🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug28.092454.1412@news.Hawaii.Edu> anash@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Dana Uehara c/o Andrew Nash) writes:
>However, with a few computer programs written in BASIC the commands "GET"
>and "PUT" seem to be the culprits in locking up the computer.  When deleted,
>the programs appear to run normally.  But when kept, the commands either
>produce strange graphics on the screen or completely lock up the computer
>so I have to reboot the system to do any further work.

This is usually caused by passing very strange parameters to the GET and
PUT functions.

If many programs by different authors fail on your computer, it is possible
that you have a hardware problem.

>DEBUG.COM hasn't really been much help because I'm not familiar with machine/
>assembly language (I'm more familiar with BASIC).  One of the commands I
>encountered, however, when using DEBUG had a statement "LOCK".

No one would intentionally design an instruction to lock up a computer
into an assembly language and call it that.  (They'd give it a better
name, like "HALT".)  The "LOCK" you saw is a prefix to another instruction;
it tells the CPU that the instruction is to be run without interruption.
This sort of thing is useful when dealing with interrupt handlers or
task switching.

>Any advice would be appreciated.

First, don't use DEBUG to debug a BASIC program.  BASICA is an interpreter,
not a compiler, so you are NOT going to get very far.

Second, I suggest that you look at the TRON, TROFF, STOP, GET, and PUT
entries in your BASIC manual.  TRON and TROFF let you trace the progress
of a BASIC program.  STOP lets you set a breakpoint in the middle of the
program so that you can take a look at the program's current state.  The
GET and PUT entries are important for obvious reasons.  Check out the
space requirements outlined under GET, because those are probably being
being violated.

Good luck!

   Stephen

-- 
"Beware of programmers who     Stephen Trier
 carry screwdrivers."          Network Services Engineering, IRIS/INS/Telecom
       Leonard Brandwein       Case Western Reserve University
                               trier@ins.cwru.edu