S T A R L I G H T - 1.00a
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Welcome to StarLight, your entrance into the exiting world of programming.
StarLight features an implementation of the state-of-the-art programming
language Modula-2. To demonstrate the power of the language we have
developed two games for your ST, StarFinder and StarBlaster. Through
changing and developing these programs you will be able to quickly see
the results of your developing progamming skills.
The following notes, together with the StarLight manual, will help you
get the best from your software.
1.0 Getting Started
StarLight is supplied on two floppy disks for your ST. The first contains
the main program "STARLITE.PRG" and documentation files. If you have access
to a printer it is a good idea to print out these notes and the source of
the library definition modules (files with the extension ".DEF"). Also
print out the source of the two games (the files "STARFIND.MOD" and
"STARBLAS.MOD" on the second disk).
1.1 Running StarLight.
Make sure your ST is in low-resolution colour mode before starting.
To start the StarLight package, simply double click the icon marked
"STARLITE.PRG" on the first disk . When the program has loaded the menu
bar of the screen will show the StarLight menu options. Remove the first
disk and insert the second disk. Keep this disk in the drive whilst you
are running StarLight as it contains the games and the library modules.
1.2 Running the games.
You will need to have a joystick plugged into port 2 before trying the games.
To try one of the games select the "RUN" option from the StarLight menu.
A file selector box will appear containing some files with the file
extension ".LNK". Select the required game file ("STARFIND.LNK" for
StarFinder, "STARBLAS.LNK" for StarBlaster) and then click the "OK"
button. The game and library modules will then be loaded from the disk.
Both games start with a title screen, to proceed with the game press
the joystick fire button. The background screen will then load followed by
the game map and brush files.
2.0 The Library modules.
The first disk contains the source of the library definition modules.
One of the most powerful features of the Modula-2 language is that each
module can document its functions in the definition module. Each file
contains a description of what the module does, each facility available
to other modules, and a description of the use of each facility.
Some of the modules are the 'Standard' library modules as used by many
Modula-2 teaching books. The others are the special StarLight modules
written to aid games programs on the ST. The following list of files
describes the basic features of each module ;
2.1 The game library modules;
ArtStudio - Interface to the Rainbird Art Studio generated files
Colour - Control of the colour pallette
Joysticks - Interface to the tewo joystick ports
MCXBIOS - Low level Atari BIOS routines useful for games
RandomNumbers - Access to random number generator
Screen - General screen access and control interface
Sound - Atari sound chip interface
Sprite - Sprite handling routines
StarField - Star field generation and movement routines
Text - Text output to the screen interface
2.2 The 'standard' library modules ;
ASCII - The ASCII characters
Conversion - Conversion of numbers to strings and back
CursorMouse - Mouse handling
Display - Low-level display handler
FileSystem - Disk file system interface
GraphicWindows - Windows with graphic contents
InOut - General input/output
Keyboard - Low-level keyboard driver
LongInOut - InOut for long types
MathLib0 - Maths library
RealInOut - InOut for real numbers
Storage - Interface to the 'heap'
Strings - String manipulation module
TermBase - Base terminal driver module
Terminal - Access to terminal (screen/keyboard)
TextWindows - Windows with text contents
Windows - Window handling
2.3 The game modules ;
StarBlaster - A vertical scrolling space shooting game
StarFinder - A maze mapping game
TitleScreen - Starlight title screen module use by games
3.0 Editing text
The Atari ST is limited to the number of characters that can be displayed
whilst in low-resolution mode. Due to this fact it may be better to perform
long text editing sessions in medium or high resolution modes.
4.0 Debugging programs
The module 'System' provides the low-level routines used by the StarLight
programs. If a run-time error occours during a program it intercepts the
error and displays an alert box. This box displays the resason for the
error and the module which caused it. Up to three buttons may be displayed
in the alert;
a) "ABORT" - Selecting this button aborts the program and returns to the
normal StarLight menu options.
b) "IGNORE" - If the error was not caused by a 68000 hardware trap, the
error can be ignored and the program will continue. NB. This option
may cause other program errors according to the reponse to the first
error.
c) "DEBUG" - This option allows a user supplied debugging routine to
be called. This routine calls the procedure set in the variable
'debugger' in the System module.
For example, the following module prints its variable when the
"DEBUG" option is called;
MODULE MyProgram ;
FROM System IMPORT debugger ;
FROM InOut IMPORT WriteString, WriteInt, WriteLn ;
VAR var1, var2 : INTEGER ;
PROCEDURE DoDebug ;
BEGIN
WriteString("var1="); WriteInt(var1,3) ; WriteLn ;
WriteString("var2="); WriteInt(var1,3) ; WriteLn ;
END DoDebug ;
BEGIN
debugger := DoDebug ;
HALT ; (* Cause error *)
END MyProgram.
5.0 RamDisk
If you have a 1040ST or expanded 520ST you can use a portion of your memory
as a RAM disk. The program "RAMDISK.TOS" is provided on the disks which
allows the disk device "D" to be a RamDisk.