Re: BASIC & strings [Was: Why use Basic at all? (was Re: BASIC with built-in matrix functions?)]

On Aug 26, 6:12 pm, "Judson McClendon" <ju...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Phred" <ppnerkDELETET...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > "Judson McClendon" <ju...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >>"Phred" <ppnerkDELETET...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> >>> I still use GWBASIC (on Win XP Pro :) for playing around with data
> >>> that need to be "shuffled".  If the job is a bit more complex I use
> >>> QB4.5.  (And, if I can ever find my old PDS7.1 floppies, and if they
> >>> still work, I'll try to install that instead of using 4.5 ...
>
> >>Why in the world would you want to write anything in GWBASIC?
>
> > Horses for courses.
>
> > Some things are just quicker to do by invoking "GW" and typing in a
> > few lines of code.  But I agree with you, I also invoke "QB" for
> > anything that's a bit more complex, and especially if I see value in
> > saving a program to use again later.
>
> My point is that it's *never* quicker! Consider:
>
> GWBASIC:
>
>     GWBASIC
>     1 PRINT "Hello World!"
>
>     31 keystrokes.
>
> QBASIC:
>
>     QBASIC
>     PRINT "Hello World!"
>
>     28 keystrokes.
>
> And this is for a minimal program. Every single line you type will
require
> at least two more keystrokes for GWBASIC than QBASIC, up to 10
> lines (0-9), and from then on at least 3 more keystrokes. GWBASIC is
> never, ever, ever quicker! Even if you renamed the EXE files to a single
> letter, that line number on a single line will take more keystrokes with
> GWBASIC than QBASIC. Oh, and QBASIC will take '?' for print just
> like GWBASIC will, so there's no advantage there. Ever. Q.E.D. ;-)


First, let's not count the # of characters in the program name. It
takes a sec to setup a .bat file with a one or two character name to
start either. So, without that, we have in GW Basic:
1 ? "Hello World!"

19 keystrokes, counting the <cr> at end of line. And the spaces
probably weren't required.
And as for the numbers - ever heard of the "AUTO" command?
Automatically generates your line numbers for you...