer for OPEN "P" and OPEN "V" has been increased so that better data transfers with higher speeds is possible using the serial interfaces. In addition, a status query has been integrated, preventing that the operating system winds up in an infinite loop if a connected device does not respond. Version 6.50 from 1 Nov. 1999 The most important new feature of this version is the integrated Source Code Debugger. The debugger may be used to run through your program in single steps while monitoring the content of variables and memory cells as well as being able to step into and step out of procedures and functions. There is also an animation mode, which may be used to run a program in something akin to slow-motion. The debugger is thus best suited to find errors and for didactic purposes to clarify, e.g., the working of algorithms step by step. To avoid overlaps with the special characters that can be called using the [Alt] key, the default setting for Shortcuts in the file NEWOMBAS.INF has been changed.. If you have already gotten used to the past setup you can,of course, continue to use your old NEWOMBAS.INF file. Block Start and Block End can now also be modified by pushing the [Shift] key together with the mouse button. Moreover, some errors occurring with certain Matrix Operations have been eliminated. Version 6.32 from 16 August 1999 This version makes four new BASIC commands available to the user: SPOKE, DPOKE, SPEEK, and DPEEK enable the direct writing or reading of floating point numbers with single and double precision. Now the compiler recognizes if procedures or functions accidentally have been defined twice. In these cases, the compiler window will issue a warning, the compiling process itself, however, will continue. The Extension Library was expanded by seven new functions or procedures respectively: FN Get_Scrap$(Type) and Put_Scrap$(Type,Txt$) serve the reading and writing of data to the clipboard. FN Memory_To_String$(Mem_Adr,Length) and String_To_Memory(Txt$,Mem_Adr) enable a very rapid copying of memory contents into an Omikron Basic string and vice versa. FN Get_Front_Process#, Set_Front_Process(Psn#), and FN Get_Process_Path$(Psn#) offer the programmer active process management. The Compatability with MBASIC has been improved. Thus, only few manual modifications are neccessary to import old MBASIC programs into Omikron Basic. And we eliminated a few minor problems, of course, which had snug in again since version 6.30. Version 6.31 from 18 June, 1999 With this new release Omikron Basic is also available as a cost effective download version which also allows online updates from our website for registered Omikron Basic users. Starting with this version all diolog boxes of the editor support block operations. Arbitrary background colors can be assigned to the Omikron Basic output windows. For this purpose you use the command Set_Print_Back_Color from the Extension Library. Version 6.30 from 12 May, 1999 Many people asked for it and we brought it back: the command OPEN "F" is once again available. It may be used to query the different properties (size, date of creation...) of a file or a folder and also to search for specific files within a folder. Now it is also possible to use Omikron Basic to generate so-called shared libraries and plugins. For this purpose the compiler control words COMPILER "shlb" and COMPILER "File_Type XXXX" as well as the commands EXPORT, EXPORT_MAIN, EXPORT_INIT, and EXPORT_EXIT have been introduced. DEF FNEX may now be used to define functions, which may be called by other programs. These programs may also be written in other programming languages (e.g., C, Pascal, FORTRAN ...). These functions are required if, for example, one wants to pass pointers of call-back routines to the operating system or would like to program shared libraries and plugins, respectively. The MAC OS command was expanded by one optional parameter, which means one can now also import pure data. Moreover, it is now possible to define the import as "weak" (very important when writing programs which are to use the properties of new operating systems while continuing to be able to run on older systems as well). The maximum program line length can now be adjusted. In turn, the option to store program lines as Pascal strings has been eliminated since lines with more than 255 characters are not useable with this option anyhow and the created files can be read by only a very few text editors. The command FILESELECT now uses the new File Navigation Services, if they are available (standard function starting with System 8.5). The editor and the Omikron Basic output window now use proportional window scroll bars if the Appearance Manager is present (standard starting with System 8.0). Smart scrolling (window content follows the scroll bar in real time) is now supported as well if the operating system has this capability. The prompt in case of INPUT commands can now also consist of individual strings and string expressions, which are each separated by a semicolon. In the case of INPUT USING, the parameters behind USING can once again be left off one by one. The following errors were eliminated as well: RESUME and RESUME NEXT now jump to the correct location even if the error line contains a procedure or function call. LINE INPUT can now correctly read and enter an entire line. |
Version 6.25 from 18 January, 1999 The command SHR functions now correctly even if the right side does not contain any
constant but a numerical expression instead. Version 6.23 vom 17.9.1998 Version 6.22 from August 17, 1998 Version 6.21 from 27 July, 1998 Version 6.20 from 14 July, 1998 Version 6.14 from 22 February, 1998 Omikron Basic now attempts to round up or down when translating floating point
numbers into strings. For example, 0.999999.... is output as 1. Other programs can now be launched as child processes using EXEC. |
Support | Order | Start | Home: http://www.berkhan.com |
© 1997-2004 ![]() Apple and Apple Power Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. |