This page (revision-270) was last changed on 26-Mar-2023 02:03 by Administrator 

This page was created on 20-Feb-2010 19:16 by Carsten Strotmann

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Page revision history

Version Date Modified Size Author Changes ... Change note
270 26-Mar-2023 02:03 17 KB Administrator to previous
269 26-Mar-2023 02:02 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last
268 26-Mar-2023 02:01 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last
267 26-Mar-2023 02:00 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last ACTION Source Code ==> Action Source Code
266 26-Mar-2023 01:59 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last
265 26-Mar-2023 01:58 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last
264 26-Mar-2023 01:56 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last Remove links to delete manual pages
263 26-Mar-2023 01:22 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last Fix SF links
262 26-Mar-2023 01:21 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last
261 26-Mar-2023 01:18 17 KB Administrator to previous | to last Move manuals to Sourceforge

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At line 7 changed one line
Action! is an Atari-specific programming language written by Clinton Parker and sold by Optimized Systems Software (OSS) in ROM cartridge form starting in August 1983. It is the only language other than [BASIC|Basic] and [assembler]) that had real popularity on the platform and saw any significant coverage in the Atari press; type-in programs and various technical articles were found in most magazines. In comparison, languages like [Forth] and [Logo] saw much less use and almost no press coverage.
Action! is an Atari-specific programming language written by Clinton Parker and sold by Optimized Systems Software (OSS) in ROM cartridge form starting in August 1983. It is the only language other than [BASIC|Basic] and [assembler] that had real popularity on the platform and saw any significant coverage in the Atari press; type-in programs and various technical articles were found in most magazines. In comparison, languages like [Forth] and [Logo] saw much less use and almost no press coverage.
At line 15 changed one line
Action! had a number of limitations, none of them very serious. Variables were assigned to memory in procedures, not on a stack, so recursion was not supported internally. Curiously, Action! did not include support for floating point types, although such support is built into the machine's OS ROM (see [Atari BASIC] for details) and available to any programming language. This is a significant limitation in some roles, although perhaps not for its target market. It also lacked most string handling, but made up for this somewhat with a series of PRINT commands that made formatted output easy.
These design details helped increase performance, but the primary reason Action! was much faster than other languages of the era was due to its memory management model. In languages like C and Pascal, procedure calls use a stack of records known as "activation records" that record the values of variables when the procedure was called. This allows a procedure to call itself, as each call can have its own values, and it is this feature that allows recursion. This concept requires the manipulation of a stack, which in the 6502 was a non-trivial prospect given the CPU stack was only 256 bytes.
At line 17 added 4 lines
Action! solved this problem by simply not implementing activation records. Instead, the storage space for variables was allocated at compile time (not dissimilar to Atari BASIC's model). This meant Action! could not support recursion, but also eliminated the necessity to build and manipulate a complex stack. This dramatically lowers the overhead of procedure calls, and in a language that organizes a program as a series of procedure calls, this represents a significant amount of time.
Action! had a number of limitations, none of them very serious. Curiously, Action! did not include support for floating-point types, although such support is built into the machine's OS ROM (see [Atari BASIC] for details) and available to any programming language. This is a significant limitation in some roles, although perhaps not for its target market. It also lacked most string handling routines, but made up for this somewhat with a series of PRINT commands that made formatted output easy.
At line 79 changed one line
* [Action_manual_3rd-revised_edition_2018_by_GBXL|action_rev_3-5_GBXL_2018.pdf] ; size: 1 MB ; 3rd revised and enlarged edition (p) 2018 by GBXL. There is no better version worldwide! Thank you so much GBXL. We are deep in your debt! :-)))
* [Action_manual_3rd-revised_edition_2018_by_GBXL|action_rev_3-6_GBXL_2018.pdf] ; size: 991 KB ; 3rd revised and enlarged edition (p) 2018 by GBXL. There is no better version worldwide! Thank you so much GBXL. We are deep in your debt! :-)))
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!! Runtimes
* [OSS_ACTION_Programmers_Aid_Disk_100.atr]
!! ATR-Images
* [OSS_ACTION_Programmers_Aid_Disk_100.atr] ; rebuild from damaged discs and files around the world
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Now just these two are missing. Any hint, any help is welcome at any time. We would really appreciate your help in that case.\\
__As of 2020, just these two programs are still missing. They were published via OSS-BBS only! The number was: +1 (408) 438 - 6775. Any hint, any help is welcome at any time. We would really appreciate your help in that case.__\\
At line 225 changed one line
Shape Editor and Animator for ACTION! \\
Shape Editor and Animator for ACTION!\\
\\
[{Image src='OSS-BBS_.jpg' width=556 height=310 }]
OSS-BBS with the number: +1 (408) 438 - 6775 where the two missing programs were published only!
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|[Trails]|#50 (01/ 87)|en|
|[Trails]|#50 (01/ 87)|en|tool for using the KoalaPad in ACTION!
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|[ACTION! Deel]| |nl|A collection of ACTION! Articles
|[ACTION! Deel]| |nl|A collection of ACTION! Articles
!ACTION! ads
[{Image src='00_first_ad_in_compute_Jul1983.jpg' width=600 height=802 }]
ACTION! first ad in Compute July, 1983 ; please take into account: 128-column screen and for Apple II & Commodore 64. Thanks to GoodByteXL!
!!!Cross Compiler for ACTION!
* [http://gury.atari8.info/effectus/] ; Thank you soooo much Gury! That is totally incredible, we now can use high end editors, eclipse and have the results in a flash! We are deep in your debt! Thank you so much, really. :-)