CURRENT NOTES                                           DEC '87/JAN '88




                       L D W   B A S I C   R E V I S I T E D

                    Version 2.0 -- Another Substantial Upgrade

                           Review by Stephen D. Eitelman


         Logical Design Works (LDW) has issued the third version of their
     successful compiler package, version 2.0.  There are two major features
     of this most recent upgrade.  First, the operating environment is now a
     shell that allows one to compile, link and run either as a single
     operation or by clicking on drop-down menu selections.  This is a great
     simplification over the separate operations required by previous
     versions.

         Second, this version includes high level access to GEM - windows,
     menus, dialog boxes, mouse, mouse buttons, edit fields, etc. - without
     recourse to AES and VDI calls.  Other additions in version 2.0 include a
     new set of low level GEM access functions, the use of procedures, event
     trapping to detect window, dialog, menu and mouse events, and a fast
     two-byte integer in addition to the more standard fourbyte integer.  This
     new version supports both the new and old ST Basic.

     SHELL

         The shell is a delight to use.  It is as intuitive to use as any I
     have seen.  The locations of the various portions of the package can be
     specified with complete flexibility to suit virtually any hardware
     configuration and then saved to disk.  An editor, MicroEMACS, comes with
     the software.  Since I am used to using 1ST Word to generate ASCII files,
     I substituted it for MicroEMACS.  Any other editor you prefer could be
     specified just as easily.  Just tell the shell where it is and it will be
     called up whenever edit is specified.  There is thus no need to remember
     precisely what you called it or exactly what the folder name is once the
     shell knows!  All this is done from the shell menu, making the
     installation very simple.

         Once this rather straightforward installation procedure is completed,
     one has only to click on the EXEC (execute) menu and select the desired
     operation.  The selections include edit, compile, link, compile and link
     or a "make" operation that edits, compiles, links and runs the final
     program, all from within the shell and without intervention.  Well, of
     course, the editing must be done by the user.  I was particularly pleased
     by the ability to link automatically.  Every time I used the two previous
     versions, I found I had forgotten the details of using the linker and had
     to go through a painful learning process all over again.  The compiler
     and linker also appeared to run faster than they did in ver. 1.1,
     although I did not make actual comparisons.  The sieve test compiled in
     20 seconds and linked in 80 seconds in this new version.

     MANUAL

         The manual is as thorough as the previous ones, but needs a little



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      CURRENT NOTES                                           DEC '87/JAN '88



     explanation.  LDW simply added a new section that covers ver. 2.0 in its
     entirety after the manual for ver. 1.1.  (The book is in an IBM style
     loose leaf binder.)  The result of this strange arrangement is that one
     must begin in about the middle of the book instead of on page one.  The
     package needs a separate sheet at the front of the book, or a read-me
     file on the disk, or something to warn the new user that the instructions
     for ver. 2.0 begin with the white pages, about half way through the
     manual.  Otherwise, the manual is excellent.  Chapter 7 of section V
     describes the GEM commands and other extensions to ST Basic and runs for
     a total of 131 pages.  Descriptions are complete, covering the syntax,
     the action performed by the command in clear language, generally giving
     an example and often referring to other related commands.

     GEM

         About 50 high-level commands have been added to permit access to the
     various GEM functions without recourse to pokes and peeks.  Additionally,
     no further GEM documentation is required -a vast improvement over the
     days of VDI and AES calls.  In browsing the available commands, there did
     not seem to be any significant omissions.  Everything I could think of
     wanting to do with GEM was covered by a high-level command.

     SPEED

         I ran the same speed tests I used with ver. 1.1 and the results were
     roughly the same.  There were some slight variations, some tests running
     faster and some slower.  The tests covered a trig function in a loop, a
     floating point calculation in a loop, the Sieve of Eratosthenes, and a
     random string exercise that created, sorted and printed out 1000
     strings.

     PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

         Version 2.0 will retail for $89.95.  Owners of ver. 1.1 can upgrade
     for $25.00 and the serial number of their ver. 1.1 compiler disk.  As of
     this writing (October 1987), retail distribution of ver. 2.0 had just
     begun.  Outlets carrying earlier versions will be carrying ver. 2.0, so
     by the time this appears in print, your favorite dealer should have it in
     stock.


















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linker will run on systems with only one single