Topic       : The ATARI Compendium
Author      : Scott Sanders / JAY Software
Version     : 1.25 (20/6/2003)
Subject     : Documentation
Nodes       : 1117
Index Size  : 32614
HCP-Version : 6
Compiled on : Atari
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@lang       : en
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                            Programming Languages


'C'

'C' has become the default standard for Atari computer programming. Most
reference books and materials illustrate OS functions using 'C' style
bindings. This book is oriented towards 'C' without, hopefully, alienating
developers who develop in other languages. Several different 'C' compilers
exist in the Atari domain. All have their various features and quirks which
make it necessary to be familiar enough with your implementation to modify
the source contained in this reference appropriately.

All 'C' bindings in this book were created for use with Lattice 'C' by
Hisoft, Inc.. They should be easily convertable to other major Atari 'C'
compilers.

Luckily, most 'C' compilers agree with their function naming and in most
cases you can simply call the function as listed. If you have an older
version compiler you may need to add some bindings using the information
provided in accordance with your compiler's recommendations.

Assembly Language

For the convenience of assembly language programmers, all functions are
listed with their opcode and related binding. In addition, a section
provided in front of the function reference will explain the calling
conventions for functions in that category.

All assembly listings in this book were created for use by the AS68 compiler
included in the Atari developer's kit.

BASIC

Depending on the type of BASIC you utilize, functions may be named
identically or differently from what is listed in this book. It is
recommended that you seek a BASIC compiler that gives you proper access to
all of the functions of the machine or familiarize yourself with a more
robust language.

Other Languages

Various other languages exist in the Atari domain. Pascal, Forth, 'C++', and
others have implementations that are similar in design to 'C'. You should
refer to your language manual to properly utilize information found in this
reference.