MatrixBrandy

The documentation for Brandy consists of the following files:

basic This is a brief introduction to Basic VI.

ChangeLog A more detailed list of changes and bug fixes beginning with V1.21.0.

compiling Instructions for compiling the program under various operating systems.

Config This contains details on the configuration file that sets certain defaults when running Matrix Brandy.

graphics This contains notes on the program's graphics support.

history A list of changes and bug fixes in the different versions of the program.

internals This gives a high level view of the interpreter's internals. It is not a line-by-line account of how it works but shows how the various components fit together.

messages This file describes all the error messages that the interpreter can produce and what they mean.

Mode7 This contains notes on the program's Mode 7 Teletext support.

networking This contains some notes on the implementation of network connectivity that was added in V1.21.6.

RISC-OS This contains some notes on how the RISC OS build differs.

use This describes how to use the interpreter and lists the differences between it and Acorn's interpreter and its limitations.

Brandy implements Basic VI, the the 64-bit floating-point mathematics variant of the dialect of Basic that Acorn Computers supplied with their ranges of desktop computers that use the ARM processor such as the Archimedes and RiscPC. Basic V and VI are an extended version of BBC BASIC. This was the BASIC version used on the BBC Micro that Acorn made during the early 1980s.

There is some very useful documentation for the BBC Micro available on the Internet. One very good site is 'The BBC Lives!' at:

    http://archive.retro-kit.co.uk/bbc.nvg.org/

The best manual to look at is the BBC User's Guide. It is useful in that it gives a lot of background information on BBC BASIC and the environment in which it runs. It should help in understanding this interpreter better.