Date   : Wed, 01 Dec 1999 22:03:01 +0000
From   : "B.E.Newsam" <ben@...>
Subject: Re: Basic compiler

In message <199912011422.OAA07311@...>, James Gibbon
<jg@...> writes
>It's been a loooooong time since I played with BBC BASIC but
>if I remember correctly, ?n= would write a byte, !n= would 
>write 2 bytes (a signed integer?) where n is the address.  So
>if I'm right there's no provision to write reals directly to 
>memory, at least in the versions I was familiar with.

?n writes 1 byte, but !n writes 4 bytes, as BBC BASIC integers have
always been 32-bit. That is one of the languages greatest strengths.
They are called "indirection operators" rather the PEEK and POKE because
they can be used in the form x?n and x!n where x is an offset to n, very
useful for accessing tables and the like.
-- 
Ben