Re: Apple 2 Dev Newbie Wannabe!

[BLuRry <brendan.robert@gmail.com>]

I've looked at z-basic recently and think that if you want a compromise of cross-platform (among 8-bit land) it might be a good way to go.  One thing that makes it easier is that you can save a basic program in plain-text and load it up in z-basic, also no line numbers required.  Since it comes with its own compiler and support for all apple's graphics modes (dhgr and double-lo) so it's pretty easy to pick up.  The only thing that really threw me for a loop is that the interpreter is case-sensitive including on basic commands.

So if you want to yell your way through Z-Basic, have at it!  :-)  I was able to produce a graphics magician-like routine suitable for reproducing pictures from small string data sets.

Should Mr. Potter want to back up his claims, it should also be known that Z-Basic has really solid file handling routines -- a must for any text game programmer who wants to put game data into organized and easily loaded modules.

I was close to getting an adventure game off the ground, but missed the deadline to enter the retrospectiva compo because of other scheduling issues (DOH).  This sucks, because I really wanted to rock that compo and win the 7" android tablet.  Oh well.  :-/  It was for a just cause, and now I'm four weeks in to teaching teenagers how to code using Groovy so I know my time was well-spent.

-B