iX Computer Systems - Edition 1 (32715-90001)

2-: 1

Chapter 2 Program Development Environment

Introduction

HP Business BASIC/XL's program development environment is a line editor

and program interpreter that aids in program development and manages

program files. HP Business BASIC/XL also has a compiler to compile

programs. Compiled programs run faster than interpreted ones, so it is

often a good idea to develop a program in the interpreter and compile it

once it is running correctly. The compiler is explained in chapter 9.

The material in this chapter is summarized below:

TITLE CONTENT

The Interpreter How to enter the interpreter.

The Current Program General information about the structure of a

program currently in the interpreter.

Creating and Modifying a How to create and modify an HP Business

Program BASIC/XL program; how to name it, list it,

and protect it from listing and

modification.

Managing Program Files How to save a program on a disk file,

retrieve it, and execute it; how to make it

executable but protect it from listing and

modification.

Debugging a Program How to suspend program execution to examine

variable values and change code, and then

resume execution from the same point; how to

trace line execution and changes in variable

values.

HELP Statement How to display information about HP Business

BASIC/XL statements, commands, and errors.

Accessing the Operating How to execute operating system commands

System from HP Business BASIC/XL.

Calculator Mode How HP Business BASIC/XL evaluates

expressions that are not within programs.