ok… probably an obscure (for some of you) reference to an Elton John song…
But thought I’d describe my progress on writing a PILOT interpeter for the iPad
PILOT is similar in some respects to LOGO (mentioned by Emile on another topic post), but it seems to have a more simple syntax, but do quite a lot of the same stuff.
For the most part PILOT statements consist of
a command (usually a single letter, although there are some longer ones)
an optional conditional
a mandatory colon [:]
an option argument
T:This is a test
would T]ype “This is a test”
The standard version has 3 types of variables
String -> $variablename
Integer -> #variablename [short Integer 16bit]
System -> %variablename (colors, cursor position etc)
For some reason String variable can have long names, but Integer variables are limited to a single letter [#X]… my version is going to allow long names for both.
So far I have a “terminal” like entry screen… and have most of the “direct” commands working
For me Pilot was a pen / was also a printer (an Apple Printer), but my memory may be wrong.
The below text follows the two conversations: “Teaching coding to a 5 and 8 year old” and “Take me to the Pilot” (this one) and combine them / push them a bit further.
The first step is to ask a good question and that was done there: “Teaching coding to a 5 and 8 year old”.
The second step was to have a good development environment for kids (welcome Dave).
The third step is with the two above, how can I welcome kids and make they want to use it / come back to it ?
The answer for this step, IMHO, is to speak to them: givin them things they like.
Example: how do I draw Mickey ?
How do I create a (simple) game ?
How do I improve the example game(s) ?
Walking in the stairs of programmation
In clear: provide example they will like to follow / use.
And what about tester ? Having a school handly is a mandatory (IMHO)
Conclusion (funny):
Providing a good language is one step;
to make sales (a viable business), we have to provide much more that the develipment environment:
Language References Books / Activities Bookss are as important as the Development environment
I stop here before before I fall into another thread
You have something here Dave, but as usual, this ask for work, hard work.
Success is key to generating interest
Its one thing where Xojo gets decent marks
You start a “project” and hit run
Yay look at that you built an app !!!
It doesn’t DO much but its a full blown app
Now you want it to say hello world ?
You drop a label on the window set the text and run
That is immensely powerful and interesting to a young mind
Not all want to learn to code (my grand daughter would rather play soccer or games on the iPad and school on a computer or iPad is just hell … literally)
But her younger sister ? OMG ! She loves this stuff
Pilot and Logo etc are all aimed at captivating those young minds
Have fun !
You never know where this could go
So far this has been an interesting experiment… I didn’t have to start at ground zero, since I had a lot of “bits” from when I ported my Xojo RetroBASIC project a few years ago…
I am basing this on the ATARI implementation, but if anyone can find a downloadable copy of the “APPLE PILOT LANGUAGE REFERENCE” (not the EDITOR guide). I would appreciate it…
Also, if anyone would like to SERIOUSLY be a Testflighter (in a few weeks)?
Ebay seems to have a number of apple pilot user manuals
Odd as this might seem I wonder if a local library would have a copy of such an old reference you could borrow ?
figures - I just found the page and didnt actually check to see about buying it
The library and maybe a loan from anther place the retains historical copies might be the “free alternative”
A lot of these materials predate the internet so its amazing what we CAN find
You might want to check the Internet Archive. It has indexed quite a bit of material that has been scanned in from various sources. I needed a copy of the DEC Systems and Options Catalog from the mid-90s last week and it directed me to a PDF scan it had in its database.
Yup… it is written in SWIFT… I used the core project for the XOJO -> SWIFT port I did of my retroBASIC interpeter… But due to the lexical differences had to make some changes to my tokenizer and expression evaluator …
Hey remember… PILOT was born in the early 80’s …
but not to worry this finished app will support “real” graphics too
I’ve decided to create a “virtual canvas” the will be (0-999 by 0-999) and will adjust to each device size… .so the same graphic results will look relatively the same regardless the size of the iPad
great…
I can’t seem to figure out a way to implement the equivalent of “Refresh” in Swift
My PILOT app works fine … until the entered PILOT code contains a “goto”.
The program runs (output can be seen in the debugger)… but my “terminal” object doesn’t update. SetNeedsDisplay is the equivalent of INVALIDATE. so if I break the loop, Poof the display catches up …
In that page, you will find a Pilot manual, two floppies, etc.
for the pdf manual, look here:
44MB.
I do not read it, yet and I hope this is what you want. Note that this cover is unknow to me (probably recent than the other one I recalled earlier, hours ago; I certainly saw it 35 years ago when I was working at Apple France). It was an A5 book with spinning iron (not glued).
I am stoned to see how many old stuff are in sale (and the prices)… I have tons of oldies from that epoch; I may be rich if I sold them all !
Name: Apple Pilot - Editors Manual
Part #: 030-0369-00
