Here is a complete description of GSoft BASIC in the form of an online ad from the era of the Apple IIGS.

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GSoft BASIC

GS-25 GSoft BASIC 1.2.0

Catalog Number: GS-25

Price: $60.00

Includes:

329 page spiral bound manual, index, table of contents

2 800K ProDOS disks.

 

System Requirements:

Apple IIGS

System 6.0 or better

1.125M RAM (2M recommended)

3.5 Floppy Disk Drive

Additional 3.5 Floppy Disk Drive or a hard drive recommended

 

GSoft BASIC is the long-awaited answer to the Applesoft programmer who wants to move to GS/OS, or the programmer who needs a quick way to create a program without the hassle of a full compiler. You can choose between an extended Applesoft-like environment that will feel comfortable to any Applesoft programmer, but that includes extensions like RENUMBER and a full screen editor; or a version that runs from any ORCA compatible shell. (The ORCA shell is not included.) Either way, you can turn finished programs into applications that launch from the Finder using a simple utility that adds a run-time module to your BASIC program.

GSoft BASIC has all of the extensions you'd expect from a modern BASIC, like optional line numbers, PRINT USING, LINE INPUT (no comma problems!), structured statements and true subroutines and functions. It can use all of your available memory, so you can write huge programs that use lots of variable space. Strings can be up to 32767 characters long, double precision floating-point is available, and GSoft uses integer math for speed, supporting both short and long integers.

Unlike any other Apple IIGS BASIC, GSoft BASIC truly supports toolbox programming. Toolbox programming requires the use of pointers and records, something other BASICs don't have. GSoft BASIC has both.

While GSoft BASIC is an interpreter, and doesn't link directly with compiled and assembled programs, it still supports many of the popular ORCA programming tools. The Applesoft-like shell that comes with GSoft BASIC can use any ORCA compatible editor; you get a version of GSoft BASIC that will work from any ORCA compatible shell; GSoft BASIC works with ORCA/Debugger and Splat!, as well as any other ORCA compatible debugger; and GSoft BASIC supports user tools for adding subroutines written in other languages. There are even samples of user tools written in assembly language.

So whether you are an experienced programmer looking for an environment for quick prototyping or a BASIC programmer from way back who wants a familiar language with all of the features you need to take advantage of the Apple IIGS, GSoft BASIC is a program you'll want to have for your Apple IIGS.

Here are just some of the major features you'll find in GSoft BASIC:

Language Features

• Full access to the Apple IIGS Tools.
• Write desktop programs, text programs or graphics programs that use QuickDraw without using the entire toolbox.
• Define and access your own libraries using User Tools.
• No fixed limit on program or variable space.
• Optional line numbers.
• Modern control statements, including:

  IF-THEN-ELSE

  DO-LOOP

  WHILE-WEND

  SELECT CASE

• PRINT USING
• LINE INPUT (For reading text with imbedded commas.)
• Named subroutines and functions with passed parameters and local variables.
• Disk I/O commands.
• Data types include SINGLE, INTEGER, LONG, DOUBLE, BYTE and STRING. Strings can be up to 32767 characters.
• Create types with names for easier to read programs.
• Supports records and pointers.
• Dynamic memory commands, including ALLOCATE, DISPOSE and SIZEOF.
• Loads Applesoft programs. Incompatible lines are flagged for manual change.
• Full toolbox support, including support for GS/OS, the ORCA shell and Talking Tools.
• Access to other languages via user tools.
• Includes two User Tools Libraries, with source code:

  Game Paddle for accessing the game paddle ports.

  Time and Date for reading the system clock.