REM Remover - Andy Wright (Your Spectrum-Issue 3-Page 108)





NOTE: The correction for line 1040, printed in issue 6 on page 17,

      has been included in REMREMVE.TAP.



If you've written a routine following all the rules cited in the textbooks,

you'll more than likely end up with a listing full of REM statements that

have so faithfully guided you throughout its inception. Unfortunately,

you may find that once completed and working correctly, the REM

statements take up valuable memory you require for the main program.

	This program for the 16K or 48K Spectrum provides the very useful

facility of REM removal. First, type in the program as listed, taking

extra care with the data held in lines 1000 to 1230. Now save the

program to tape and then, once verified, RUN it. A machine code call

address will be displayed on the screen, along with the message 

"Save Code to Cassette Y/N?". Press the 'n' key and then type in the USR call

as displayed (do remember to make a note of the call address before

you press 'y' or 'n').

	If all has gone well, the 'OK' report should be given and once listed,

you will find all the REM statements and the comments within them

have been removed. If this hasn't happened, not to worry - simply

reset the computer, load the program back from tape, carefully

check all the data statements and try again.

	If the REM statements have indeed vanished, type RAND USR 0

to reset the computer and load the program back from tape again. This

time, when confronted with the 'Save' question, press the 'y' key and

save the machine code to tape. (Don't forget to make a note of the

call address given on-screen, preferably on the cassette itself.)

	Before you rush off and type this into your computer in a burst of

enthusiasm, there are one or two things you should know which could

be helpful. First off, if the Basic program you are developing changes

the values of any system variables, such as UDG or RAMTOP (ie. by

executing a CLEAR command), it may corrupt the utility. So, use the

utility before running such a program and re-load the utility before

using it again.

	You might also like to know that you can locate this program

anywhere in memory you choose; thus, you can overcome a problem

such as the one described above. You should first save the machine

code version of the utility as described above, but load and run it using

commands of the following format:

	CLEAR xxxxx-1

	LOAD "REM Remover" CODE xxxxx

where 'xxxxx' is a suitable area in memory (and 'xxxxx-1' is one less

than this number).

	 Then, to remove the REMs from a program, simply type:

	  PRINT USR xxxxx

You should also note that if the only statement on a line is a REM

statement then the whole line is deleted from the program. Also, if the

REM is the last statement on a line then only the REM part of the line is

deleted.

	One last note is that this utility should only be used once you are sure

you won't need the REM statements for some future reference. So,

either be quite certain you don't need the information they contain, or

make a hard copy first - just in case!





Lines 10-30     Set up an area for the machine code to reside.

Lines 40-70     Print the address of the machine code and ask if a SAVE of

		the code is required.

Lines 200-240   The 'cassette SAVE' routine for the machine code.

Lines 500-540   The subroutine to work out the position in memory the

		machine code will be stored.

Lines 700-720   Calculate the start and end positions of the machine code.

Lines 1000-1230 Contain the data for the machine code.



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TYPE: Utility 



COMMENT: 





This info file was typed by Jim Grimwood



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