RESOLVED - Who can help me out with a GWBasic project? \ VOGONS

RESOLVED - Who can help me out with a GWBasic project?

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First post, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-14, 14:17

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Hi,

I converted a Quick Basic program to work in GWBasic. At an emulated speed of 66 Mhz my program runs at an acceptable speed in Quick Basic, in GWBasic however it runs very slugglishly. It having been long a while ago I ever played with GWBasic can't figure out where exactly the problem might be. Yes, the interpreter is probably a bit slower, but that doesn't tell me what exactly is causing the massive slow down.

110 DEFINT A-Z: GOSUB 900: END
220 FULLROW = 0
330 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
440 FULLROW = -1
550 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
660 IF MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN FULLROW = 0: GOTO 80
770 NEXT PITX
880 IF FULLROW THEN REMOVEDROW = PITY: GOSUB 1100
990 NEXT PITY
10100 RETURN
11110 DROPRATE! = 1
12120 SHAPE = INT(RND * 6)
13130 SHAPEANGLE = INT(RND * 4)
14140 NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE
15150 GOSUB 510
16160 SHAPEMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$
17170 GOSUB 450
18180 SHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX
19190 SHAPEY = -4
20200 RETURN
21210 COLOR 4: LOCATE 3, 2
22220 IF GAMEOVER THEN PRINT "Game over.": LOCATE , 2: PRINT "Press Enter to play a new game.";  ELSE PRINT ; "Score:" + STR$(SCORE);
23230 RETURN
24240 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 145), 15, B
25250 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 0), 0
26260 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
27270 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
28280 IF GAMEOVER THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = "4" ELSE BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1)
29290 DRAWX = PITX: DRAWY = PITY: GOSUB 320
30300 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITY
31310 RETURN
32320 DRAWX = DRAWX * 9: DRAWY = DRAWY * 9
33330 LINE (DRAWX + 117, DRAWY + 32)-STEP(9, 9), VAL("&H" + BLOCKCOLOR$), BF
34340 LINE (DRAWX + 118, DRAWY + 33)-STEP(6, 6), 0, B
35350 RETURN
36360 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
37370 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
38380 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
39390 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN GOSUB 420
40400 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
41410 RETURN
42420 IF ERASESHAPE THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1) ELSE BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1): IF BLOCKCOLOR$ = "0" THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1)
43430 DRAWX = PITX: DRAWY = PITY: GOSUB 320
44440 RETURN
45450 INTENDEDSHAPEX = INT((RND * 10) - 1): RANDOMSHAPEX = 0
46460 FOR XMOVE = 0 TO INTENDEDSHAPEX
47470 MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 620
48480 IF CANMOVE THEN RANDOMSHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX + 1 ELSE RETURN
49490 NEXT XMOVE
50500 RETURN
51510 GOSUB 720
52520 IF NEWANGLE = 0 THEN ROTATEDMAP$ = MAP$: RETURN
53530 ROTATEDMAP$ = STRING$(4 * 4, "0")
54540 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
55550 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
56560 IF NEWANGLE = 1 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = BLOCKX
57570 IF NEWANGLE = 2 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKX: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKY
58580 IF NEWANGLE = 3 THEN NEWBLOCKX = BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKX
59590 MID$(ROTATEDMAP$, ((4 * NEWBLOCKY) + NEWBLOCKX) + 1, 1) = MID$(MAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1)
60600 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX

…Show last 83 lines

61610 RETURN
62620 CANMOVE = -1
63630 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
64640 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
65650 IF NOT MID$(MOVEDMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN GOSUB 680
66660 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
67670 RETURN
68680 PITX = (SHAPEX + BLOCKX) + XDIRECTION: PITY = (SHAPEY + BLOCKY) + YDIRECTION
69690 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN IF NOT MID$(PIT$, (((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1), 1) = "0" THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
70700 IF PITX < 0 OR PITX >= 10 OR PITY >= 16 THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
71710 RETURN
72720 MAP$ = ""
73730 IF SHAPE = 0 THEN MAP$ = "0000333300000000"
74740 IF SHAPE = 1 THEN MAP$ = "0000111000100000"
75750 IF SHAPE = 2 THEN MAP$ = "0000666060000000"
76760 IF SHAPE = 3 THEN MAP$ = "00000EE00EE00000"
77770 IF SHAPE = 4 THEN MAP$ = "0000022022000000"
78780 IF SHAPE = 5 THEN MAP$ = "0000555005000000"
79790 IF SHAPE = 7 THEN MAP$ = "0000440004400000"
80800 RETURN
81810 RANDOMIZE TIMER: KEY OFF: PLAY "ML L64": SCREEN 7: CLS : COLOR 9
82820 LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "GWBlocks v1.00": PRINT "By: Peter Swinkels, ***2021***";
83830 GOSUB 110
84840 GAMEOVER = 0
85850 PIT$ = STRING$(10 * 16, "0")
86860 SCORE = 0
87870 GOSUB 240
88880 GOSUB 210
89890 RETURN
90900 GOSUB 810
91910 STARTTIME! = TIMER
92920 WHILE NOT KEYV$ = CHR$(27)
93930 KEYV$ = ""
94940 WHILE KEYV$ = ""
95950 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (TIMER >= STARTTIME! + DROPRATE! OR STARTTIME! > TIMER) THEN GOSUB 1290: STARTTIME! = TIMER
96960 KEYV$ = INKEY$
97970 WEND
98980 ERASESHAPE = -1: GOSUB 360
99990 IF KEYV$ = CHR$(27) THEN SCREEN 0: END
1001000 IF GAMEOVER AND KEYV$ = CHR$(13) THEN GOSUB 810
1011010 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = "A" OR KEYV$ = "a") THEN GOSUB 1170
1021020 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K") THEN MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = -1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 620
1031030 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M") THEN MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 620
1041040 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX - 1
1051050 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX + 1
1061060 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = " ") THEN DROPRATE! = 0
1071070 ERASESHAPE = 0: GOSUB 360
1081080 WEND
1091090 RETURN
1101100 FOR PITROWY = REMOVEDROW TO 0 STEP -1
1111110 FOR PITX = 0 TO 10 - 1
1121120 IF PITROWY = 0 THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = "0" ELSE BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * (PITROWY - 1)) + PITX) + 1, 1)
1131130 MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITROWY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = BLOCKCOLOR$
1141140 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITROWY
1151150 SCORE = SCORE + 1
1161160 RETURN
1171170 IF SHAPEANGLE = 3 THEN NEWANGLE = 0 ELSE NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE + 1
1181180 GOSUB 510
1191190 MOVEDMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$: XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 620
1201200 IF CANMOVE THEN SHAPEANGLE = NEWANGLE: SHAPEMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$
1211210 RETURN
1221220 PLAY "N21"
1231230 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
1241240 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
1251250 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
1261260 IF (PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16) AND (NOT MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1) = "0") THEN MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1)
1271270 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
1281280 RETURN
1291290 MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 1: GOSUB 620
1301300 IF CANMOVE THEN GOSUB 1320 ELSE GOSUB 1360
1311310 RETURN
1321320 ERASESHAPE = -1: GOSUB 360
1331330 IF DROPRATE! > 0 THEN SOUND 37, .3
1341340 SHAPEY = SHAPEY + 1: ERASESHAPE = 0: GOSUB 360
1351350 RETURN
1361360 GOSUB 1220
1371370 GAMEOVER = (SHAPEY < 0)
1381380 GOSUB 20
1391390 GOSUB 240
1401400 GOSUB 210
1411410 IF NOT GAMEOVER THEN GOSUB 110: ERASESHAPE = 0: GOSUB 360
1421420 RETURN

I am using Quick Basic 4.5 as an editor and am trying to get to run the above smoothly in GWBasic 2.23. Does anyone have any idea here?

Last edited by Peter Swinkels on 2021-02-26, 15:45. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 19, by konc

Posted on 2021-02-14, 15:48

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Have a look here
https://bhtooefr.org/blog/2017/12/19/benchmar … crosoft-basics/
It appears that Quick Basic 4.5 is taking advantage of the FPU and can be times faster than GW when there is one available. Could it be that?

Reply 2 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-15, 10:54

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I checked the link, while it is an interesting read it doesn't appear to be all that useful to my specific problem. Is it possible to disable the FPU in DOSBox or Quick Basic to check this? I am going to try restructuring the program flow to make it more efficient, while it is probably going to hurt readibility and maintainability I suspect eliminating a few GOSUB/RETURNS is going to solve a lot.

Last edited by Peter Swinkels on 2021-02-15, 12:34. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 3 of 19, by konc

Posted on 2021-02-15, 11:52

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The link was mostly as a possible explanation for the "massive slow down" compared to the QB.
Code optimization is something else of course.

Reply 4 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-15, 13:23

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Okay, I made a few changes which should make the code faster, but it doesn't appear to help much:

110 DEFINT A-Z: GOSUB 950: END
220 FULLROW = 0
330 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
440 FULLROW = -1
550 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
660 IF MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN FULLROW = 0: GOTO 80
770 NEXT PITX
880 IF FULLROW THEN REMOVEDROW = PITY: GOSUB 1150
990 NEXT PITY
10100 RETURN
11110 DROPRATE! = 1
12120 SHAPE = INT(RND * 6)
13130 SHAPEANGLE = INT(RND * 4)
14140 NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE
15150 GOSUB 560
16160 SHAPEMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$
17170 GOSUB 500
18180 SHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX
19190 SHAPEY = -4
20200 RETURN
21210 COLOR 4: LOCATE 3, 2
22220 IF GAMEOVER THEN PRINT "Game over.": LOCATE , 2: PRINT "Press Enter to play a new game.";  ELSE PRINT ; "Score:" + STR$(SCORE);
23230 RETURN
24240 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 145), 15, B
25250 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 0), 0
26260 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
27270 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
28280 IF GAMEOVER THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = "4" ELSE BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1)
29290 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 117, (PITY * 9) + 32)-STEP(9, 9), VAL("&H" + BLOCKCOLOR$), BF
30300 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 118, (PITY * 9) + 33)-STEP(6, 6), 0, B
31310 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITY
32320 RETURN
33330 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
34340 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
35350 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
36360 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN GOSUB 390
37370 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
38380 RETURN
39390 BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1)
40400 IF BLOCKCOLOR$ = "0" THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1)
41410 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 117, (PITY * 9) + 32)-STEP(9, 9), VAL("&H" + BLOCKCOLOR$), BF
42420 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 118, (PITY * 9) + 33)-STEP(6, 6), 0, B
43430 RETURN
44440 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
45450 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
46460 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
47470 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN LINE ((PITX * 9) + 117, (PITY * 9) + 32)-STEP(9, 9), VAL("&H" + MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1)), BF
48480 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
49490 RETURN
50500 INTENDEDSHAPEX = INT((RND * 10) - 1): RANDOMSHAPEX = 0
51510 FOR XMOVE = 0 TO INTENDEDSHAPEX
52520 MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 670
53530 IF CANMOVE THEN RANDOMSHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX + 1 ELSE RETURN
54540 NEXT XMOVE
55550 RETURN
56560 GOSUB 770
57570 IF NEWANGLE = 0 THEN ROTATEDMAP$ = MAP$: RETURN
58580 ROTATEDMAP$ = STRING$(4 * 4, "0")
59590 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
60600 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3

…Show last 88 lines

61610 IF NEWANGLE = 1 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = BLOCKX
62620 IF NEWANGLE = 2 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKX: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKY
63630 IF NEWANGLE = 3 THEN NEWBLOCKX = BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKX
64640 MID$(ROTATEDMAP$, ((4 * NEWBLOCKY) + NEWBLOCKX) + 1, 1) = MID$(MAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1)
65650 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
66660 RETURN
67670 CANMOVE = -1
68680 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
69690 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
70700 IF NOT MID$(MOVEDMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1) = "0" THEN GOSUB 730
71710 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
72720 RETURN
73730 PITX = (SHAPEX + BLOCKX) + XDIRECTION: PITY = (SHAPEY + BLOCKY) + YDIRECTION
74740 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN IF NOT MID$(PIT$, (((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1), 1) = "0" THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
75750 IF PITX < 0 OR PITX >= 10 OR PITY >= 16 THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
76760 RETURN
77770 MAP$ = ""
78780 IF SHAPE = 0 THEN MAP$ = "0000333300000000"
79790 IF SHAPE = 1 THEN MAP$ = "0000111000100000"
80800 IF SHAPE = 2 THEN MAP$ = "0000666060000000"
81810 IF SHAPE = 3 THEN MAP$ = "00000EE00EE00000"
82820 IF SHAPE = 4 THEN MAP$ = "0000022022000000"
83830 IF SHAPE = 5 THEN MAP$ = "0000555005000000"
84840 IF SHAPE = 7 THEN MAP$ = "0000440004400000"
85850 RETURN
86860 RANDOMIZE TIMER: KEY OFF: PLAY "ML L64": SCREEN 7: CLS : COLOR 9
87870 LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "GWBlocks v1.00": PRINT "By: Peter Swinkels, ***2021***";
88880 GOSUB 110
89890 GAMEOVER = 0
90900 PIT$ = STRING$(10 * 16, "0")
91910 SCORE = 0
92920 GOSUB 240
93930 GOSUB 210
94940 RETURN
95950 GOSUB 860
96960 STARTTIME! = TIMER
97970 WHILE NOT KEYV$ = CHR$(27)
98980 KEYV$ = ""
99990 WHILE KEYV$ = ""
1001000 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (TIMER >= STARTTIME! + DROPRATE! OR STARTTIME! > TIMER) THEN GOSUB 1340: STARTTIME! = TIMER
1011010 KEYV$ = INKEY$
1021020 WEND
1031030 GOSUB 440
1041040 IF KEYV$ = CHR$(27) THEN SCREEN 0: WIDTH 80: KEY ON: END
1051050 IF GAMEOVER AND KEYV$ = CHR$(13) THEN GOSUB 860
1061060 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = "A" OR KEYV$ = "a") THEN GOSUB 1220
1071070 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K") THEN MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = -1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 670
1081080 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX - 1
1091090 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M") THEN MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 670
1101100 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX + 1
1111110 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = " ") THEN DROPRATE! = 0
1121120 GOSUB 330
1131130 WEND
1141140 RETURN
1151150 FOR PITROWY = REMOVEDROW TO 0 STEP -1
1161160 FOR PITX = 0 TO 10 - 1
1171170 IF PITROWY = 0 THEN BLOCKCOLOR$ = "0" ELSE BLOCKCOLOR$ = MID$(PIT$, ((10 * (PITROWY - 1)) + PITX) + 1, 1)
1181180 MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITROWY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = BLOCKCOLOR$
1191190 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITROWY
1201200 SCORE = SCORE + 1
1211210 RETURN
1221220 IF SHAPEANGLE = 3 THEN NEWANGLE = 0 ELSE NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE + 1
1231230 GOSUB 560
1241240 MOVEDMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$: XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 670
1251250 IF CANMOVE THEN SHAPEANGLE = NEWANGLE: SHAPEMAP$ = ROTATEDMAP$
1261260 RETURN
1271270 PLAY "N21"
1281280 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
1291290 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
1301300 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
1311310 IF (PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16) AND (NOT MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1) = "0") THEN MID$(PIT$, ((10 * PITY) + PITX) + 1, 1) = MID$(SHAPEMAP$, ((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX) + 1, 1)
1321320 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
1331330 RETURN
1341340 MOVEDMAP$ = SHAPEMAP$: XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 1: GOSUB 670
1351350 IF CANMOVE THEN GOSUB 1370 ELSE GOSUB 1410
1361360 RETURN
1371370 GOSUB 440
1381380 IF DROPRATE! = 1 THEN SOUND 37, .3
1391390 SHAPEY = SHAPEY + 1: GOSUB 330
1401400 RETURN
1411410 GOSUB 1270
1421420 GAMEOVER = (SHAPEY < 0)
1431430 GOSUB 20
1441440 GOSUB 240
1451450 GOSUB 210
1461460 IF NOT GAMEOVER THEN GOSUB 110: GOSUB 330
1471470 RETURN

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Reply 5 of 19, by gerry

Posted on 2021-02-17, 09:42

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rather than your code being the issue, specifically, it probably is the difference in the way gwbasic and quickbasic interpret the code at runtime as konc was saying

I suspect, without knowing of course, that gw is more 'literal' in its interpretation and quick basic does a few optimisations or has better approach to subroutines

that might not be the case, it may be some other subtlety

Reply 6 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-17, 10:19

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Someone else pointed this out to at VBForums where I asked the same question. I tried compiling the code with BasCom 2.20 but that compiler is too old. 🙁

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Reply 7 of 19, by konc

Posted on 2021-02-17, 11:14

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Apart from the gw-basic specifics or the code logic (to which I haven't really dived into) there are also classic minor improvements you can do to your code. Again, after you've made sure that the main logic or drawing process can't be greatly improved, these on their own won't make the code magically fly but I'm mentioning them as general observations.
You are doing a lot of repetitive calculations inside loops, that can be pre-calculated. Let me give an example or two, let's see gosub 770. Instead of going through all those IFs everytime you can have something like the following, pre-populated once outside the loop of course (excuse any syntax or index errors, it's been a long time since I last messed with basic but you'll get the idea)

1DIM MAPARR$(8)
2MAPARR$(0) = "xxx"
3...
4MAPARR$(7) = "yyy"

and then on line 560 do only a

1MAP$ = MAPARR$(SHAPE)

No jumps, no IFs, no 10 lines of code to go through. Things like that, if you have other "complex" calculations done everytime inside a loop you can have them ready. Another example would be the result of (PITX * 9) + 117. For the 3rd time I want to make clear that these won't have a huge impact if most of the time is lost elsewhere, they are just simple good practices/tricks to squeeze a lit bit more performance out.

Reply 8 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-17, 11:42

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Thank you, I will look at your suggestions when I have the time.

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Reply 9 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-18, 21:14

Peter Swinkels Offline

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Okay, I changed the code so the most frequently occurring jumps are now forward jumps and got rid of a few repititive calculations.

https://github.com/PeterSwinkels/GWBlocks/blo … in/GWBLOCKS.BAS

There appears to be a slight increase in speed.

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Reply 10 of 19, by Jo22

Posted on 2021-02-19, 10:08

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Did you try saving a copy of the basic program in tokenized format rather than using ASCII?
I don't know if this makes a difference but it's worth a try. 😀
Both GW-BASIC and QB can use their own format, but also ASCII.
For example, to make GW-BASIC saving in ASCII, the syntax is SAVE "PROGRAM.BAS", A

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Reply 11 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-19, 21:13

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Tokenized or ASCII doesn't appear to matter.

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Reply 12 of 19, by Jo22

Posted on 2021-02-20, 12:35

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Peter Swinkels wrote on 2021-02-19, 21:13:

Tokenized or ASCII doesn't appear to matter.

Hm,okay. Sorry to hear. 🙁
Well, I heard that OEM versions of DOS (around prior MS-DOS 4/5) included custom utilities and modified MS-DOS programs.
Perhaps one of these is more optimized or compiled with 80186 instructions?
I don't know.

I used GW-BASIC/BASICA when I was little, so it's quite long ago.
Later, I mainly used QB, VB and also PowerBASIC.
PowerBASIC has a lot of optimization options, by the way.
It can compile for 80286s, for example..

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 13 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-21, 16:22

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Yes, I could use a more modern version of BASIC but that's not the point. The idea was to make a working game with the limited resources that would have been available when GWBasic 3.23 was just released.

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Reply 14 of 19, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2021-02-21, 18:12

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If you run the game in GW-BASIC in DOSBox and the speed becomes acceptable when cycles are sufficiently increased then it's obvious that the interpreter is just inefficient compared to the compiler.

I notice a good bit of sub-string stuff, e.g. MID$, which is painfully slow in the interpreter, so I suggest trying a different approach for those parts -- maybe rework the object drawing to use the DRAW statement. A couple of things I notice that aren't performance related: 1) consider adding a DIM MAPS$(6) at the top of the program; you can get away without it, but compilers may complain. 2) SHAPE = INT(RND * 6) will never select the last of your pieces; should be INT(RND * 7).

Reply 15 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-22, 08:31

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1. Yes, that is true. More cycles does fix the problem. But again the point of this exercise was getting the job done with what would have been available while GWBasic would still have been in general use. I think 66 MHz is already too fast in that regard. An actual machine running GWBasic probably would have ran at 25 MHz at the most.
2. Yes, perhaps I should use arrays instead of strings. It's worth a try.
3. I suspect the DRAW statement would be far slower than the LINE statement because it relies on a macro contained in a string.
4. Apparently DIM statements aren't required for any array of ten elements or less. I have had cases where I got away treating two variables of the same name as both a numeric value and an array in the same program. This happened by accident but is allowed. If I remember correctly this practice is even allowed by QBasic/Quick Basic. Compilers for those languages should allow it. I agree however that would be good practice to declare arrays. However there is a good chance I would just clutter the code with pointless DIM statements. Those old BASIC interpreters hardly appear to enfore what you declare in them anyway. I should test that to be sure though.
5. Thank you for pointing out that faulty RND statement. I thought I had already fixed that. Using CINT instead of INT should also work btw.

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Reply 16 of 19, by pan069

Posted on 2021-02-22, 09:31

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If I'm not mistaken, GWBASIC literally interprets each line of code (i.e. "the text") as it executes it and does this over and over again. This is super slow. On the other hand, QuickBasic (and QBasic) compile the source code to an intermediate opcode (not x86 or JIT per se), it's this intermediate opcode that is executed by the runtime, which is much, much, faster.

Also, if I remember correctly, GWBASIC only uses floating point numbers for all numeric values even though it doesn't support an FPU whereas Q(uick)Basic supports integers etc. I could be wrong about this though...

Reply 17 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-22, 09:45

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Yes, the way GWBasic executes code is slow.

You’re mistaken, while variables are single precision floating points by default you can declare a variable as an integer. You can use the percentage or ampersant type declaration character to declare a variable as an integer. You can also declare variables with a name starting with specific letters to be integers using the DEFINT and DEFLNG statements.

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Reply 18 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-26, 15:25

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@ripsaw8080:

I tried converting all the string based stuff to numeric arrays, but it doesn't appear to help much.

110 DEFINT A-Z
220 DIM MOVEDMAP(15)
330 DIM PIT(9, 15)
440 DIM ROTATEDMAP(15)
550 DIM SHAPEMAP(15)
660 DIM SHAPES(6, 15)
770 GOSUB 850
880 END
990 FULLROW = 0
10100 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
11110 FULLROW = -1
12120 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
13130 IF PIT(PITX, PITY) = 0 THEN FULLROW = 0: GOTO 150
14140 NEXT PITX
15150 IF FULLROW THEN REMOVEDROW = PITY: GOSUB 1050
16160 NEXT PITY
17170 RETURN
18180 DROPRATE! = 1
19190 SHAPE = CINT(RND * 6)
20200 SHAPEANGLE = INT(RND * 4)
21210 NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE
22220 GOSUB 500
23230 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: SHAPEMAP(BLOCK) = ROTATEDMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK
24240 GOSUB 420
25250 SHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX
26260 SHAPEY = -4
27270 RETURN
28280 COLOR 4: LOCATE 3, 2
29290 IF GAMEOVER THEN PRINT "Game over.": LOCATE , 2: PRINT "Press Enter to play a new game.";  ELSE PRINT "Score:"; SCORE;
30300 RETURN
31310 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 145), 15, B
32320 LINE (116, 32)-STEP(92, 0), 0
33330 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
34340 Y = PITY * 9
35350 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
36360 IF GAMEOVER THEN BLOCKCOLOR = 4 ELSE BLOCKCOLOR = PIT(PITX, PITY)
37370 X = PITX * 9
38380 LINE (X + 117, Y + 32)-STEP(9, 9), BLOCKCOLOR, BF
39390 LINE (X + 118, Y + 33)-STEP(6, 6), 0, B
40400 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITY
41410 RETURN
42420 INTENDEDSHAPEX = INT((RND * 10) - 1): RANDOMSHAPEX = 0
43430 FOR XMOVE = 0 TO INTENDEDSHAPEX
44440 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: MOVEDMAP(BLOCK) = SHAPEMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK
45450 XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0
46460 GOSUB 600
47470 IF CANMOVE THEN RANDOMSHAPEX = RANDOMSHAPEX + 1 ELSE RETURN
48480 NEXT XMOVE
49490 RETURN
50500 IF NEWANGLE = 0 THEN FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: ROTATEDMAP(BLOCK) = SHAPES(SHAPE, BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK: RETURN
51510 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: ROTATEDMAP(BLOCK) = 0: NEXT BLOCK
52520 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
53530 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
54540 IF NEWANGLE = 1 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = BLOCKX
55550 IF NEWANGLE = 2 THEN NEWBLOCKX = 3 - BLOCKX: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKY
56560 IF NEWANGLE = 3 THEN NEWBLOCKX = BLOCKY: NEWBLOCKY = 3 - BLOCKX
57570 ROTATEDMAP((4 * NEWBLOCKY) + NEWBLOCKX) = SHAPES(SHAPE, (4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX)
58580 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
59590 RETURN
60600 CANMOVE = -1

…Show last 114 lines

61610 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
62620 Y = 4 * BLOCKY
63630 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
64640 IF NOT MOVEDMAP(Y + BLOCKX) = 0 THEN GOSUB 670
65650 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
66660 RETURN
67670 PITX = (SHAPEX + BLOCKX) + XDIRECTION: PITY = (SHAPEY + BLOCKY) + YDIRECTION
68680 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN IF NOT PIT(PITX, PITY) = 0 THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
69690 IF PITX < 0 OR PITX >= 10 OR PITY >= 16 THEN CANMOVE = 0: RETURN
70700 RETURN
71710 RANDOMIZE TIMER: KEY OFF: PLAY "ML L64": SCREEN 7: CLS : COLOR 9
72720 GOSUB 1600
73730 LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "GWBlocks v1.03": PRINT "By: Peter Swinkels, ***2021***";
74740 GOSUB 180
75750 GAMEOVER = 0
76760 FOR PITY = 0 TO 15
77770 FOR PITX = 0 TO 9
78780 PIT(PITX, PITY) = 0
79790 NEXT PITX
80800 NEXT PITY
81810 SCORE = 0
82820 GOSUB 310
83830 GOSUB 280
84840 RETURN
85850 GOSUB 710
86860 STARTTIME! = TIMER
87870 WHILE NOT KEYV$ = CHR$(27)
88880 KEYV$ = ""
89890 WHILE KEYV$ = ""
90900 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (TIMER >= STARTTIME! + DROPRATE! OR STARTTIME! > TIMER) THEN GOSUB 1270: STARTTIME! = TIMER
91910 KEYV$ = INKEY$
92920 WEND
93930 GOSUB 1540
94940 IF KEYV$ = CHR$(27) THEN SCREEN 0: WIDTH 80: KEY ON: RETURN
95950 IF GAMEOVER AND KEYV$ = CHR$(13) THEN GOSUB 710
96960 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = "A" OR KEYV$ = "a") THEN GOSUB 1120
97970 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K") THEN FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: MOVEDMAP(BLOCK) = SHAPEMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK: XDIRECTION = -1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 600
98980 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "K" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX - 1
99990 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M") THEN FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: MOVEDMAP(BLOCK) = SHAPEMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK: XDIRECTION = 1: YDIRECTION = 0: GOSUB 600
1001000 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = CHR$(0) + "M" AND CANMOVE) THEN SHAPEX = SHAPEX + 1
1011010 IF (NOT GAMEOVER) AND (KEYV$ = " ") THEN DROPRATE! = 0
1021020 GOSUB 1430
1031030 WEND
1041040 RETURN
1051050 FOR PITROW = REMOVEDROW TO 0 STEP -1
1061060 FOR PITX = 0 TO 10 - 1
1071070 IF PITROW = 0 THEN BLOCKCOLOR = 0 ELSE BLOCKCOLOR = PIT(PITX, PITROW - 1)
1081080 PIT(PITX, PITROW) = BLOCKCOLOR
1091090 NEXT PITX: NEXT PITROW
1101100 SCORE = SCORE + 1
1111110 RETURN
1121120 IF SHAPEANGLE = 3 THEN NEWANGLE = 0 ELSE NEWANGLE = SHAPEANGLE + 1
1131130 GOSUB 500
1141140 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: MOVEDMAP(BLOCK) = ROTATEDMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK
1151150 XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 0
1161160 GOSUB 600
1171170 IF CANMOVE THEN SHAPEANGLE = NEWANGLE: FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: SHAPEMAP(BLOCK) = ROTATEDMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK
1181180 RETURN
1191190 PLAY "N21"
1201200 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
1211210 Y = 4 * BLOCKY
1221220 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
1231230 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
1241240 IF (PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16) AND (NOT SHAPEMAP(Y + BLOCKX) = 0) THEN PIT(PITX, PITY) = SHAPEMAP((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX)
1251250 NEXT BLOCKX: NEXT BLOCKY
1261260 RETURN
1271270 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15: MOVEDMAP(BLOCK) = SHAPEMAP(BLOCK): NEXT BLOCK
1281280 XDIRECTION = 0: YDIRECTION = 1
1291290 GOSUB 600
1301300 IF CANMOVE THEN GOSUB 1320 ELSE GOSUB 1360
1311310 RETURN
1321320 GOSUB 1540
1331330 IF DROPRATE! = 1 THEN SOUND 37, .3
1341340 SHAPEY = SHAPEY + 1: GOSUB 1430
1351350 RETURN
1361360 GOSUB 1190
1371370 GAMEOVER = (SHAPEY < 0)
1381380 GOSUB 90
1391390 GOSUB 310
1401400 GOSUB 280
1411410 IF NOT GAMEOVER THEN GOSUB 180: GOSUB 1430
1421420 RETURN
1431430 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
1441440 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
1451450 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
1461460 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN GOSUB 1490
1471470 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
1481480 RETURN
1491490 BLOCKCOLOR = SHAPEMAP((4 * BLOCKY) + BLOCKX)
1501500 IF BLOCKCOLOR = 0 THEN BLOCKCOLOR = PIT(PITX, PITY)
1511510 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 117, (PITY * 9) + 32)-STEP(9, 9), BLOCKCOLOR, BF
1521520 LINE ((PITX * 9) + 118, (PITY * 9) + 33)-STEP(6, 6), 0, B
1531530 RETURN
1541540 FOR BLOCKX = 0 TO 3
1551550 FOR BLOCKY = 0 TO 3
1561560 PITX = SHAPEX + BLOCKX: PITY = SHAPEY + BLOCKY
1571570 IF PITX >= 0 AND PITX < 10 AND PITY >= 0 AND PITY < 16 THEN LINE ((PITX * 9) + 117, (PITY * 9) + 32)-STEP(9, 9), PIT(PITX, PITY), BF
1581580 NEXT BLOCKY: NEXT BLOCKX
1591590 RETURN
1601600 RESTORE 1670
1611610 FOR SHAPE = 0 TO 6
1621620 FOR BLOCK = 0 TO 15
1631630 READ SHAPES(SHAPE, BLOCK)
1641640 NEXT BLOCK
1651650 NEXT SHAPE
1661660 RETURN
1671670 DATA 0,0,0,0,3,3,3,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1681680 DATA 0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0
1691690 DATA 0,0,0,0,6,6,6,0,6,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1701700 DATA 0,0,0,0,0,14,14,0,0,14,14,0,0,0,0,0
1711710 DATA 0,0,0,0,0,2,2,0,2,2,0,0,0,0,0,0
1721720 DATA 0,0,0,0,5,5,5,0,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0
1731730 DATA 0,0,0,0,4,4,0,0,0,4,4,0,0,0,0,0

I keep forgetting why I choose to use strings instead of arrays, initializing and copying arrays is a lot more hassle given the very limited support GWBasic offers for these. Can you believe there isn't even a function to check the bounds?

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Reply 19 of 19, by Peter Swinkels

Posted on 2021-02-26, 15:44

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Okay, while I didn't really find an answer to my question I am going to close this project for now. The final version (for now) can be found at https://github.com/PeterSwinkels/GWBlocks .

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