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In anticipation of the arrival of the manual, what is currently known about this compiler? ROM BASIC compatible ?

I used to have a copy of FBASIC on an 8" disk. It was definitely for 65D, not for ROM Basic systems. I think code that it generates could be relocated without too much trouble. The compiler itself took input from a disk file, I'm pretty sure, so converting that might be more of a problem. I'm waiting to see it too.

All I know is from the ads in (I think) 6502 Micro. I seem to recall it's a subset of Microsoft BASIC, missing the floating point, but implementing most other features. I believe the basic numeric data type is a 16-bit int. I do remember the ads saying that FBASIC was written using OSI disk BASIC, then was used to compile itself, and the compiled version compiled its source 100 times faster than the interpreted one, producing the same output.

"Since FBASIC is a subset of Microsoft Basic, it did require some modification.
The major modification involved changing the initial two dimensional array to a one dimensional array that FBASIC can accept.
The integer and lack of string function that FBASIC requires did not
seriously hinder the programming of this problem. After compiling this program the
answer appeared in outstanding time of 31 seconds. This is better than 25 times faster
than Microsoft. Therefore,for speed with some restrictions in the use of string
functions, I highly recommend FBASIC."

We also have Tiny Compiler too I think... somewhere. I vaguely remember using it.
Maybe CC65 is a better option ?

I want it mostly because I always thought it was cool. I always just wanted to see it in action. It would be cool if the source were available as well.

By now, CC65 would probably be a better option. I don't know that either is particularly efficient, but it would also be nice to set up some benchmarks.

I think the tiny BASIC compiler is listed in the giant issue of Aardvark Journal, which is in the Journals section, but it's really more of a toy.

dave wrote:I want it mostly because I always thought it was cool. I always just wanted to see it in action. It would be cool if the source were available as well.

Yes it will be cool to have. Useful for some programs and also instructional for some budding programmers. Looking forward to John's software list.