BRANDY(1)

💖 BRANDY(1) 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because today we're talking about brandy — a portable BBC BASIC VI interpreter, and she is serving retro realness. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

brandy — a portable BBC BASIC VI interpreter. that's the whole name. no notes. 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

brandy -help
brandy -version
brandy [-size <size>] [-fullscreen] [-swsurface] [-path <list>] [-load
<file>] [-chain <file>] [-quit <file>] [-lib <file>] [-ignore] [--
<options>] [<file>]

like… look at her. all those little flags. it's giving "I contain multitudes." 🦋

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So. Brandy is an interpreter for BBC BASIC VI, which is the dialect of BASIC that Acorn Computers shipped with their desktop computer ranges using the ARM processor — think the Archimedes and the Risc PC — and it's still in use on those machines and on compatibles. not a relic, a legacy. periodt. 💜

And BASIC V is a much extended version of BBC BASIC. That original one was the BASIC used on the 6502-based BBC Micro that Acorn made during the 1980s. so basically: grandma BASIC, but make it ARM. 🌈

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -help — prints a lil summary of all these options. the "hey bestie what do I do" button. 🫶
• -size <size> — sets the size of the Basic workspace to size bytes when the interpreter starts up. the minimum size allowed is 16384 bytes, and anything below that gets bumped up to it. the maximum size is 2147483644 bytes (that's 4 bytes short of 2GiB, yes really, so close 😭). the size can have a suffix of k to say it's in kilobytes, or m if it's in megabytes. for example, -size 100k sets the workspace size to 100 kilobytes (102400 bytes) and -size 8m sets it to eight megabytes (8388608 bytes). math ate. 💅
• -lib <filename> — loads the Basic library filename when the interpreter starts. you can repeat this option as many times as you want to load a whole stack of libraries. this is exactly the same as typing INSTALL filename at the interpreter's command line. the libraries load in the order given on the command line. ⚠️ but note: the search order is the reverse of that. sneaky little plot twist, love that for her. 🙈
• -load <filename> — loads the Basic program filename when the interpreter starts.
• -path <directory>[,<directory]... — specifies a list of directories the interpreter will search when it's looking for libraries and programs. the directory names are separated by commas. the pseudo-variable FILEPATH$ is set to this value. 📂
• -quit <filename> — loads and runs the Basic program filename, then leaves the interpreter when the program has finished running. she's out. door closed. bye. ✌️
• -chain <filename> — loads and runs the Basic program filename, and stays in the interpreter when the program has finished running. she's sticking around for the afterparty. 🥳
• -ignore — ignores certain unsupported feature errors. by default the interpreter reports an error whenever it comes across a BASIC V feature it doesn't support. this option lets some unsupported features be ignored, as long as they don't affect the basic running of the program. so basically: "girl we don't know her, keep it moving" mode. 💀
• <filename> — this is exactly equivalent to -chain. same energy, shorter name. ✨
• -nostar — don't check commands issued via OSCLI to see if they're dealt with by Brandy. pass all commands to the underlying operating system. no middleman, straight to the source. 🧚

heads up bestie: the case of the names of the options is ignored. but whether the names of files are case sensitive or insensitive depends on the operating system the interpreter is running under. so that part? not our call. 🌸

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• /usr/share/doc/brandy — the full documentation. the lore. the extended universe. 📚
• /usr/share/doc/brandy/examples — example programs. go look, go play, go learn. ⭐

💖 AUTHORS 💖

David Daniels, with contributions from Darren Salt and Colin Tuckley. Matrix Brandy modifications by Michael McConnell and contributors. legends, all of them, we stan. 👑

and that's the whole page, bestie. this was brandy 1.22.12, dated 28 Dec 2021. mwah. 💋 slay, run your BASIC, and remember — the case of the options never matters, but your vibe always does. 🦋✨