Author........Zeda Thomase-mail........xedaelnara@gmail.comProject.......GrammerVersion.......2.50.1.7Last Update...20 February 2019Language......EnglishProgramming...AssemblySize..........2-Page app
To follow the progress of Grammer, check out Omnimaga, Cemetech or GitHub, where development is most active.
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to email me or post in the forums!
Grammer is a powerful programming language for the TI-83+/84+/SE calculators. Unlike TI-BASIC, it is not designed to do math and as such, Grammer math is fairly limited in some respects. This also means, however, that it uses a math system with its own tricks and optimizations. If you are going to learn how to effectively use Grammer, you will first need the Grammer interpreter on your calculator (this document assumes you have the latest version of the Grammer App). After that, you should become familiar with Grammer's:
First, send Grammer 2 to your calculator. If you have this document, I assume you have the App.
Next, run the app on your calc. Grammer is now installed until your next RAM clear.
If you want to make a program, you have to remember two very important things:
.0:
Now, before I explain all the technical stuff, could you to create this program and run it?
:.0:Return:ClrDraw:Text(0,0,"YUM:DispGraph:Stop
It should look like this:
To understand pointers, you have to understand how memory works. First, every byte of memory has what is called an address. An address, is a pointer to that byte. For example, the first byte of memory is at address 0, the second byte is at address 1, et cetera. On these calcs, there are 65536 bytes of memory addressed at a time. The last 32768 bytes are RAM. This is where your program and everything in it is stored. This has some powerful implications. If you have a pointer to a section of code and you tell Grammer to start executing there, it can jump there immediately. If you have a pointer to a string, you can use that pointer to draw the string or use it. This means you don't have to create any external variables for your strings or sprites. If you want to create an appvar for save data, having the pointer to that lets you edit the data, save to it, or read from it. Pointers are powerful. As such, you will probably be using them frequently. It is not coincidence that Grammer vars hold 16 bits and pointers are 16-bit.
Vars are two byte values. These can hold a 16-bit number, so these are well suited to holding pointers. These are all the letters A
to Z
and θ
and A'
to Z'
and θ'
. For readability, you can use the lowercase letters instead of A'
, for example.
How do you store to these? Like all BASIC programmers know, use →
. For example: 3→A
Likewise, for a string: "Hello World→A
Don't be fooled, that does not store the string anywhere. It just stores where the string is located in A.
So if you change the byte at A, you will change the "H" in your program. If you want to try it, run this program and then check the source again.
:.0::"HELLO WORLD→A:int(A,47:Stop
You will see that after running the program, it now says "QuartReg ELLO WORLD"
! That is because we changed the first byte of the string to the value 47
, which corresponds to the token QuartReg
. Be careful! Not all tokens are one byte-- lowercase letters are a notorious example of two-byte tokens.
Pointers are also useful with labels or finding programs. Anything that requires searching, actually. For example, to goto a label, you would do something like Goto Lbl "HI
and that would jump to the label named .HI
. You can also get a pointer to this label. If you need to jump to that label often, this saves lots of time by not having to search for the label every time. Remember, everything is math in Grammer:
:.0:Return:Lbl "HI→A ;Locates the label .HI and stores its pointer to A.:Repeat getKey(15 ;`getKey(15` returns 1 if clear is being pressed:prgmA ;This calls the subroutine pointed to by A:End:Stop:.HI:B+1→B:Text('0,0,B ;Displays the number B at (0,0):DispGraph:End ;End the subroutine
Remember to always End
your subroutines! Now I want to take time to finally start explaining some code. Labels can be a bit more descriptive than in BASIC. You can use up to 42 bytes for a name, technically, but try to maintain readability. You can also use pretty much whatever tokens you want in a label name. For example, I had a label named ICircle(
that I had draw inverted filled circles. Lbl
takes a string argument where the string is the name of a label. It returns the pointer to the line after the label.
Goto
and prgm
let you redirect your program. Goto
jumps to the code and prgm
will execute the code and return once it gets to End
. Both of these take a pointer to figure out where to go.
Repeat
works like it does in TI-BASIC. It first executes the code between Repeat
...End
and then it tests the condition. If the result is 0, it repeats the procedure. If it is anything else, it stops looping and continues after the End
.
getKey
gives you two ways to read keys. Key codes are different in Grammer from TI-BASIC. The first way is to use it like you would in TI-BASIC. For example, getKey→A
stores the current keypress in A. You can also use something like getKey(15
to quickly test a specific key. This is great if you want to use multiple key presses. I shamelessly stole this wonderful idea from Axe, I think. Or maybe somebody suggested it to me? I can't remember.
See the Math documentation.
See the Drawing documentation.
Here are a bunch of commands that do not fit in the drawing or math category. This is a whole lot of info (about 9 pages), but I made some examples later on so that you can figure out how to use these better :)
Example | Token | Grammer | Description / Example |
---|---|---|---|
a→b | → | → | Stores a value to a var. Ex. Return→A' will store the value output from Return to A' . |
a→ib | →i | →i | Stores a Grammer variable to an OS Real variable. For example, 3→iA will store to the OS Real var A . |
a→Str1 | →Str* | →Str* | Stores a Grammer string to an OS string variable. For example, "Hello→Str2 will store to Str2, and "Hello→Str20 will store to the hacked string 20. Keep in mind that the Str0 token corresponds to string 10. |
a→bc | → | → | Stores a 32-bit value in two variables. →AB will store Ɵ' in A and Ans in B. So to store a 32-bit result from multiplication: A*D→AB . |
// | // | // | This is used to start a comment. The comment goes to the end of the line. A commented line is skipped. As a note, the user can include a comment after code. |
" | " | " | This starts a string. The output is a pointer to the string that can be used to reference it later. |
π | π | π | If you put a π symbol before a number, the number is read as hexadecimal. For example, π3F would be read as 63 . |
! | ! | ! | This has several uses. The first is to work like the not() token in TI-BASIC. So for example, 3=4 would return 0 because it is not true. However, !3=4 would return 1 . Likewise, !3=3 would return 0 . The other use is with loops and If . For example, If A=3 will test if A is 3 and if it is, it executes the code. However, !If A=3 will execute the code if A is not 3 . See If , If-Then, If-Then-Else, While, Repeat, and Pause If. |
i | i | i | This is the imaginary i. Use this to access OS real vars. For example, to read OS var A and store it to Grammer var A : iA→A . To store a Grammer var to an OS var: B'→iA . This does not read decimals or imaginary parts of a number. |
E | E | E | This indicates the start of a binary string. This is the exponential E . |
Name | Description |
---|---|
If | If the expression following is not 0 , the line following it will be executed. The line is skipped if it is 0 . Conditions are computed to the next newline. For example, you can have → and : in an If statement in Grammer. |
If-Then | This is similar to If except if the statement results in 0 , any code between and including Then and End will be skipped. This works like the TI-BASIC command. |
If-Then-Else | This is similar to If-Then , except if the condition is non-zero, only the code between Then and Else is executed, otherwise the code between Else and End is executed. |
!If | Like If , but executes if the condition is false. |
!If-Then | Like If-Then , but inverts the condition. |
!If-Then-Else | Like If-Then-Else , but inverts the condition. |
| For( | The arguments for this are For(Var,Start,End
. Var
is the name of a var, Start
is the starting value to load to the var. End
is the max value to load to the var. Executes the loop, incrementing the variable each time until Var=End
| Pause If | This will pause so long as the condition is true for example, to pause until a key is pressed, Pause If !getKey
.
| !Pause If | This will pause while the condition is false. So to pause until enter is pressed, do !Pause If 9=getKey
.
| While | Executes what is between While...End
so long as the condition is non-zero.
| !While | Executes what is between !While...End
so long as the condition is zero.
| Repeat | Executes what is between Repeat...End
and continues to do so as long as the condition is zero.
| !Repeat | Executes what is between Repeat...End
and continues to do so as long as the condition is non-zero.
:If A=B ;Since A=B is false, the following line is skipped:9→A
Or also:
:If 3=B→A:*14:-14 ;This is the full statement:Text(0,0,"Yay!
:If 3=4:Then:3→A:9→B:16→C:End
:If 3=4:Then:3→A:9→B:Else:16→C ;This is the code that gets executed:End
:Repeat getKey=15:End
!Repeat
checks if the statement is false in order to end. For example,
to remain in the loop while Enter is being pressed:
:!Repeat getkey=9:End
:For(R,0,48:Circle(32,48,R,1:DispGraph:End:Stop
:0→A→B:While getKey≠15:A+1→A:B-1→B:End ;This tells the While loop to End / restart!
Name | Description |
---|---|
Return | This returns a pointer to the next line of code. |
Goto | This is unlike the BASIC Goto command. This jumps to a pointer as opposed to a label. |
Lbl | This returns the pointer of a label. The argument is a pointer to the label name. For example, Lbl "HI will search for .HI in the program code. Also, you can specify which variable the label is in. For example, if you wanted to jump to a label in another program, you can add a second argument as the name of the var. For example, to find the label HI in prgmBYE: Lbl "HI","BYE |
Pause | This will pause for approximately x/100 seconds. So Pause 66 will pause for about .66 seconds. |
prgm | This is used to execute a sub routine. |
Func | The arguments are FuncPointer[,Counter . This will automatically execute the subroutine pointed to by <> based on Counter. Counter is based on an internal counter, not based on actual timings like seconds or milliseconds. The default is 128. See the examples below. |
Asm( | This can be used to run an assembly program. |
AsmPrgm | This allows you to input asm code in hex. (C9 is needed) |
ln( | This will let you jump forward or backward a given number of lines. |
L | The list L. Arguments are L line#,[start,[size,[EOL This let's you execute a specific line number. By default, it starts the line count within the main program, but you can pass an optional start value, an optional size value (default is 32768 bytes long), and an optional End-Of-Line argument (default is 63, the newline token). |
:Return→L:<<code>>:Goto L ;This jumps to the line after "Return→L"
An example with setting an interrupt
:FuncLbl "DISP:Repeat getKey(15:<<do stuff>>:End:Stop:.DISP:DispGraph:End
That will do DispGraph several times per second automatically.
Jump three lines with ln(
:ln(3:"NOT:"Executed:"YAY :D
Or to jump backwards:
:"YAY :D:"Erm...:"Yeah...:ln(-3
Name | Description |
---|---|
getKey | This returns a value from 0 to 56 that is the current key press. You can use this chart for values. |
getKey( | getKey( will allow you to see if a key is being pressed. For example, getKey(9 will return 1 if enter is pressed |
Input | This allows you to input a string. The pointer to the string is returned. (this is not a permanent location, the data will be overwritten the next time Input is used). To get a value input from the user, you can use expr( : expr(Input →A . This will store the result to A. Input can also take an optional string input. The input string will be displayed after what the user is typing. If you execute this code, I think it'll explain it better. It's honestly pretty cool for a calculator. |
Menu( | This requires the default package, GramPkg to be on your calc (in RAM or archived). Syntax is, Menu(y,x,w,"Header","Item0","Item1","Item2","Exit . It basically makes a pop-up style menu, returning the number of the selected item. |
Ans | This will return the value of the previous line. |
expr( | This will compute a string as a line of code (useful with Input ) |
inString( | This is similar to the TI-BASIC command. This will return the location of a sub-string. The inputs are where to start searching and the string to search for: inString(SearchStart,SearchString[,maxlength] . The size of the input string is returned in Ɵ' and if there was no match found, 0 is returned. |
length( | This will return the size of a variable (in RAM or Archive) as well as the pointer to the data in Ɵ' . For example, to get the size of the appvar named Data : length("UData→A . If the var is not found, -1 is returned. |
length(' | This is used to search for a line. For example, if you want to find a specific line number in a program, this is what you would use. The syntax: length('StartSearch,Size,LineNumber,[LineByte , StartSearch is where to begin the search Size is how many bytes to search in. 0 will search all RAM. LineNumber is the line number you are looking for. LineByte is an optional argument for what byte is considered a new line. The output is the location of the string and Ɵ' has the size of the string. If the line is not found, the last line is returned instead. |
.0:ReturnClrDrawText(°"(x,y)=( ;ClrDraw sets the cursor to (0,0), so I can use °expr(Input ",)→X ;I get the next input here. The string is ,)Text(,+1 ;This increments the X coordinate.expr(Input ")→Y ;This gets the Y value.Pxl-On(Y,X ;Or whatever you want to do with the coordinates.DispGraphStop
inString(
example.
:Lbl "DATA→A:inString(A,"How→B:.DATA:HELLOHowdyWoRlD!
This is a command subset. Commands start as solve(#,
# |
Name | Description |
---|---|---|
0 | CopyVar | solve(0,"VarName1","VarName2"[,size[,offset . This will copy the program named by VarName1 from RAM or archive to a new program named by VarName2. If Varname2 already exists, it will be overwritten. So for example, to copy Str6 to Str7: solve(0,"DStr6","DStr7 . This returns the pointer to the new var and the size of the var is in Ɵ'. The last arguments are optional. Size lets you choose how many bytes are copied (instead of just copying the whole var). You can also add an offset argument to tell where to start reading from. |
1 | CopyDataI | solve(1,loc i ,loc f ,size . This copies data from loc i to loc f . (Forward direction) |
2 | CopyDataD | solve(2,loc i ,loc f ,size . This copies data from loc i to loc f . (Backward direction) |
3 | ErrorHandle | solve(3,Pointer . This will allow your program to have a custom error handler. Pointer is 0 by default (meaning Grammer will handle it). Otherwise, set it to another value and Grammer will redirect the program to that location. The error code is returned in Ans. Ans and Ɵ' are put back to normal when the error handler completes. Errors: 0=ON , 1=Memory |
4 | CallError | solve(4,Error# . This will execute the error code of a Grammer error. For example, to make a Memory error: solve(4,1 . Using Error 2, you can input a string for a custom error: solve(4,2,"Uh-Oh! |
5 | PortWrite( | solve(5,port#,value . This writes to a port. Ports give information about peripherals. You can find ports documentation at WikiTi |
6 | PortRead( | solve(6,port# . Reads a byte from the port. |
7 | CopyVar | Copies variables |
8 | OverwriteVar | Overwrites variables with new data |
Here is an error handler example
:solve(3,Lbl "ERR:<<code>>:.ERR:If =1 ;Means there was a memory error:Stop:End
Name | Description |
---|---|
R▶Pr( | This will clear the particle buffer. |
R▶Pθ( | This will recalculate the particle positions and draw them. If you want to change the particle buffer, just add a pointer argument. Get("EBUF→A:R▶Pθ(A-2 |
P▶Rx( | This will add a particle to the buffer. Just use the pixel coordinate position. For example: P▶Rx(2,2 |
P▶Ry( | This will change the particle effect. 0 is normal sand, 1 is boiling, 2 lets you put in a basic custom rule set. If you want it to check Down, then Left/Right, then Up, use the following pattern: 0000 1000 0110 0001 2. That makes it first check down, and if it cannot go down, it then checks left or right, and if it cannot go left or right, it tests up. In decimal, that is 2145, so you would do: P▶Ry(2,2145 . To make things easier, though, you can just use a string. This will achieve the same effect: P▶Ry(2,"D,LR,U . Note that you do need the actual string, not a pointer. |
P▶Rx(' | This will convert a rectangular region of the screen to particles. The inputs are P▶Rx('Y,X,Height,Width . This scans the area for pixels that are turned on and adds them to the current particle buffer. |
Name | Description |
---|---|
▶DMS | Found in the angle menu, this is the "module" token. Modules allow you to extend Grammer's functionality. Grammer comes with a default module which must be included to use some functions (like the Menu command). Currently, you can have up to five other modules. For example, if you have a module packaged as an appvar called MyModule : "5MyModule→▶DMS . In order to execute a function MyFunc( from one of the modules, use : ▶DMSMyFunc . If you have the token hook enabled (from Grammer's main menu), it looks a little cleaner: "5MyModule→$ and $MyFunc , respectively. |
conj( | Warning: I have no knowledge of musical jargon, so excuse my mistakes. This is a sound command with three inputs. The syntax is conj(Note,Octave,Duration . Notes are: 0=C, 1=C#, 2=D, 3=D#, 4=E, 5=F, 6=F#, 7=G, 8=G#, 9=A, 10=A#, 11=B. Octave is 0 to 6. Duration is in 64th notes. So for example, a 32nd dot note uses 3/64th time. Duration is thus 3. |
conj(' | This sound routine has two different functions conj('Duration,'Period or conj('Duration,DataLoc,Size . This reads data for the period directly to save time (intead of converting numbers on the fly). Size is the size of the data in words, not bytes. |
These are the drawing commands. Some of these have alternate syntax that do very different things. This section alone is six pages.
Displays the graph screen. You can display another buffer by using a pointer. For example, DispGraphπ9872
The syntax is Circle(Y,X,R[,Method[,pattern[,buffer
.
This draws a circle using Y and X as pixel coordinates and R as the radius of the circle in pixels. Method is how to draw the circle:
Pattern is a number from 0 to 255 that will be used as a drawing pattern. For example, 85 is 01010101
in binary, so every other pixel will not be drawn. Use 0 for no pattern. If the bit is 0, the pixel will be drawn, if it is 1, it won't be drawn. Buffer is the buffer to draw to (useful with grayscale).
This is used to draw sprites to pixel coordinates. It is limited in some ways, compared to the Pt-On( command, but more flexible in others. The syntax is: Pt-Off(Method,DataPointer,Y,X,[Width,[Height[,Buffer
Method is how the sprite is drawn:
DataPointer is a pointer to the sprite data
Width is 1. More options may be due in the future, but for now, just put 1 :) The default is 1.
Height is the number of pixels tall the sprite is. 8 is default
This also draws sprites, but only to 12 columns (every 8 pixels).
This is slightly faster than Pt-Off(
and has the advantage of
variable width. It also has the DataSwap option that isn't present
with the Pt-Off(
command. Here is the syntax of the command:
Pt-On(Method,DataPointer,Y,X,[Width,[Height[,Buffer
This is used to draw lines. The syntax for this command is Line('x1,y1,x2,y2[,Method[,Buffer
So it is two sets of pixel coordinates and then the Method:
If Method is omitted, it uses 1
as the default.
Text( has a lot of neat features in Grammer.
By default, it uses a 4x6 fixed-width font, and can draw to 24 columns (much like the TI-BASIC Output(
command drawing to only 16 columns on the homescreen).
Font settings can be modified using the Output(
command, including loading custom fixed- and variable-width fonts, and selecting grid-aligned or pixel-aligned drawing.
Another feature is that text wraps to the next line and if it goes off the bottom, it wraps to the top.
To draw text, Text(Y,X,"Text
. "Text"
can be a pointer to a string.
To draw a number, use the '
modifier: Text('Y,X,99
To draw numbers as signed values, set the mode flag with Fix or 32
To draw a number in a specific base (use 2 to 32), add another argument: Text('Y,X,99,16
To draw at the end of the last text drawn, use a degree symbol modifier, °
to replace coordinates: Text(°"Text
Likewise, you can do this with numbers: Text('°99,2
displays 99 in binary
You can use /Text(
or Text(
r
for typewriter text mode (that is the superscript r
found at [2nd][APPS]).
This will display characters with a delay. The delay is chosen with FixText(
.
This will even display the individual letters in a token as if it is being typed. Here is an example:
/Text(Y,X,"HELLO
And you can use numbers and other operators, too!
To display a char by number, use: Text(Y,X,'#
To draw text as an ASCII string (instead of TI tokens), use ° before the string. For example: Text(Y,X,°"HIrandM(WORLD
That will display the text "HI WORLD" because randM(
corresponds
to the space char in the ASCII set.
To display 32-bit numbers, the upper and lower 16-bits must
be in a pVar. An example where B is the upper 16-bits and C' is
the lower 16-bits: :Text('0,0,BC'
Using the Text(
command with no arguments returns the X position
in Ans
and the Y position in Ɵ'
.
If you want to draw to coordinates based on the last drawn
coordinates, you can do something like this: Text(+3,+0,"Hello
.
But instead of +0, just leave it empty like this: Text(+3,,"Hello
This is used to draw rectangles. The syntax for this command is:
Line(x,y,Height,Width,Method
This turns a pixel on using coordinates (y,x). To draw to a specific buffer, add its pointer as a last argument.
This turns a pixel off using coordinates (y,x). To draw to a specific buffer, add its pointer as a last argument.
This inverts a pixel using coordinates (y,x). To draw to a specific buffer, add its pointer as a last argument.
This returns 0 if the pixel is off, 1 if the pixel is on.
This clears the graph screen buffer and resets the text
coordinates. Optionally, you can clear a specific buffer by
putting its pointer directly after. For example, ClrDrawπ9872
This clears the home screen buffer and resets the cursor coordinates
This sets the contrast to a value from 0 to 39. 24 is normal and
this is not permanent. An example is Shade(30
This draws a horizontal line on the graph. The syntax is
Horizontal y[,method,[,Buffer
This draws a vertical line on the graph. The syntax is:
Vertical x[,method[,Buffer
This is used to shift the screen a number of pixels. The syntax is: Tangent(#ofShifts,Direction[,Buffer # of shifts is the number of pixels to shift the graph screen Direction is represented as a number: 1 = Down 2 = Right 4 = Left 8 = Up You can combine directions by adding the values. For example, Right and Up would be 10 because 2+8=10
This will let you change the default graph buffer. For example, if
you don't want to use the graph screen, you can put this at the
start of the program:
:Disp π9872
Also, if you are using grayscale, you can use the following:
Disp '
will set the front buffer.
Disp °
will set the back buffer.
This command is used to draw tilemaps. There is currently one
method, but more should be added in the future. Here is the
syntax:
Pt-Change(0,MapData,TileData,MapWidth,MapXOffset,MapYOffset,TileMethod
Please note that the tile data and map data have to be raw bytes, as opposed to hexadecimal. There are some tools written in Grammer for creating sprite sets and tilemaps on TICalc or Omnimaga.
Stick around, this is a pretty full command list.
This is used to copy a picture to the current buffer. As an example of its use RecallPic 0
. This works for pictures 0 to 255 and archived pics.
This stores the contents of the current buffer to a picture. This automatically deletes a preexisting picture. You can use this to store to pictures 0 to 255.
Grammer doesn't really have any data structures which is both good and bad. Bad because it makes you have to think a little more about how to approach a problem, but good in that it allows you to create precisely what you need. This is where you will need commands to create variables, insert or remove data, and edit the data. I will also try to explain how to create some basic data structures like arrays and matrices. First, here are the commands you have to work with:
Name | Description |
---|---|
Get( | This uses a string for the name of an OS var and returns a pointer to its data. If the variable does not exist, this returns 0. If it is archived, the value returned will be less than 32768. Ɵ' contains the flash page the variable is on, if it is archived, otherwise Ɵ' is 0. As an example, Get("ESPRITES→A' would return a pointer to the data of prgmSPRITES in A' . |
( | Use this to read a byte of data from RAM |
{ | Use this two read a two byte value from RAM (little endian) |
int( | Use this to write a byte of data to RAM. |
iPart( | Use this to write a word of data to RAM, little-endian (a word is 2 bytes). For example, to set the first two bytes to 0 in prgmHI: Get("EHI→A:iPart(A,0 |
Send( | Use this to create Appvars or programs of any size (so long as there is enough memory). For example, to create prgmHI with 768 bytes: Send(768,"EHI . Programs must be prefixed with "E" , protected programs "F" and appvars "U" . Lowercase letters are allowed! :) |
[ | Store a sequence of bytes to a given location. For example, A[1,2,3,4 will store 4 bytes at A. You can also store some elements as two-byte words by using the ° token. A[1,2,3°,4 |
[[ | Stores a sequence of 2-byte words. A[[1,2,3,4 |
[( | Stores hexadecimal input as raw data. A[(3C7EFFFFFFFF7E3C |
IS>( | This is used to read memory. The argument is one of the pointer vars. It reads the byte pointed to by the pvar and then the pvar is incremented (so consecutive uses will read consecutive bytes). |
Archive | Follow this with a var name to archive the var. For example, to archive prgmPROG , do this: Archive "EPROG . |
Unarchive | Use this like Archive , except this unarchives the var |
Delvar | Use this like Archive , except this will delete a var |
sub( | Use this to remove data from a variable. the syntax is: sub(#ofBytes,Offset,"Varname . For example, to delete the first 4 bytes of program Alpha: sub(4,0,"EAlpha . |
augment( | This is used to insert data into a var. The syntax is: augment(#ofbytes,Offset,"VarName . For example, to insert 4 bytes at the beginning of appvar Hello : augment(4,0,"UHello . |
Display the first 4 bytes of prgmPROG using IS>(
:Get("EPROG→Z:Text('0,0,IS>(Z,16:Text('°IS>(Z,16:Text('°IS>(Z,16:Text('°IS>(Z,16
Now let's make an array! First you need to know what you want. Do you want to have 2-byte pieces of data or 1-byte? I like using one byte, so here is what we do:
:.0:Return:Send(256,"VDat→Z ;We create a TempProg with 256 bytes of data called Dat.:Z[rand,rand,rand ;write 3 random bytes.:ClrDraw:For(3:Text('°Is<(Z ;Display the value at byte Z. Also increments Z.:Text('°",:DispGraph:End:Stop
That didn't really need a 256-byte variable, but I figured I would show how to
make one. Anyways, what that did was make a 256-byte tempprog (which the OS
automatically deletes once control is returned to the OS and you are on the
homescreen). Then, we stored 3 random values to the first three bytes, then we
displayed those values with commas after each number. If you want to use that 256
bytes for a matrix, instead, you can make it a 16x16 matrix and access elements
using a formula. For example, to read (Y,X): (Z+X+Y*16
. That means that the data is stored in rows. That is why we take the row number and
multiply by 16 (that is the number of elements per row). This happens to be the
syntax that tilemaps are stored (stored in rows).
Name | Description |
---|---|
Fix Text( | Use this to set the typewriter delay. The larger the number, the slower the typewriter text is displayed. |
Fix | See description below. |
Full | This is used to set 15MHz mode. Alternatively, if you add a number to the end Full0 sets 6MHz, Full1 sets 15MHz, Full2 toggles the speed. 15MHz is only set if it is possible for the calc. This returns 0 if the previous speed setting was 6MHz, 1 if it was 15MHz. |
| Output( | See description below.
Use this to set certain modes. For all the modes that you want to set, add
the corresponding values together. For example, to enable inverse text
and inverse pixels, use Fix 1+2
or simply Fix 3
Here are the modes:
2-Inverse pixels. Now, on pixels mean white and off means black. In assembly terms, it reads from the buffer, inverts the data and sends it to the LCD.
4-Disable ON key. This will allow ON to be detected as a key, too
If you want to use bit logic to set or obtain specific bits or info about the current modes, you can do things like this:
Stores the current mode value:
:Fix →A
Set the first three modes without changing the rest:
:Fix or 7
Toggles mode 4 (enable/disable [ON] key)
:Fix xor 4
This is used to change the font. The syntax is:
Output(0
will change to the default 4x6 font.Output(1
will change to the variable width font.Output(2
will allow you to use the 4x6 font at pixel coordinatesOutput(3,font
will let use Omnicalc or BatLib styled fonts.Output(°,#
will change the draw logic.The output is a pointer to the fontset (custom or standard set), which could be useful if you wanted to read or process the built-in set.
For Output(3,
remember that Omnicalc's font data starts at an offset of
BOLD
, you would do:
Output(3,11+Get("EBOLD
Using the output of Full
, we can test if a calculator allows 15MHz.
:Full ;Sets 15MHz if possible:If Full ;Sets 15MHz if possible, but also returns 1 if the previous `Full` was able to set 15MHz:Then:Text(0,0,"15MHz possible!:Else:Text(0,0,"6MHz only :(:End
You can use this as a guide to the key values output by getKey example, Clear=15
Also, there are the diagonal directions:
6=Down+Right7=Up+Left8=Up+Right16=All directions mashed
Here is code that changes X and Y based on key presses.
:X+getKey(3:min(-getKey(2,95→X:Y+getKey(1:min(-getKey(4,63→YParticles:.0::0→X→Y:Repeat getKey(15:R▶Pθ(:If getKey(9:P▶Rx(Y,X:X+getKey(3:min(-getKey(2,95→X:Y+getKey(1:min(-getKey(4,63→Y:End:Stop
I have to give special thanks to Yeongjin Nam for his work on writing a better tutorial for Grammer and as well Louis Becquey (persalteas) for his work on writing a french readme/tutorial. Both of them have also made many valuable suggestions that have helped make Grammer what it is right now. Thanks much!
I also thank Hans Burch for reconstructing Grammer 2 after I lost my work. It must have been a tremendous amount of effort and tedium, and I greatly appreciate it.
Finally, I would like to thank the sites that have let me get the word out about this project, especially Omnimaga and Cemetech.