Seattle, Washington — November 24, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and Alan Bird are proud to announce the immediate availability of the new manual ProBASIC: Professional Modular BASIC Programming. ProBASIC enhances the Applesoft BASIC that is built-in to your Apple II computer. New commands and functions can be added to your programs. Programmers familiar with structured languages such as Pascal and C will quickly see the similarities between a ProBASIC module and a procedure or function.
ProBASIC was programmed by Alan Bird and published by The Software Touch in 1985. This new 52 page manual is the first printed manual for ProBASIC. A recently discovered command module expansion library, programmed by Alan Bird, has been added to the manual and the disk images.
Availability
ProBASIC: Professional Modular BASIC Programming is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production and fulfillment by Lulu.com. Disk images for the programs are available on the Apps page.
Features
- Table of Contents.
- 45 Command Modules are included, such as: ANYKEY, BUFFER, CASE, CIRCLE, DATE, DEC, DISK, FILLCHAR, FACTORAL, HEX, INC, LOCATE, READBLOCK, REST, STACK, TIME, and WINDOW.
- Modules may be written in BASIC or Machine Language. BASIC modules add modularity and structure that make it much easier to edit, debug, and maintain your programs. Machine Language modules greatly increase the speed of your programs.
- Variable conflicts are easier to avoid since each BASIC module has its own set of variables.
Author
Alan Bird has been a software engineer for decades, encompassing the Apple II, Mac, iOS, and other platforms. In 1984 he accepted a position with Beagle Bros in San Diego, which was a very popular Apple II software company known for its signature ads and product documentation that featured old-time artwork. There he developed programming utilities like Fatcat, D Code, Extra K, and Beagle Compiler. In 1986, Alan partnered with fellow Beagle developer Mark Simonsen to form a small software company called The Software Touch. They developed four products for that company along with TimeOut add-ons for the popular productivity program AppleWorks. Because of their experience with developing AppleWorks add-ons, Beagle Bros was hired by Apple to develop version 3 of AppleWorks. In 1990, he joined with another Beagle Bros spinoff called WestCode Software. There he developed a couple of applications for the Apple IIGS and his first Macintosh application, OneClick. In 1996, Alan started work for a rising star in the telecommunications industry, Qualcomm. He spent about five years as part of the Macintosh developer team creating Eudora – one of the earliest and most widely-used Internet email applications. Read more about Alan and his computing history at: https://alanlbird.wordpress.com
Producers
Brian Wiser — A producer of books, films, games, and events, as well as an Apple consultant, historian and archivist. Designer, editor, and co-producer of dozens of books including: Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From The Computing Revolution, Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition, What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition, and The WOZPAK Special Edition: Steve Wozniak’s Apple-1 & Apple II Computers. Producer/Director of the documentary film “Done The Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity“, his Browncoat Cruise convention with Firefly cast, and an extra in the movie “Serenity.” Co-producer of Beagle Bros and Applied Engineering websites, the retro iOS game Structris, and co-producer/writer for CallAPPLE.org and Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine. Brian is also the author of The Etch-a-Sketch and Other Fun Programs.
Bill Martens — Apple historian and enthusiast, programmer, President of Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and co-producer of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine, and books like: Cyber Jack, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints, The WOZPAK Special Edition, and What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition. Bill also co-produced and co-programmed the retro iOS game Structris. Bill is the author of ApPilot/W1, Beyond Quest, The Anatomy of an EAMON, and multiple EAMon adventure games. He is a systems engineer specializing in office infrastructures and has been programming since 1976. And he is the production editor for the A.P.P.L.E. website CallAPPLE.org, writes science fiction novels in his spare time, and is a retired semi-pro football player.
Publisher
Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has been a global Apple user group since 1978, with membership peaking near 50,000 in 1985. Offering many services, A.P.P.L.E. is also a book publisher and game developer, and has produced dozens of new book titles since 2013 and over 100 Apple software titles.
A.P.P.L.E. published the The WOZPAK Special Edition – a detailed book containing Steve Wozniak’s restored handwritten notes and printouts about his Apple II computer, as well as forewords from Steve Wozniak and other Apple legends. They also publish books such as: Graphically Speaking: Enhanced Edition by Mark Pelczarski, Tome of Copy Protection, Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From the Computing Revolution by Mike Harvey, What’s Where in The Apple: Enhanced Edition, The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book: Enhanced Edition by David H. Ahl, A.P.P.L.E. 1978 and 1979 magazine Compendiums, and the retro iOS game Structris.
Press information is available at: www.callapple.org/press
