Neat idea! Questions/comments:

1. What are you using for the input and output devices? Serial port to the PC?

2. PEEK and POKE access memory, which on the 68000 meant access to everything (there were no I/O ports). Wouldn’t you want something equivalent to access the Arduino’s I/O ports?

3. LOAD/SAVE seem like a good way to save a BASIC program, so it can run immediately the next time you power-up. Would allow a program to run without requiring any user inputs.

Some things have been lost in translation… :-)

It seems that the standard libraries (and the stack space it needs to work) for an Arduino project requires about 550bytes of RAM, I use 7 more for the interpreter, everything else is free for your BASIC code.

The sketch itself is 6,516 bytes, and an nearly empty sketch that echos characters on the serial port takes 1,662 bytes – so BASIC take 4,854 bytes. On a ATmega168 you have another 7K or so for implementing your own statements or functions

I’ve adapted mine to work on my Pololu 3pi robot – a function to read the sensors and a few keywords to drive the motors and sleep a while.

And as everybody says, it’s not much use for anything,…

Sometimes, “Because you can” is reason enough. Sure it’s easy to be sloppy in BASIC, but you can build bad habits in any language. Look at it from the other side, if your BASIC is bullet-proof, then perhaps you can be trusted to use another less forgiving language.

True, I don’t know anyone who wrote “mission critical” applications in BASIC, but then how many times did an Arduino go up space? Probably zero.

I would however trust an Arduino to run a sprinkler system, perhaps the single traffic-light in a small town. But I wouldn’t bet my life on either BASIC or an Arduino.

All tools have a “Best Use” and “Also can be used for” uses, even a rock can be used as a paperweight.

wow, who would have thought? basic ON an arduino, not “TO” an ard. but ON.

no installation of software, no dependencies, no port95nt, no adminrights, JUST PROGRAMMING!

… this will allow you to do manual commands without erasing/wearing-out your flash every 10 seconds… ie you dont hav to write a program, just to debug your electrical connections/circuits!

PS: here is SOME missing code from the .pde IF your using it in Arduino enviornment AND your a noob at programming in general:

***** code clips start *****

‘D’,'E’,'L’,'A’,'Y’+0×80,
‘O’,'U’,'T’+0×80,
‘I’,'O’,'D’,'I’,'R’+0×80,

#define KW_DELAY 18
#define KW_OUT 19
#define KW_IODIR 20

case KW_DELAY:
goto mydelay;
case KW_OUT:
goto out;
case KW_IODIR:
goto iodir;

mydelay:
{
short int value;
short int udv;
unsigned char *address;
// Now get the value to assign
expression_error = 0;
value = expression();
if(expression_error)
goto invalidexpr;
udv = value;
// check for a comma
ignore_blanks();
if (*txtpos != ‘,’)
goto syntaxerror;
txtpos++;
ignore_blanks();
// Work out where to put it
expression_error = 0;
value = expression();
if(expression_error)
goto invalidexpr;
address = (unsigned char *)value;
// printf(“Poke %p value %i\n”,address, (unsigned char)value);
if (value == 0)
{
delay(udv * 1000);
}
if (value == 1)
{
delay(udv);
}
if (value == 2)
{
delayMicroseconds(udv);
}
// Check that we are at the end of the statement
if(!check_statement_end())
goto syntaxerror;
}
goto run_next_statement;
out:
{
short int value;
short int udv;
//unsigned char *address;
// Now get the value to assign
expression_error = 0;
value = expression();
if(expression_error)
goto invalidexpr;
udv = value;
// check for a comma
ignore_blanks();
if (*txtpos != ‘,’)
goto syntaxerror;
txtpos++;
ignore_blanks();
// Work out where to put it
expression_error = 0;
value = expression();
if(expression_error)
goto invalidexpr;
//address = (unsigned char *)value;
// printf(“Poke %p value %i\n”,address, (unsigned char)value);
/*
if (value == 10)
{
delay(udv * 1000);
}
if (value == 1)
{
delay(udv);
}
*/
if (value > 1)
goto syntaxerror;
if (udv 1)
goto syntaxerror;
if (udv < 2)
goto invalidexpr;
pinMode(udv, value);
// Check that we are at the end of the statement
if(!check_statement_end())
goto syntaxerror;
}
goto run_next_statement;

***** code clips end *****

PPS: i will still be using my arduino and bare AVRs as usual, its just useful for testing transistor or display ect

PPPS: i hav yet to do a simple INP statement but similar to OUT