From: dnskiesling@telis.org (David Kiesling)
Subject: Re: PB 3.2 vs PB3.5 ?
 
On Fri, 16 Jan 1998 22:40:48 GMT, roger.lindfors@mailbox.swipnet.se
(Roger Lindfors) wrote:
 
>Is it worth upgrading from PowerBASIC 3.2 for dos to PB 3.5 ?
>What's new anyway? Only answer if you have purchased it.
 
Here's a snip from the readme.doc in PowerBasic 3.5 listing all of
what's new in 3.5. Sorry about the bad formatting, but that's how it
pasted. :)
 
 
    What's New in PowerBASIC 3.5
    ============================
 
    + $ELSEIF metastatement added for enhanced control of conditional
      compiling.
 
    + The ampersand character (&) can now be used to concatenate
strings:
 
         MyString$ = MyString$ & "1"
 
    + ASC statement added to allow placing a byte value into an
existing
      string:
 
        ASC(MyString$, 5) = 65   'change the 5th char to an "A"
 
      This is functionally equivalent to:
 
        MID$(MyString$, 5, 1) = CHR$(65)
 
      However, the ASC statement uses more efficient code.
 
    + ASC/ASCII functions support an optional parameter, which allows
      you to get the byte value of a character beyond the first byte
      in a string.
 
    + ASCIIZ string data type has been added.  An ASCIIZ string is the
      same as a fixed-length string, except that the last character in
      the string is always a null [CHR$(0)].
 
    + CONSIN function returns the status of input (keyboard)
redirection.
      If standard input originates from the console (keyboard), it
returns
      true (-1).  If redirected from a file, it returns false (0).
 
    + CONSOUT function returns the status of output (screen)
redirection.
      If standard output displays on the console (screen), it returns
      true (-1).  If redirected to a file, it returns false (0).
 
      Note:  Only text printed with the the STDOUT statement will be
      redirected to a file.  The PRINT statement prints data to the
      screen, regardless of output redirect status.
 
    + The CVI, CVL, etc. functions now support an optional parameter
      which is the starting location within a string to extract a
value.
      For example, to extract an integer value from the 5th position
in
      a binary string:
 
        x% = CVI(My$, 5)
 
    + FRE(-11) function added to return the number of free bytes in
EMS
      memory.  Before you allocate a virtual array, you should use FRE
      to make sure enough memory exists to hold the array.
 
    + Pointer variables now support 'indexes'.  This allows you to
assign
      a value to a pointer variable and access data as if it were an
array.
 
        DIM x AS INTEGER PTR
        x = Address???
        a = @x     'get integer at Address&
        b = @x[4]  'get integer at Address& + 8
 
      In this example, the 5th integer (index pointers all start at
zero
      and are not effected by the OPTION BASE value) is retrieved
without
      us having to modify the Address& value.
 
    + The REDIM statement now supports the optional PRESERVE modifier.
      This allows you to change the number of elements in an existing
      array without destroying its contents.  Note:  REDIM PRESERVE
 
Continued with next message...
 
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