0bacfcef6c
Graphics viewport and coordinate mapping: - VIEW [[SCREEN] (x1,y1)-(x2,y2) [,[fill][,border]]] with clipping - WINDOW [[SCREEN] (x1,y1)-(x2,y2)] with Cartesian/screen modes - PALETTE [attribute, color] with CGA 16-color remapping - PMAP(coord, func) for logical/physical coordinate conversion - All graphics statements (PSET, LINE, CIRCLE, PAINT, GET/PUT) respect viewport clipping and WINDOW coordinate mapping MBF (Microsoft Binary Format) float support: - CVS/CVD now interpret bytes as MBF format (compatible with real GW-BASIC) - MKS$/MKD$ now produce MBF-encoded bytes - Fixed shift errors in MBF↔IEEE conversion routines (single: 1→0, double: 4→3) - Random-access file I/O now byte-compatible with original GWBASIC.EXE 66 tests (2 new), 61 compat matches (up from 58).
2.0 KiB
2.0 KiB
Roadmap
The Big One
- GW-BASIC 2026 Compiler — ahead-of-time compilation of BASIC programs to native executables. Because nothing says "premature optimization" like compiling a language designed for an interpreter running on a 4.77 MHz 8088. But we've come this far, so why not? Likely approach: translate the token stream to C and lean on GCC/Clang for the heavy lifting.
Planned Features
- Hardware I/O simulator — an optional emulation layer for
OUT,INP,WAIT,MOTOR, and friends. The idea is to provide a virtual PC peripheral bus so retro programs that talk to the speaker, joystick port, or parallel interface can do something useful instead of silently no-oping. Think of it as a tiny museum exhibit for vintage BASIC hardware hacking. - MBF format support for binary LOAD — convert Microsoft Binary Format float constants when loading files saved by the original GWBASIC.EXE
IDE and Notebook Integration
- Jupyter kernel for GW-BASIC — a Jupyter Notebook kernel that runs
GW-BASIC programs cell-by-cell, with rich output for
PRINT, inline graphics rendering for drawing commands, and interactiveINPUTvia notebook widgets. Similar in spirit to foxkernel. - JetBrains plugin (IntelliJ/CLion) — full-featured language plugin with
syntax highlighting, code completion, line number navigation, run
configurations, debugger integration (breakpoints via
STOP, variable inspection), structure view (line number outline), and error annotations. - VS Code extension — language extension providing syntax highlighting (TextMate grammar), snippets, run/debug tasks, integrated terminal runner, and Language Server Protocol support for diagnostics and hover info.
Known Limitations
- String garbage collection not implemented (uses
malloc/freeinstead) - Maximum 256 variables, 64 arrays, 16 FOR nesting, 24 GOSUB nesting, 16 WHILE nesting
- Hardware I/O (
OUT,INP,WAIT,COM,MOTOR) not yet implemented