QBasic syntax error?

Why does QBasic give me a syntax error with this code?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DATA 0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,2 '11100001011100

CLS

WHILE TI < 2 AND INKEY$ = ""

READ TI

IF TI = 0 THEN

IF I = 0 AND P = 1 THEN PRINT "1";
IF I = 1 AND P = 1 THEN PRINT "0";
P = P + 1
IF P = 2 THEN P = 0

END IF

IF TI = 1 THEN

I = I + 1
IF I = 2 THEN I = 0
IF I = 0 THEN PRINT "0";
IF I = 1 THEN PRINT "1";

END IF

WEND

IF P = 0 THEN END
IF I = 1 THEN PRINT "0" ELSE PRINT "1"

END

 

Comments aren't permitted on DATA statements, memory serving.
When I get a moment, I'll double check that detail, though.

Jon

 

Yeah, then you can chase a latent bug a week and be just like
Microsoft.

 

Bingo! Kill the comment.

George H.

 

Hmm... C tends to be more dangerous when used by the ignorant.

petrus bitbyter

 

Now, now... for 'we bears of very little brain'* basic is a fine
language.
I've got several little programs that help me on my way.

GOSUB nitpick

All in good fun :^)
Hey there's this white fluffy stuff falling outside my window.
What's that?
And here's wishing all the SEBers a wonderful Holiday season!
I'm cutting out early to go decorate Xmas cookies at granma's with the
kids.

George H.



SUB nitpick
basic doesn't need line numbers anymore
the commands are still in caps, but I use lower case for variables
which makes it easier to read.
Robbie the Robot (a nice Asimov story.) was not on the screen with
Will Robinson. (Undoubtedly the worst Sci-fi series ever!)
RETURN

*no insult intended for other basic users.

 

Yeah, I went off and installed XP mode and then dragged my
entire Microsoft development environment (VBDOS, QB45,
QBASIC, QC2, ML/MASM, and a bunch of other "old tools") over
from an old machine and set up something I could test with.
Needed to do that, anyway. And yes, I did a quick test with
and without the comments and it worked without and didn't
work with.

This goes back to the 1970's, by the way. I used the original
Microsoft papertape BASIC (which I may still have in
papertape form if you can believe it) and had been "shocked"
that comments on DATA statements caused it to have parsing
problems. I was used to (1) languages that didn't support
comments, such as HP 2000F BASIC, and (2) languages which had
no problem with dealing with comments on DATA statements -- I
believe it was on a PDP-10, but memory is vague now. But I'd
never experienced one that couldn't handle something it
permitted.

I just figured that Microsoft's BASIC treated a DATA
statement almost like a REM statement -- it didn't parse it
or anything. It just accepted ANYTHING you typed there. It
was "your problem" and not theirs, what you did. Only at
run-time did it check and parse things. And since it was
nothing more than a keyword followed by unchecked text, they
took the easy way out and didn't bother supporting comment
recognition.

Still holds with their later tools, I see.

Jon

 

I forget to mention the code works ok with Borland Turbo Basic. I did
find that adding an extra '2' to the data list fixes the problem so it
runs right in QBasic. I'm just wondering why I need an extra data
character in one case and not the other?

-Bill

 

I've got QB45 installed. I run half a dozen programs.
It runs in this little minimalist screen resolution, which is kinda
quaint, reminds me of grad school.

George H.

 

There's talk of a foot or more of snow. But I'll believe it when I
see it. (I like the snow.)

George H.

 

I ordered a copy of power basic for $50, on someone's recommendation
(James A.?)
I haven't written anything in it yet though.

George H.

 

QB45 will run with 50 lines, if you want. If you set the DOS
box properties so that it starts with 50 lines, then QB will
use it. If not, QB45 will still be able to use 50 lines, but
you have to write a few lines of code then to force the line
change.

Jon

 

Because QBASIC doesn't accept comments. Borland most
certainly does, by comparison.

Jon

 

I don't think the comments are the problem. In one case with Turbo
Basic the line reads "DATA
0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,2 '11100001011100"

In the second case with QBasic, the line reads "DATA
0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,2,2 '11100001011100 "

All I did was add an extra 2 which fixed the problem. But looking at
the code, the extra 2 at the end is not needed, but QBasic says it is.

-Bill

 

qbasic is reading "2 'comment" as the last data value and can't
interperet that as a number.

Adding an extra datum stops it from looking at the last data value.

 

Comments are the problem. I went through a bunch of trouble
to set up a VM with a 32-bit Virtual XP and then copy all my
QBASIC stuff over from an older machine to try it out after
posting my response.

It was pretty easy to test. I didn't use just your code. I
used some I wrote, too, just to be absolutely sure.

No comments on DATA statements in QBASIC. The documentation
even mentions it: "A remark can be inserted on a line after
an executable statement if it is preceded by the single-quote
form of REM or if REM is preceded by a colon." Note the use
of "executable statement" in the above description. DATA is
not an executable statement.

Besides. I tried a lot of different ways to check this out.
You can't do it. Check it out yourself. It will actually read
up the comment, if you try using a string variable instead of
a numeric one. It is NOT a comment on a DATA statement. It is
part of the data, like it or not.

Jon

 

On Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:23:31 -0800 (PST), George Herold

Robbie the Robot was from "Forbidden Planet", which was a
classic sci-fi version of Shakespeare's "The Tempest".
Robbie appeared in numerous other movie and TV productions
over the years. (Regarding "The Tempest" / "Forbidden
Planet", Michael Crichton also "borrowed" the same basic
"creatures from the id" theme for "Sphere".)

Best regards,




Bob Masta

DAQARTA v7.10
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www.daqarta.com
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Science with your sound card!

 

Cool, I'll give it a try.

George H.

 

Oops, my fault I was thinking of Robbie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_(short_story)

George H.

 

Wow.. OK, apparently I screwed up too. All I can say is that Asimov's
Robbie (sans Robot) dates to 1939.

I never knew there were so many...

Oh it's just the 'hammer' I'm comfortable with.

Thanks, we had a great time at granma's, another family with twin boys
always joins us. They're six now, nothing like a pair of six year old
boys
to spice up the evening! I parked myself in a corner with a beer and
enjoyed the show.

George H.

Wow.. OK, apparently I screwed up too. All I can say is that Asimov's
Robbie (sans Robot) dates to 1939.