STOS BASIC

STOS is a version of BASIC that was written specifically for the ST by Mandarin software in 1988. Being more powerful than the ST BASIC distributed with most ST's, it became a popular BASIC dialect and was used to write many public domain, and some commercial, games.

Programming in STOS

• STOS BASIC FAQ/INSTRUCTIONS
• STOS MAESTRO INSTRUCTIONS
• STOS BASIC COMPILER INSTRUCTIONS
• Compiler manual
• STOS file structures

Extensions

It was possible to add commands and functionality to the STOS language through the creation of extensions. The first major extension to be released was STOS Maestro, which added the ability to play sampled sounds. STOS Maestro plus was STOS Maestro bundled with a sound-sampler cartridge that could play sounds back with more capability than the standard YM24129. Other extensions included TOME, STOS 3D, STE extension, Misty, The Missing Link, Control extension, Extra and Ninja Tracker. These extensions kept STOS relevant and useful for many years after its release.

Compatibility

Compiled STOS programs often needed to be patched or recompiled in order to be compatible with each new release of TOS. For this reason, many games written in STOS don't work on new members of the TOS Family such as the Falcon

External links

• The Wikipedia article for STOS
• The complete source code of STOS and the STOS compiler can be found at the Clickteam site
• STOS Archives
• Forgotten Creations by Simon Hazelgrove (Darklight)