Metal Reference

METAL REFERENCE This is METAL Reference , a brief tutorial in programming in METAL. Enjoy, Marin Saric Remember, if you have any comments, questions or bug reports write to sarimar@iit.edu Galactic Dreams Software webpage: <http://www.iit.edu/~sarimar/GDS> If it looks like you already know what the chapter is talking about, keep scrolling down. ================================================= *C* Contents ( a list of all the chapters ) ================================================= *1* BASIC stuff - (a quick start in BASIC language for those who don't know it) *2* Programming Control - (flow of control and other programming things) *3* Number Crunching - (Functions for manipulating numbers, math functions, etc.) *4* String Functions - (Functions for manipulating and creating strings) *5* Console I/O - (Simple Input/Output and other things about the METAL Console) *6* System Stuff - (Interaction with METAL Runtime and MacOS) *7* Files - (File manipulating commands) *8* Graphics - (Graphics.) *9* Sound - (Playing sounds and beeps; speech) *10* QuickTime(TM) - (Commands for using this piece of technology.) *11* Sprites -(For games. A little bit about those things from C64.) *12* Direct Screen Access - (If you render a lot.) ================================================= *1* BASIC stuff ( a quick start in BASIC language for those who don't know it ) ================================================= METAL is an extended variant of BASIC . BASIC stands for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. What this means is that BASIC is supposed to be a simple language that any one can learn and use to program pretty much anything. If you never programmed in BASIC before, the best thing to do is to get a good book or a tutorial (there is plenty on Internet) on any of the BASIC variants (QBasic, GWBasic, Chipmunk Basic, etc.) . In case you are adventurous, however, here is a quick start in BASIC: print "Hello my man!" input "What is your name?"; name$ print "Nice to meet you, ";name$ This is a BASIC program . Programs are like cooking recipes or laundry-lists. You do them in order. BASIC programs are also executed in order. In METAL, you run programs with command-R, or by choosing Run from the project menu. Here is what this program does when it's run. (The things I type in the computer are underlined . ) Hello my man! What's your name? Marin Nice to meet you, Marin There. Not so bad, huh? print and input are commands . name$ is a variable. In fact it is a string variable, because it contains characters. That's why it has a $ at the end. This makes sense. 'Print' and 'input' tell the computer what to do. Since print is tedious to write all the time (and many programs output a lot of things to the screen), you can also write '?' : ? "hohohoooo..." outputs hohohoooo... Sometimes you want the computer to decide what to do. Let's say you are ma…