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Amstrad Action TYPE-IN PROJECT

Started by CPCIak, 09:56, 03 January 10

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ukmarkh

Quote from: robbarton on 10:30, 17 February 16
For the benefit of anyone who hasn't clicked the link, the type-ins in the Christmas Crackers booklet are:

Type-Writer (Pat McDonald)
Magazine Editor (Johnnie Chan) Jul 88
Treasure Hunt (Benedict Garrett) Sep 88
Text Editor (Mark Bonshor) Sep 87
Ripples (David Carter)
Fireworks (Johnnie Chan)
Landscapes (Martyn Harrison) Feb 87
Snowstorm (Shaun Garrad) Jan 87
Dalivre (SKULL DATRSMA PD) 1991
Star Dodger (Rajiv Gatha) Jun 87
Synth (Alastair Scott) Mar 87
Merlin (David Hall) 1991

All of the above were previously published in AA and most of them are downloadable from the wiki!


Just trying to help the cause, thanks for the list  ;)

robbarton

Quote from: AMSDOS on 11:08, 17 February 16

I trust the Module Designer from AA48 is complete with missing bit of code that was posted in AA49.  :)


You raise a good point here. I have added the missing line that was provided in AA49.

While going through the issues to list type-ins and authors, I made a note if there was an amendment to an earlier type-in. Then when I typed in others I went straight to the corrections and rolled them in too. All the versions that I upload will have the corrections from later issues included.

Zoe Robinson

Well done with these. The list is looking good these days! :D

AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 21:36, 28 February 16

You raise a good point here. I have added the missing line that was provided in AA49.


I might of mentioned it in the past, AA48 was the issue I could of brought from my newsagent at the time, but didn't. Because I was young at the time starting to type in Lengthy Listings from Magazines, but I had this funny idea I needed the Type-writer program from AA45 to get programs to work! AA46 & AA47 were running a Series called Discourse I think, which didn't have the Checksum alongside the Line Number, but when AA48 came out, that had finished, leaving this large Pat McDonald program full of that code, so decided not to get it. As it turned out I missed AA49 because my Newsagent always seemed to miss Birthday Issues, so in a way, I would of had an incomplete program.  :D


Sometime in that period, my brother must of typed in one of the programs which had the Checksum codes beside it and said I didn't need the Typewriter program, and the program (the Interlace Demo from AA46 I think) worked just fine. So started collecting AA50 onwards.

QuoteWhile going through the issues to list type-ins and authors, I made a note if there was an amendment to an earlier type-in. Then when I typed in others I went straight to the corrections and rolled them in too. All the versions that I upload will have the corrections from later issues included.


Yeah it can be a tricky business, when I began collecting AA magazines, solutions to problematic type-ins were printed in their Forum, Pat McDonalds Sprite Definer from AA43 had someone with their amendments published in AA46 & they also printed a correction to Typewriter  :D  And I guess some programs never got a solution like the Snake Game in AA68, which loaded some critical Binary from a Disc for the Game, I guess the author was hoping it would be on the AA Covertape. And then there's programs like Bounce from AA58, which was a game which stored Hi-scores to Disc, which had solutions published for it (in Forum I think), so 464 users could play the game from Tape.
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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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robbarton

Uploaded type ins for AA issues 41, 45, 46 and 47 today so another four chalked off the list.

Been busy with some non-CPC things these past six weeks but I'm back on track now  :)

AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 22:18, 05 April 16
Uploaded type ins for AA issues 41, 45, 46 and 47 today so another four chalked off the list.

Been busy with some non-CPC things these past six weeks but I'm back on track now  :)


Welcome back.  :)


Wasn't sure if you picked up the fault with the Symboliser program from AA46. It works fine on a 464, but not so well on a 6128, which is due to a little technical difference with TXT RD CHAR (&BB60) on those systems. The problem is while a Firmware exists for it, the BASIC command was never made for BASIC 1.0, which is what the small bit Machine Code does in Symboliser. So think what happens in BASIC 1.1 is you can plot a filled square, but as soon as you move your cursor, the character reverts to its original unfilled square. On a 464 those filled squares remained filled.  :) 


I made a few alterations to Symboliser (so it works on all computers), if you want me to add it on that page, I just need to hunt it down though.
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robbarton

Quote from: AMSDOS on 00:54, 06 April 16

Welcome back.  :)


Wasn't sure if you picked up the fault with the Symboliser program from AA46. It works fine on a 464, but not so well on a 6128, which is due to a little technical difference with TXT RD CHAR (&BB60) on those systems. The problem is while a Firmware exists for it, the BASIC command was never made for BASIC 1.0, which is what the small bit Machine Code does in Symboliser. So think what happens in BASIC 1.1 is you can plot a filled square, but as soon as you move your cursor, the character reverts to its original unfilled square. On a 464 those filled squares remained filled.  :) 


I made a few alterations to Symboliser (so it works on all computers), if you want me to add it on that page, I just need to hunt it down though.

Thanks AMSDOS, I didn't pick up on that fault - I have only typed the listings and taken into account any corrections published in later issues of AA. I've tried to make a note on the wiki pages where the listing is only for Disk/6128/Green screen etc. to guide people who are looking at programs that they are unfamiliar with.

If you were able to find the modified (improved) version then that would be very useful - no rush - and in the meantime I will mark the wiki so as not to inadvertently annoy 464 users!

This is one of the strengths of the wiki, improving the original listings and having many eyes looking over the listings.

AMSDOS


Quote from: robbarton on 18:53, 06 April 16
Thanks AMSDOS, I didn't pick up on that fault - I have only typed the listings and taken into account any corrections published in later issues of AA. I've tried to make a note on the wiki pages where the listing is only for Disk/6128/Green screen etc. to guide people who are looking at programs that they are unfamiliar with.


Yes I think in that situation, no corrections were made for Shabaz Yousaf's Symboliser, I don't recall seeing any in AA48 or AA49 in more recent times and back then (in 1989) lots of Character Redefining programs had been written, AA even had one going back to it's early issues, which is also in the Wiki.


QuoteIf you were able to find the modified (improved) version then that would be very useful - no rush - and in the meantime I will mark the wiki so as not to inadvertently annoy 464 users!


It's actually a 464 program rather than an 6128 program, which maybe another reason why no-one picked up the fault. Unfortunately I didn't explain the role of the Machine Code from the Symboliser program properly.
What the M/C does is read what is at the cursor current text position and returns a numerical value (representing an ASCII value).
On a 464 there is a critical difference which changes when Amstrad brought out the 664/6128 with BASIC 1.1.
In BASIC 1.1 there's copychr$(#0) which makes it 664/6128 only, copychr$(#0) works on TXT RD CHAR (&BB60), but returns the result as a String, though that's not the critical difference cause under the Firmware TXT RD CHAR (&BB60) still returns the ASCII values. 
What appears to have changed is the colours characters appear in, but on a 464 it doesn't care what the colour characters onscreen are in and reports what's there regardless. Though with BASIC 1.1, the colour of an character onscreen has become a big deal, but gets treated as nothing if it doesn't know the right PEN colour for that particular position, which is where headaches have occurred concerning TXT RD CHAR.


With Symboliser in particular, you can setup your Emulator to 464 mode, so when the program runs, you can use your cursor keys to move around the 8x8 square & TAB to plot a Red Point, move your cursor away from that spot and you will see a Red Square, but if you go back over it your cursor will cover over that spot, but if you move away, the red square will still be there. On a 6128 what happens is initially you can do all those things up to the point where you move your cursor over the Fill in Red Square and it disappears!


QuoteThis is one of the strengths of the wiki, improving the original listings and having many eyes looking over the listings.


Good news is I found my modified version of Symboliser which works on all CPC, so you can compare the old program with my altered program on a 6128 and see how your edits in the 8x8 grid will stay the same. I'll attach the file here for you to put on the Type-ins page.


In case your interested, you may want to check out the program I made a couple of years ago in this post, it's a little bit different from the problem Symboliser has, but demonstrates how a change in PEN colour returns a different result on the different CPCs & the example I made also looks at Graphics, which is also something TXT RD CHAR can handle.
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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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robbarton

I've uploaded AA issues 49 and 61 to the wiki today, and edited issue 46's page to add the modified version of Symboliser that will work on all cpcs.

By my reckoning that's 63 of 108 now uploaded = about 58%

I'll try to keep it ticking over but now that I'm actually, you know, having to TYPE IN the type ins  ;D , the productivity rate has plummeted!

AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 19:48, 18 April 16
I've uploaded AA issues 49 and 61 to the wiki today, and edited issue 46's page to add the modified version of Symboliser that will work on all cpcs.


Thanks for that. Hope you don't mind, I've done a little edit on the AA46 Type-ins page. The Symboliser program is 464 only (yes it does occur), also the Interlace Demo does work on a Colour Monitor, just not as well as a Green Screen, so rather by saying Green Screen only, I've said Green Screen Recommended. We had a discussion about Interlace a few years ago on here and Kev was able to demonstrate that Interlace was possible on a Colour monitor, I think it was merely a matter of generating some very optimised code.




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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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robbarton

I don't mind the edits at all - I see this whole endeavour as a community effort and none of the code is mine (except the typos  :) ).

Uploaded issue 27 tonight - 7 programs. Again one of them (Home Accountant) has the corrections from AA29 included in the code.

robbarton

Updated the wiki with typeins for issue AA63. One more done!

Gryzor

Thanks for the effort, guys!

AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 13:33, 30 April 16
Updated the wiki with typeins for issue AA63. One more done!


I'm not sure what was happening with that wiki page, the link for it was appearing as Red, even though the page existed. I went into edit and previewed the page which seemed to fixed this, but I'm unsure if it's a glitch in the Wiki or if my browser is a culprit, which would simply mean  nobody else is having that problem.
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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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Gryzor

There's no edit by you, only by Zoe, so I'd say it was your cache.

Zoe Robinson

I've not touched the wiki for a while now so whatever's going on, it's not an edit conflict.

Gryzor

Nope, don't worry about it :)

AMSDOS

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:24, 09 May 16
There's no edit by you, only by Zoe, so I'd say it was your cache.


Hmm, that's odd since @robbarton created that page (AA63 Typeins), I previewed the page & saved it, which didn't register. Normally I'm cleaning out the cache which I felt would of sorted out that Red Page Link, but nobody else has mentioned it (surely I'm not the only person looking at this stuff?), so can only presume it's the cache.
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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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robbarton

@ AMSDOS: I have the same issue with the cache, i.e. if I edit an issue that has never been changed before then when I return to the list the link still shows red. I have been clicking to edit the list then saving with no changes and that updates for me. It's probably not the right way to do it but it works for me. I'm on Firefox 46.0 if that makes any difference.

Update - uploaded issues 28 and 29 today.

Back on track with about 39 issues to go. Even though I'd like to fill in the gaps (100, 77, etc.) I have realised that the older AA scans seem to have OCR'd better so they are easier and quicker for me to convert. Therefore I'm going up sequentially. I reckon if I can do two issues a week then I should be done by the end of the year...  :)


AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 11:56, 30 May 16
@ AMSDOS: I have the same issue with the cache, i.e. if I edit an issue that has never been changed before then when I return to the list the link still shows red. I have been clicking to edit the list then saving with no changes and that updates for me. It's probably not the right way to do it but it works for me. I'm on Firefox 46.0 if that makes any difference.


Yes, I think I was clicking on the Edit page with the Red Link and saving it as well. I'm using a very new version of Safari, it doesn't appear to have a storage Cache or one which one can simply empty, under Preferences, Privacy though it has an option to Clear out the Cookies & Website Data, which is probably where the Cache resides.

QuoteUpdate - uploaded issues 28 and 29 today.


Good one. :)

QuoteBack on track with about 39 issues to go. Even though I'd like to fill in the gaps (100, 77, etc.) I have realised that the older AA scans seem to have OCR'd better so they are easier and quicker for me to convert. Therefore I'm going up sequentially. I reckon if I can do two issues a week then I should be done by the end of the year...  :)


:)
* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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robbarton

Uploaded issues 30 and 31 to the wiki today.
I reckon that's now 69 complete / 37 to do (about 65% complete?)

Gryzor


robbarton

Had Thursday off work for... well really it was for England v Wales but I used the time before and after the match productively.

Now uploaded issues 32, 33, 34 to the wiki.

I had problems with a few of the listings that required the use of lateral thinking - who puts GOTO 180 on three separate lines then doesn't even have a line 180 in the code?!  ???

AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 17:38, 12 June 16
Uploaded issues 30 and 31 to the wiki today.


Hmmm, that's interesting the Hacker program from AA30 got republished in AA43.
* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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AMSDOS

Quote from: robbarton on 14:51, 18 June 16I had problems with a few of the listings that required the use of lateral thinking - who puts GOTO 180 on three separate lines then doesn't even have a line 180 in the code?!  ???



Might of been a comment line that got deleted? AA50 Type-ins had the same problems (particularly the Fracland program), think it was Adam Warning's 1st time at Type-ins, but I can understand their dilemma of having to get a program to fit onto an A4 page, which would range from meeting deadlines, getting a program to fit with other programs, limited pages allocated and trying to fill in a whole page of programs, no wonder they were saying to try and keep your programs as small as possible and of course they would of loved small programs for the odd corner that needed filling because someone's program took 95% of a page!  :D


Interesting to compare that Lean Letters program to my Condensed Text program. The differences I've noticed is the use of ORIGIN to place the characters, I'm using MOVE and have placed a formula for working out the position of XPOS.
I didn't do anything with YPOS funnily enough, the top left corner starting at 398 and the following lines down can be worked out with 398-(YPOS*16), with YPOS having a value between 1 to 24 and 0 is used for working out the top.
It's a shame the Lean Letters program doesn't assign a variable string for the user to place their words into, in that circumstance they would of needed to use MID$ to place the appropriate characters, but still I guess it's author was happy to see their program get expanded on, AA used to do that from time to time back then.
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* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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