Talk:ABC 80

message: It would be really nice if someone (maybe the guy who's responsible for the current benchmarks) could whip this up, since BBC Micro is also known to have an efficient BASIC interpreter. 93.182.164.65 (talk) 10:13, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: BBC Micro vs. BBC Micro BASIC benchmarks 

message: This series of computers is in the Luxor documentation consistently named ABC 80, not ABC80. So I will rename this page, and also ABC800, and
create a redirection page. 
A picture from the ABC 80 manual: http://www2.flickr.com/photos/altemark/128164292/
An ABC 806 manual with loads of pictures showing the ABC<space>number scheme: http://www.student.nada.kth.se/~d94-tan/notes/abc806/abc806.htm
--Regebro 12:52, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: ABC80 -> ABC 80 

message: Not sure "semi compiling" is the right term, really -- both ABC 80 and 800 used a bytecode-based BASIC, executed by a traditional virtual machine.  Not that different from e.g. today's Java JVM and Python, in fact.
To save memory, lines were immediately translated to bytecode when entered, and the compiler then threw away the source code.   When a program or line was listed, it was "decompiled" on the fly (the bytecode instruction set contained a few extra "nop"-codes to support reconstruction of comments and explicit parentheses, etc.).  Some "copy-protection" mechanisms used carefully manufactured byte code sequences to produce "buffer overflows" in the decompiler to prevent users from looking at the program.
(And yes, BAC files contained byte code, BAS files was plain source code).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.119.130.132 (talk) 20:01, 16 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Semi-compiling vs bytecode 

message: Someone with a bit more technical knowledge then me, perhaps an engineer that have worked with installing them, should write something about their use in Swedish manufacturing industry.
I have been a blue collar worker from the late 80's and forward and when I started out, these computers was used everywhere to control all kinds of industrial equipment. It was kind of fun because I had played with them as a kid, but never expected that they could be used in this manner. The last time I saw one in use was as late as 2000, that one was used to control a metalworking machine. In the early 90's the ABC 80 became hard to get, because a lot of factory and workshop owners had bought up most of what was left of them, to use as spare parts.
They where favoured before other solutions because:
* They where easy to tweak and and very well documented (the famous book made by their creator).
* They where cheap. In 1984 (when I was a kid and I think most of the ABC 80 was deployed by the industry) you could buy something like 20 of them at the same price as one IBM PC. And the IBM PC was very slow and limited in comparison.
* They where more robust then even most special built control computers for the industry and "never" failed. They could be running non-stop for a decade in a really rough environment, without any damp protection or cooling (in environments where other PC:s would have failed instantly when turned on, even with a protective case).
Much Swedish machinery was even built around the ABC 80, not just modified to be controlled by them. The largest one I've seen was an offset printing press.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.234.126.82 (talk) 11:13, 2 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Used to control industrial equipment 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified