Derek_Stewart wrote:
However, maybe a programme is a problem.
There are all these Backup programs available. However, I prefer to write my own - simply because I enjoy writing programs, and SuperBASIC is just great!
Whenever I update one of my programs under development, my system will automatically make a Backup of the file to RAM8_. The file is renamed with a two-character ending appended. After some while, there could be a hundred or so different versions of my program stored in Ram8_. This is never a problem, as on a PC the amount of storage space available is practically unlimited. When ram8_ is eventually full, this would be stored, and replaced with another empty QXL.WIN file. Most of my Backed-up files will never be looked at again; however, they can serve a useful purpose, as depicted below ….
Occasionally, one of my programs may develop a fault, which could go unnoticed for a while. Sometime later I may become aware of the fault, and would perhaps spend a considerable amount of time trying to locate the bug but without success. This is where my Backed-up files come into play. I can search through, load and try these files for the presence of the said bug. They will either display the fault or not. The search is continued, in a binary-chop fashion until finally, I reach the stage where there are just two files, next to each other, the earliest version bug-free, and the next version displaying the fault. All I have to do then is to compare the two files, and this can usually identify the exact instructions that have caused the fault.
This doesn’t happen very often, but can be so useful. Of course, this kind of thing can only be done using an emulator on a PC. I use QPC2, which I can highly recommend.
EmmBee