[Coco] Coco Newby

Tue Dec 2 14:24:00 EST 2003

James,
   IIRC, Microware had a Fortran 77 compiler for OS9 and 
it
would run under LvlII. They also had a Pascal Complier 
too.

John Donaldson

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 10:45:10 -0500
  jdaggett at gate.net wrote:
>David 
>
>The comment about "D" was interesting. I had heard of it 
>but never saw or heard of 
>enyone using it. If I remember correctly Unix was first 
>written in "B". The 
>predecessor to "C". A Computers in Business class I took 
>in 1971 used PLIII and 
>wrote a programs punched out on old IBM cards. Largest 
>one I wrote was about 100 
>cards. Saw a person dropped their deck of about 300+ 
>cards. Those were the days. 
>get one card out of order and the whole program bombed. 
>Sometimes had to wait 
>an hour to just find out that you made a stupid typo. 
>Punch a new card and make 
>sure it was in the right order.
>   
>Enough of that. I can state that after learning the 
>Basic09 compiler for the CoCo 3 
>and OS9,  it made learning Fortran 77 a breeze. I was 
>amazed as how similar the 
>two were in syntax. 
>
>I would not mind having an F77 compiler for OS9. Did a 
>few engineering program 
>for filter response and design using F77. 
>
>james
>
>
>On 1 Dec 2003 at 23:22, Aaron Banerjee wrote:
>
>> David,
>>     Speaking on behalf of those whose first computer was 
>>a TRS-80
>>     Color
>> Computer (which by the way, is still operational), and 
>>now program for
>> a living, I'd have to say that the Coco is an excellent 
>>starting
>> point.  For one thing, the computer is relatively 
>>simple, and the
>> books are awesome. Since you already know BASIC, you 
>>probably don't
>> need "Getting Started With Color Basic", or "Going Ahead 
>>With Extended
>> Color BASIC", but if you're into assembly, William 
>>Barden's "TRS-80
>> Color Computer Assembly Language Programming" is 
>>probably the best ML
>> book I've ever seen.
>>    I was very impressed with the Coco documentation from 
>>the start. 
>>    When
>> I worked at the Patent Office, we'd call such references 
>>"enabling"
>> (meaning that someone who didn't know anything at all 
>>about cocos, but
>> otherwise had a good head on their shoulders could 
>>figure out what the
>> book was saying).  For example, the book which came with 
>>my coco disk
>> drive starts out by saying how disk is better than 
>>cassette, but by
>> the end of the (relatively short) book, you know about 
>>the file
>> allocation tables... (which are very similar to the PC 
>>-- or were at
>> least).
>>    Currently, I program in a variety of languages (C, 
>>C++, Ada,
>>    Fortran,
>> and D {yes, there really is a "language" called D}). 
>> Most computer
>> languages have the same sort of "thinking", which is 
>>most easily
>> learned with a simple computer.  The old addage of 
>>"Everything I
>> needed to know I learned in kindergarten" sort of 
>>applies.  I've found
>> my coco knowledge most useful when doing low-level 
>>stuff, like
>> assembly.
>>    I actually used a coco for work purposes in a former 
>>job.  I was
>> testing rechargable batteries and used a coco as a 
>>"smart" recharger.
>> Battery voltage was measured via the joystick port, and 
>>the charging
>> current was controlled via the cassette relay.  Since 
>>I'd used up the
>> cassette port, I had to load my program using the DLOAD 
>>command (and
>> probably became the only person in history ever to 
>>actually use DLOAD)
>> from a PC.
>>    In summary, the coco is a great choice if you really 
>>want to
>>    understand
>> the computer you are using.  Get the following 
>>books/references if you
>> don't have them already (if anyone else on the list 
>>wants to help me
>> out here, please do)..
>> 
>>      1.  Getting Started With Color BASIC
>>      2.  Going Ahead With Extended Color BASIC
>>      3.  TRS-80 Color Computer Technical Reference 
>>Manual (use the
>>      memory 
>>          map at the beginning of the book.  POKE around 
>>and play with
>>          your computer).
>>      4.  Barden, William.  "TRS-80 Color Computer 
>>Assembly Language
>>          Programming".  Radio Shack.  1983.
>> 
>>    I hope this helps.
>>               - Aaron Banerjee
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 arikboke at yahoo.com wrote:
>> 
>> > Hello Coconuts,
>> > 
>> > I'm David from California, USA.  My first computer 
>>experience was
>> > with a "trash80" model III in junior high, and my 
>>first home
>> > computer was a Coco2.  I was hunkering for an Atari 
>>800 but my
>> > friend's dad (an electrical engineer) advised me to 
>>get a "good"
>> > computer, the kind he had, a Coco1 with chiclet 
>>keyboard! (he
>> > actually designed circuits on contract with that 
>>machine).
>> > 
>> > Fortunately, Radio Shack didn't sell that model 
>>anymore, and so I
>> > found salvation in the form of a Coco2 and my own 
>>cassette recorder.
>> >  It was somewhat of a painful experience, as the 
>>screen was always
>> > fuzzy due to interference, the machine routinely 
>>burned the screens
>> > of all the color tvs in our house and cassette 
>>operation was a
>> > nightmare.  But I loved what a few simple commands in 
>>BASIC could
>> > make the computer do.  It seemed so empowering ...
>> > 
>> > Well, near two decades later, I've a BS in 
>>microbiology and am
>> > planning to get my MS in biostatistics -- not exactly 
>>a PhD in CIS
>> > :)  However, I recently ran across Nicolar Marentes' 
>>Workshop site
>> > and I began to wonder what my life would have been 
>>like if I had
>> > followed my passion back then.
>> > 
>> > I wish to know more about machine coding and digital 
>>electronics and
>> > I wonder if learning the (relatively) less complex 
>>Coco would help
>> > me in this direction.
>> >  Or perhaps I should just jump on the Intel Inside 
>>bandwagon?  I'm
>> >  not sure and
>> > perhaps the old coconuts who have learned both systems 
>>can give me
>> > the proper direction.  If the Coco route, what books 
>>and tools do I
>> > need to buy?  If the Wintel route, which books and 
>>tools should I
>> > purchase?  I should note that I've already taken 
>>BASIC, Pascal, C,
>> > Javascript, and HTML.
>> > 
>> > I will not be using this knowledge directly, but as I 
>>am going
>> > towards the field of biostats and possibly 
>>bioinformatics, having a
>> > decent knowledge of computer systems (and possibly 
>>intefacing) would
>> > be very helpful.  I'm sorry this is so long-winded, 
>>but I just
>> > didn't expect to be able to communicate with a group 
>>of (still alive
>> > and thrashing) coco users.  I would appreciate any and 
>>all feedback.
>> >  Thanks.
>> > 
>> > Sincerely,
>> > David
>> > 
>> > -- 
>> > Coco mailing list
>> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> > http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>> > 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Coco mailing list
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>
>
>-- 
>Coco mailing list
>Coco at maltedmedia.com
>http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco

<TEXTAREA NAME="Signature" ROWS="4" COLS="60">