Discussion
Kinda dawning on me a little bit more that you may call Tiny BASIC a computer programming language, but it is probably also fair to say that it is just a collection of statements that work really well together when interpreted.
After having gone through the 8080 listing for Tiny BASIC Extended (TBX), I realise that I have far more freedom to make my own design decisions.
The Atari BASIC Manual looms in my mind. What are the best data structures?
Currently:
LNUM (16 bit), LLEN, STRING, CR/LF.
@dirtycommo That's what makes Basic so easy to implement, but also why it's not a composable programming language.
@felix I'm thinking about some alternative routine process for the Tiny BASIC IL opcode "INSERT".
I will keep INSERT but maybe come up with my own novel method.
Many of the Tiny BASICs simply shift the lines around in memory. Perhaps this is unavoidable -- if program lines are simply stored as text.
It seems having simple decisions in some places leads to difficulty elsewhere...
So far--
Statements will be those supported by TBX in Dobbs Journal February 1976.
This includes FOR NEXT and 2D arrays.
The memory layout is almost completely settled on. Two software stacks, and one hardware stack- AESTK, SBRSTK, and the machine stack.
Currently a little confused as to how and when to include temporary registers. I suppose that will be answered in time as I code it all together.
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