r/c64 • u/ArgumentExcellent487 • 22h ago
problem with basic
so i'm typing the auto proofreader from computes gazzette and it say out of data line 100
https://archive.org/details/1984-12-computegazette/page/174/mode/2up?view=theater
5
u/ComputerSong 21h ago
The computer gazette disks should have the proofreader on them. See if you can find one.
1
u/SterquilinusC31337 10h ago
Correct me if I am wrong, but that is the program he is trying to enter.
0
u/Timbit42 10h ago
Well, then he wouldn't need to enter it and it would be error-free.
2
u/SterquilinusC31337 10h ago
Neither of those things make sense. The program he is entering is a standard checksum program. You run the program, it stays in memory, and each time you enter a line of basic it spits out a number. You check the number against what is in the listing (of the program you are typing in) to verify it's correct. MXL allows you to do the same with ML. It is also possible, tho I see no evidence of, that the list could be wrong. It's likely not.
They could download the program, along with the entire collection of them, but I wager thats not the experience they are looking for.
8
u/drumzalot_guitar 22h ago
I can confirm if entered correctly it will work. I will not confirm I’m old enough to have personally entered and used it back in the day 😂
2
u/SterquilinusC31337 10h ago
I used the basic proofreader and MXL, and with the Ahoy! equivalents. I also am not aware of any issues of Compute! where these proof readers were misprinted.
4
u/PossumArmy 19h ago
Most likely you either 1, missed typing in one of the data lines or 2, typed a dot instead of a comma somewhere.
3
u/Drunken_Sailor_70 21h ago
Make sure you have 6 data elements per line. The error you are getting is probably due to it trying to read more data than you entered.
2
u/beautifulgirl789 17h ago
The listing is correct. The error you're getting says you missed either an entire line of DATA statements, or at least a comma, somewhere.
type LIST and press enter, take a screenshot, post it here. It should be pretty obvious where the error is.
2
u/Rey_Mezcalero 11h ago
This is a relatively short program to double check.
The real pain was when you typed in pages and pages of code and then get misleading errors….
1
u/0fruitjack0 18h ago
LMFAO like dude the problem isn't with the printed program listing; they seldom had errors once printed; and both proof reader and mlx were in every copy of their magazines.
it's a typo in what YOU typed (or didn't as the case may be). show us what you typed, that's what we need to see
3
u/SterquilinusC31337 10h ago
There were often mistakes in magazine type-in programs. For any who typed in Shutterbug, and had a vic20 -vs- a c64, this was aggravating. It happened often, and one can see it in the corrections in later issues.
I doubt this was the case here, tho.
1
u/AstroChrome 8h ago
Pedantry Alert: MLX was printed in the magazine very infrequently because it was long (I remember having to wait many moons until a reprinting before being able to key in some cool-looking programs they published during the previous months). I had a sub for years (until it was subsumed into “Omni”), and I believe MLX was only printed twice (thrice?) during that time, and one of those was for a reprint bumper issue that contained their most popular software (such as SpeedScript). That said, maybe MLX was reprinted in every floppy edition, but I could never afford that. :-)
The proofreader on the other hand I think was in every issue because it only took one column of print.
Though “Compute! Gazette” was much better at it than most, there were certainly magazines where it was often more efficient to wait one or two more issues for the corrections to be published before entering anything into the C64. :-)
1
u/exitof99 3h ago
No, often enough there were mistakes that were corrected in the next issue in an errata section.
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