alasdair.davis@norbrook.fsnet.co.uk

Comal is a programming language that was developed by Benedict Loefstedt and Borge Christensen in 1973. It has been developed for many platforms including the BBC Micro, the PC, the Mac and the Amiga (Ed: and the PET and the 64). Comal is a language similar to BASIC but has many advanced features that are similar to PASCAL.

As Comal is a language for beginners it is used in education and this is where the BBC comes in. AcornSOFT developed a version for the BBC Micro Computer, because many schools all over the country had these computers, so Comal came into widespread use as an introduction to programming. In fact some schools still use Comal on BBC Micros. I met Comal in my school, where I did programming on a BBC Master. There was a room full of them! Sadly they have been replaced by Apple iMacs. (Ed: Yes, I can understand the sadness at replacing a BBC Master with an iMac - Not!)

As this has been happening all over the country, (BBCs are being replaced by Apple Macs or PCs), Comal has been ported to many different platforms. See below. However, I still use Comal on a BBC in my home. I also have the version for the MacOS and a demo of the version for the PC. If you would like to contact me and ask some questions about Comal for the BBC, or the BBC itself, then please do. I will try to help.

• If you have a BBC computer, model B, B+ or Master and you would like to use Comal then use this link to the 8BS site. The owner of this site sells Comal ROMs which you can put into a free ROM slot and start to use Comal.
• If you have a PC and would like to use Comal then use this link to the Macharsoft web site. Macharsoft sell a version of Comal, called UniComal, which will work on your PC.
• If you have a Apple Mac and would like to use Comal then use this link to the Comal for Mac OS site. Iain Merrick has designed a version of Comal for use on the Mac.
• Finally if you have an Amiga then follow this link to a site on Aminet. Scroll down the page to "Comal.lha" where you can download it and use it on your Amiga.

I hope you found the information useful. I really enjoy using Comal, on my BBC Master, and I'm sure you will too, (on whatever platform). Please e-mail me if any of the links above don't work, or if you would like further information on Comal.

I am hoping to develop some simple games and programs in Comal. Watch my web pages at www.master128.freeservers.com/comal.htm. I will put them on this site for download.

Ed: Those with long memories will know that COMAL started in the UK on the Commodore PET and that I used to promote it a little bit! It is nice to welcome a user of the BBC micro to our group, especially as Alisdair uses COMAL. After a long period of inactivity with COMAL I have recently been corresponding, (by snail mail), with a user of COMAL on the 64. With my help he has updated the instruction files I originally created for the COMAL 0.14 to cover the COMAL Power Driver version. I must admit that getting involved left me hankering to do some programming (in COMAL) again. In these object oriented times programming is a little different and, dare I say it, more difficult and less fun. It also seems to create software with more bugs left in because the software development skills that COMAL encouraged are being lost or ignored. Perhaps one day I will find some time to program something new, but in the meantime Ken Ross is looking to upload 8-bit COMAL related material in his area http://members.tripod.com/~petlibrary. I still have all my COMAL disks, albeit with no working disk drive that can read them, various COMAL books and all the journals from the now defunct US COMAL Users Group. Anyone with questions relating to COMAL on Commodore machines or the UniComal for PC is welcome to send them to me at the usual e-mail address.