!pr1
Using Pseudo-Variables in Machine Language...........John Oakey
                        227 Creekstone Bend, Peachtree City, GA

A couple of years ago I got a bright idea.  I was working on an Applesoft program that required knowing what files were on the disk in a given disk drive.  By creating binary "images" of Applesoft variables, I was able to hook into DOS 3.3 and employ Applesoft routines to convert the information DOS 3.3 prints to the screen into regular Applesoft variables.

The whole thing worked beautifully and was printed in the last of only four "Second Grade Chats" ever published in Softalk Magazine -- in the very last issue.  ("Sorree -- your number has been dis-co-nected.")  I never did get paid.  ($!#%~&*)

Oh, well.  We Apple owners mainly do it for the love of the little machine anyway.  Right?  Since that time I have realized that the most important thing which I did in that article was to discover the technique of creating pseudo-variables for use in an applications program which can make available all the subroutines already written in the Applesoft ROMs.

It doesn't require a long explanation.  Just one example should be enough, and it so happens that one is printed below.  This short program, when called from an Applesoft program, will "poll" an Applied Engineering TIMEMASTER H.O. card from 80-column mode without affecting the screen and move the ASCII string which the time card places in the input buffer into the Applesoft variable TIME$.  It not only makes getting the time while in 80-column mode possible without blowing away the screen, but it also is a great deal faster than trying to use an Applesoft interface.

This routine should also work with ThunderClock and other compatible clock cards.  Permission is granted to reprint this article and to use the copyrighted program below for non-commercial applications.  Have a good TIME$!
!np
And, as usual, Bob couldn't resist squeezing out a few bytes:
