Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

=== Development tools ===
With the introduction of the Archimedes, Acorn continued the practice established for its earlier machines of offering languages in addition to BASIC, albeit priced somewhat higher than the earlier implementations, these including [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]],<ref name="acornuser198910_pascal">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser087-Oct89/page/n83/mode/2up | title=Lab Report | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=82–83 }}</ref> [[C (programming language)|C]],<ref name="acornuser198911_c">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser088-Nov89/page/n83/mode/2up | title=Seeing Double | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=82–83 }}</ref> [[Prolog]],<ref name="acornuser199002_prolog">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser091-Feb90/page/n79/mode/2up | title=Using Your Intelligence | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1990 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=78–79 }}</ref> [[Fortran]] and [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]].<ref name="Acorn Retail Price List"/> Other vendors produced implementations of Forth, such as Silicon Vision's RiscForth,<ref name="acornuser198912_forth">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser089-Dec89/page/n83/mode/2up | title=Henceforth | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=82–83 }}</ref> and Logo, such as Logotron Logo.<ref name="acornuser199001_logo">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser090-Jan90/page/n87/mode/2up | title=Racing Ahead with Logo | magazine=Acorn User | date=January 1990 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=86–87 }}</ref> Other Acornsoft languages such as [[BCPL]]<ref name="acornuser198911_c"/> and [[COMAL]] were not ported to the new platform and had to be run under emulation.<ref name="acornuser198909_comal">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser086-Sep89/page/n67/mode/2up | title=Speak Easy | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Sykes | first1=Neil | pages=66–67 }}</ref> A Smalltalk-80 implementation was also made available by Smalltalk Express costing £620, offering the familiar window-based environment, but requiring a 4&nbsp;MB machine and a hard drive.<ref name="acornuser198904_smalltalk">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser081-Apr89/page/n129/mode/2up | title=Gift of the Gab | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1989 | access-date=4 July 2022 | last1=Van Someren | first1=Alex | pages=128–129 }}</ref>

====BASIC====
Acorn had always emphasised its implementation of [[BBC BASIC]] in its earlier machines, and the Archimedes was delivered with an enhanced version, BASIC V, that provided additional control-flow structures such as [[while loop]]s, [[Switch statement|case statements]], and multi-line [[Conditional (computer programming)#If–then(–else)|if statements]]. Graphics primitives and operations were also accessible via special-case keywords such as <code>ELLIPSE</code>, <code>CIRCLE</code>, <code>RECTANGLE</code> and <code>FILL</code>, and the specification of colours was extended to access the broader colour palette supported by the hardware. Various commands were also added for [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]] plotting and manipulation and to enable, confine, disable and read the position and state of the mouse pointer.<ref name="pcw198708"/> [[Assembly language]] support was included, as it had been in the BASIC provided by Acorn's 8-bit models, with the language updated to describe instructions for the ARM processor instead of the 6502 (or other processor families) familiar from the earlier machines.<ref name="acornuser198709_archimedes"/> Access to operating system functionality was provided from BASIC, with some of the demonstration programs provided with the Arthur operating system employing the font and window manager operating system modules,<ref name="pcw198708"/><ref group=note>Pountain mistakenly identified the three-dimensional "Lander" game as being written in BASIC, which was not the case.</ref> including the rudimentary desktop environment.<ref name="acornuser198803_windows">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser068-Mar88/page/n96/mode/1up | title=Arc Windows without Pain | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1988 | access-date=4 July 2022 | last1=Adie | first1=Chris | pages=95,97–99,101 }}</ref>

The arrival of RISC OS brought the possibility of developing desktop, or [[WIMP (computing)|WIMP]], applications in BASIC and other languages. Being available as standard, BASIC was a natural choice for many developers of desktop applications, although "the complexity of the Wimp" and the need to defer to operating system functionality described in the ''RISC OS Programmer's Reference Manual'', this consisting of "a staggering 52 Wimp calls", required some mitigation by tutorials seeking to guide programmers through the mechanisms and techniques involved.<ref name="riscuser198909_wimp">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Risc_User_Volume_2_Issue_9_1989-09_BEEBUG_GB/page/n22/mode/1up | title=Mastering the WIMP | magazine=RISC User | date=September 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Calcraft | first1=Lee | pages=23–25, 27 }}</ref> To ease the development of such applications, various products offering toolkits or libraries were announced, one of the earliest being Archway,<ref name="acornuser198902_archway">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser079-Feb89/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Windows without pain | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> this providing tools to define different aspects of an application, including window layout design and menu editing, along with BASIC library routines.<ref name="archive198907_archway">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Archive_1989-07_OCR/page/n33/mode/1up | title=Archway - WIMP Tools | magazine=Archive | date=July 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Forster | first1=Richard | pages=31–32 }}</ref> More ambitious attempts were later made to extend BASIC to access desktop functionality. For instance, HelixBasic added extra keywords to BASIC V whilst also making it possible for traditional BASIC programs, including graphical programs, to run in the window-based environment transparently and concurrently.<ref name="acornuser199204_helix">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser117-Apr92/page/n116/mode/1up | title=Back to Basics | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1992 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Acton | first1=Dave | pages=115 }}</ref>

Although the performance of the supplied BASIC interpreter had been regarded as competitive,<ref name="pcw198708"/> various BASIC [[compilers]] were produced for the system, such as Dabs Press' Archimedes Basic Compiler (ABC) and Silicon Vision's RiscBASIC.<ref name="acornuser198911_basic">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser088-Nov89/page/n127/mode/2up | title=BASIC on Speed | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1989 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Acton | first1=Dave | pages=126–127 }}</ref> Both products focused on improving the performance of the input programs, but Silicon Vision subsequently introduced a separate product, WimpGEN, as an accessory for desktop application developers.<ref name="acornuser199406_wimpgen">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser143-Jun94/page/n13/mode/1up | title=WimpGEN Release | magazine=Acorn User | date=June 1994 | access-date=3 July 2022 | pages=14 }}</ref> This product provided window and menu editors that would generate BASIC source code implementing the functionality required to support operation in the desktop environment. Specific application functionality would then be added, and the resulting program could also be compiled using RiscBASIC before being run.<ref name="acornuser199503_wimpgen">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser153-Mar95/page/n68/mode/1up | title=WimpGEN | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1995 | access-date=3 July 2022 | last1=Matthewman | first1=David | pages=69 }}</ref>

BBC BASIC on the Archimedes was considered as a vehicle for cross-platform game development by [[David Braben]] and other developers before the Archimedes was released, Braben being the author of the three-dimensional Lander game supplied with the machine. Since the BBC Micro had been used as a development host for the Commodore 64 version of Elite and reportedly by Commodore to assist Amiga development "in the early days", a similar role was anticipated for the Archimedes in game development, this role also having the potential to expose games developers for established platforms (such as the Amiga, Atari ST, and the [[Sega]] and [[Nintendo]] consoles) to the Acorn machine. The ability to [[Assembly language#Cross assembler|cross-assemble]] code in the BASIC assembler for processors other than the ARM was devised, and support from key individuals at Acorn was secured, but the company's management were reluctant to incorporate support for other systems in its product, thus curtailing the effort.<ref name="acornuser199903_elite">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser205-Mar99/page/n52/mode/1up | title=Being elite | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1999 | access-date=11 August 2022 | last1=Bailey | first1=Alasdair | pages=53 }}</ref>

====C====
Despite the use of BASIC and ARM assembly language by some software houses, notably at Computer Concepts whose developers regarded the ARM processor as having been "designed to be programmed in Assembler" and where Impression and ArtWorks were implemented in ARM assembly language using the BASIC assembler,<ref name="acornuser199409_I_wrote_that">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser146-Sep94/page/n47/mode/1up | title=I wrote that... | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Regan | first1=Jill | pages=49–50 }}</ref> the use of higher-level languages such as C became increasingly desirable for productivity and portability reasons. That Acorn had been in a position to offer its own C compiler was reportedly the consequence of "a stroke of luck": this product having been originally developed by [[Arthur Norman (computer scientist)|Arthur Norman]] and [[Alan Mycroft]] for a mainframe at Cambridge University and subsequently offered to Acorn.<ref name="acornuser199412_I_wrote_that">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser149-Dec94/page/n85/mode/2up | title=I wrote that... | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Matthewman | first1=David | pages=86–87 }}</ref>

Acorn's original C compiler and assembler products were superseded by its Desktop C and Desktop Assembler products in mid-1991.<ref name="acornuser199108_desktop">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser109-Aug91/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Program Development Now Easier in RISC OS | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1991 | access-date=9 August 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> These products comprised Acorn's Desktop Development Environment, aiming to reduce the time and effort involved in developing applications and modules along with supporting such activities in the desktop environment itself. Both products provided an enhanced version of Edit known as SrcEdit for source code editing that supported "throwback": navigation to locations in source code produced by other tools such as the C compiler. The Desktop Debugging Tool (DDT) was described as "a rather impressive line by line [[debugger]]" supporting breakpoints and watchpoints and allowing conventional application code (as opposed to modules) to be stepped through by "actually stopping the desktop", with control over this activity exercised through desktop-like windows operating separately from the actual desktop. Alongside compiler, assembler and [[Linker (computing)|linker]] tools, a build utility known as Make and supporting [[Makefiles]] was provided along with an improved version of the FormEd tool used for application window design. Desktop C cost £229 plus VAT, and Desktop Assembler cost £149 plus VAT.<ref name="acornuser199109_desktop">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser110-Sep91/page/n108/mode/1up | title=Congenial Coding | magazine=Acorn User | date=September 1991 | access-date=9 August 2022 | last1=Euler | first1=Jim | pages=107 }}</ref>

====C++====
Acorn's [[C++]] strategy was the subject of a degree of criticism. Initially, the company announced the availability of [[AT&T]]'s [[CFront]] to its registered developer community, this translating C++ code for further compilation by Acorn's Desktop C product.<ref name="acornuser199312_cfront">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser137-Dec93/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Object oriented C | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1993 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> Acorn followed up by offering a new product, replacing Desktop C, that integrated CFront 3.0 to support C and C++ compilation, albeit without support for exceptions.<ref name="acornuser199503_compiler">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser153-Mar95/page/n86/mode/1up | title=Acorn C++ compiler launched | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Matthewman | first1=David | pages=87 }}</ref> Feedback from developers had been negative, however, citing poor-quality code and slow compilation times, with developers apparently wanting "a true native C++ compiler with good RISC OS environment support".<ref name="acornuser199504_compiler">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser154-Apr95/page/n12/mode/1up | title=Acorn criticised for C++ solution | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=13 }}</ref> Despite the adoption of C++ [[Library (computing)#Class libraries|class libraries]] on other platforms, Acorn chose to provide user interface component functionality using a collection of modules, known as the Toolbox, accessible at the system call level instead.<ref name="acornuser199508_desktop">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser158-Aug95/page/n44/mode/1up | title=Acorn C/C++ | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1995 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Mumford | first1=Steve | pages=45–46 }}</ref>
Apart from a port of the [[GNU]] C++ compiler, itself requiring at least 4&nbsp;MB of RAM to run,<ref name="acornuser199508_desktop"/> the only significant competition to Acorn's C and C++ products were the Easy C and Easy C++ products from Beebug, with the former being announced in late 1993 as a Risc Developments product costing £49 plus VAT.<ref name="acornuser199311_easy_c">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser136-Nov93/page/n13/mode/1up | title=Easy Life | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1993 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=10 }}</ref> Priced significantly less than Acorn's compiler, Easy C provided a narrower range of tools, lacking the debugger of Acorn's product in particular, and had also not been validated as conforming to the [[ANSI]] language standard, unlike Acorn's compiler. Nevertheless, it did provide the essential compiler, assembler, linker and build tools, aiming to be "an easy to use C development system aimed at the lower end of the market".<ref name="acornuser199401_easy_c">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser138-Jan94/page/n54/mode/1up | title=Take it easy with C | magazine=Acorn User | date=January 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | last1=Craig-Wood | first1=Nick | pages=55–56 }}</ref> In late 1994, Beebug followed up by announcing Easy C++ in advance of the availability of Acorn's own C++ product. Easy C++ compiled C++ source code directly to ARM object code and supported both templates and exceptions. It was priced at £99 plus VAT or £49 plus VAT as an upgrade from Easy C.<ref name="acornuser199412_beebug">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser149-Dec94/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Beebug launches C++ compiler | magazine=Acorn User | date=December 1994 | access-date=8 August 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref> The product was seemingly positively received, with the developers having "achieved the target they set themselves" by delivering a native C++ compiler, although the lack of updated documentation and the need for further development to improve the product were also identified.<ref name="acornuser199511_beebug">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser161-Nov95/page/n84/mode/1up | title=Easy C++ | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1995 | access-date=9 August 2022 | last1=Craig-Wood | first1=Nick | pages=85 }}</ref>

Ultimately, the stated lack of a suitable C++ compiler and accompanying class libraries for the platform led prominent development houses to focus on products for other platforms and to abandon plans to release new software for RISC OS. In 1994, [[Mark Colton]] of Colton Software criticised Acorn for not complementing its C compiler with "C toolbox" libraries to assist with application development, and regarded Acorn as being "at a standstill" relative to broader development tool trends such as the introduction of [[Visual Basic]] and the increasing adoption of C++ together with class libraries for application development.<ref name="acornuser199412_I_wrote_that"/> Charles Moir of Computer Concepts justified the development of Xara Studio, a graphics application described as effectively "ArtWorks for the PC",<ref name="acornuser199410_camelot">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser147-Oct94/page/n16/mode/1up | title=CC wizardry on the PC | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1994 | access-date=9 August 2022 | pages=17 }}</ref> indicating that only the larger market for Windows software could make the necessary investment in such a sophisticated application worthwhile. Since Windows development could leverage C++ and platform-specific class libraries, Computer Concepts had expected Acorn to deliver comparable tools and resources to make the development of such software possible on the Acorn platform "to no avail".<ref name="archimedean1995_moir">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Archimedean_Issue_11_1995_Computer_Concepts_GB/page/n1/mode/1up | title=Comment | magazine=The Archimedean | date=1995 | issue=11 | last1=Moir | first1=Charles | pages=1 }}</ref> Ben Finn of Sibelius Software indicated that Sibelius 7 had been a "completely new piece of software" written in C++, in contrast to earlier versions written in assembly language, primarily due to the difficulties of implementing requested features in such a low-level language. The portability of C++ software also permitted Sibelius to be made available for the PC and Mac platforms. However, with Acorn unable to provide a suitably updated C++ development suite, the company was unable to deliver its new product on RISC OS.<ref name="acornuser199904_finn">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser206-Apr99/page/n72/mode/1up | title='Sibelius finished' Part II | magazine=Acorn User | last1=Finn | first1=Ben | pages=73 }}</ref>