Welcome to ACE! --------------- This is version 2.0 of the FreeWare Amiga BASIC compiler, ACE. See the "Notes" section below for important information about specific files in the archive and changes to the distribution material with each revision of the compiler. To get an overall impression of ACE's capabilities, have a look at ref.doc which is a command and function reference for the language. Once you've set up your environment as specified in the INSTALLATION file, try compiling a program from the prgs directory (or wherever you've put the example programs), eg: Workbench:ACE> copy prgs/fractals/sierp.b "" Workbench:ACE> bas -O sierp Workbench:ACE> sierp Pressing the left mouse button will get you out of this program. You might also like to compile each of these programs: hi.b, tclock.b welcome.b and ifs.b (the source code for each is viewable from Workbench). At this point, it's up to you. I'd suggest having a closer look at the docs, especially ace.doc to get a better idea of what ACE's capabilities are. The history file may also be of interest since it details the development of ACE since the last version. Whatever you do, enjoy! Regards David Benn, Tasmania, January 1994 Notes ----- *** v1.0 *** 31/1/93 - If you didn't unarc ace.lha with lha's -a option then the bas script won't have its "s" flag set. To set it, type: PROTECT bas +s ADD. 3/2/93 - Please note that due to copyright restrictions, no bmap files have been included in the distribution. See "Shared library function calls" in ace.doc for more. *** v1.01 *** 19/2/93 - Version 1.01 corrects a number of problems with the first version and adds a few new minor features. See the entries in the file docs/history for an update on the changes to ACE from v1.0 to v1.01. - There is a new, somewhat nicer ACE executables icon in the icons drawer. See also the readme file in that drawer. Thanks goes to Byron Montgomerie for his work on the icon. 20/2/93 - I have received the Commodore copyright documents and licensing agreements etc and so hope to be able to resolve the issue of copyright of bmap files soon. - For v1.01 I have included the source code and docs for a Tiny BASIC interpreter written in ACE. *** v1.02 *** 18/4/93 - Commodore Australia have told me that they can't see any legal problems with distributing .bmap files with ACE, but I'll wait until I receive word of this in writing before I include them in the archive. - There is a new include file called julian.h which contains functions for converting dates into days elapsed since epoch 1900 and the latter back to the former. See days.b for an example. - Another new include file called fexists.h contains a single subprogram: fexists(X$) which returns a value of -1 or 0 depending upon whether the file X$ exists. - See docs/history for new features and bug fixes in v1.02. *** v1.1a *** 20/6/93 - include/sys_req.h has been modified because of changes in the way ACE deals with string value parameters. - prgs/gadget.b has been modified to accomodate the fact that an ACE screen's borderless window now handles Intuiticks. 29/6/93 - Note that the file "exists" is no longer required in the ACE bin directory for use by the "bas" script. - See docs/history for changes, additions and bug fixes in v1.1a. 10/7/93 - Note that because I am still awaiting a formal reply from Commodore Australia re: the copyright of .bmap files, this archive does not yet contain the bmaps. Hopefully by the next release I will have permission to distribute them. - I anticipate that the next version will only be a month or two away, but the current archive contains a sufficiently modified and enhanced ACE to warrant the release you now have. - There's a couple of new programs in the prgs drawer: BST.b and Messier.b. The first lets you create and manipulate binary search trees, viewing the results graphically. The second lets you interrogate the Messier catalog of astronomical objects in various ways. 1/9/93 - In order to fit the ACE files onto a single floppy disk, the TinyBASIC drawer has been included as a .lha archive. *** ACE v2.0 *** 12/12/93 - See utils/fd2bmap for an ACE .bmap creator. Thanks goes to Harald Schneider for his program fd2bmap.b. Send all bug reports/comments related to this program to me. 25/12/93 - Note (as per ace.doc and ref.doc) that in order to use ACE's new FileBox$ function under Wb 1.3 you must have arp.library in your LIBS: directory. 3/1/94 - See the AIDE drawer for an Integrated Development Environment written in ACE. This program currently only runs correctly under Wb 2.04 and higher. The source code is provided for anyone wishing to get it working under Wb 1.3. See AIDE/AIDE.doc for more. 9/1/94 - There's a stack of new features in version 2.0 of ACE, so take the time to browse through the docs. 10/1/94 - As of this version, most of the example programs are in a separate archive to let you choose where to put them (eg: onto a separate floppy or in with the other programs in the prgs directory) depending upon your Amiga's storage capabilities. 16/1/94 - See the utils directory for a program (ab2ascii) which converts files saved in AmigaBASIC's compressed format into ACE-readable ASCII files. Thanks goes to Stefan Reisner for this utility. 17/1/94 - See the utils directory for a simple program called pager.b which is designed to let you easily print the ace.doc file. See the comments at the top of the program source, compile and run the program, then just follow the prompts.