How to clear the 40 colum screen

[Blacklord]

SYS 27440

[Edwing]

Hi! Thanks for the tip... good to know for using it in ML ... but someone opting to use this command should, in my opinion, also be aware of the "regular" way to clear 40 col screen:

- If you are on that screen, use SCNCLR or if you are printing out something anyway, CHR$(147) (or SHIFT-HOME as a control character)

- In any case, GRAPHIC 0,1 works.
Granted, that isn't 100% identical as it also switches to 40 col for further output, so you would have to switch back afterwards by printing CHR$(27)"x" or GRAPHIC 5 if what you want to do is output on 80 col...

But generally I have to say I have the feeling people would not really use the named SYS to clear 40 col while working on the other screen but because they once have read about it and memorized it as "how to clear the screen". In which case I really don't see the advantage of SYS... over SCNCLR (probably it's the starting address of the SCNCLR command anyway :/ )

Shouldn't be taken as criticism, I just sometimes wonder if all that works when entered into the machine really is useful ... and for something to be called a "tip" or "trick", I personally would feel it is required to be useful. I don't want to hack on this very SYS now but generally I believe there should be an objective reason (such as speed or brevity) for a programmer or user to favour a POKE or SYS over an in-built command. Else it's a bit like using a SYS for calling the PRINT routine instead of using PRINT... Maybe it's also become a bit of a "habit" to always use POKE and SYS because when people learned BASIC on the C64 that was inevitable for most things ... Now they just continue no matter if it's unnecessary under BASIC 7.0 ... (Not talking about you but the people who originally came up with this SYS) ... Hope you don't get it wrong... more intended as a thing for the "general public" to think about :rolleyes:

Peaceful Greetings,
George