Editing
The editing method for Integer BASIC (actually part of the system monitor's line-input subroutine) was a slightly more primitive version of the method available in the Apple II Plus firmware. Pressing Escape followed by A, B, C, or D would move the cursor right, left, down, or up, respectively. It was necessary to press Escape each time — unlike with the later Escape K, J, M, and I (Apple II Plus and later) and Escape right, left, down, up (Apple IIe and later). Each successive version supports all previous methods; for example, even on the Apple IIe, one could press Escape then A and move just one space. If Integer BASIC is loaded from a DOS 3.3 disk into an Apple II Plus or newer model, it uses newer monitor ROM code (either the one from the Apple II Plus or the native version built into the computer, depending on the DOS version). Thus the newer Escape codes are available in this configuration.
In all systems, pressing the right arrow key, while not in escape mode, would pick up the character under the cursor, allowing on-screen text to be effectively retyped into the input buffer.
There were third party programs — for example PLE, GPLE from Synergistic Software and later Beagle Bros, and GALE — which offered more powerful and programmer-friendly editing facilities.
Read more about this topic: Integer BASIC
Famous quotes containing the word editing:
“In this century the writer has carried on a conversation with madness. We might almost say of the twentieth-century writer that he aspires to madness. Some have made it, of course, and they hold special places in our regard. To a writer, madness is a final distillation of self, a final editing down. It’s the drowning out of false voices.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)