Thoreau BASIC

V2.5.2

Keep the cores awake.

Version 2.5.2 is a runtime-performance and robustness update for programs that hit the JIT and PARFOR continuously. Compiled PARFOR source regions are reused instead of consuming code-cache space on every invocation, and RUN now forms a clean token/JIT cache boundary before variables are recreated.

Windows already used persistent PARFOR workers. UEFI now does too: application processors are started through EFI MP Services only when the pool grows, then remain parked inside Thoreau and receive later jobs through shared work counters while the BSP participates. This removes firmware AP-launch/event overhead from frame-by-frame parallel loops.

On supported bare-metal x64 systems Thoreau can enable AVX/YMM state itself when firmware leaves it disabled, reports framebuffer write-combining status, and uses a faster bulk path for PUT ...,PSET. Both platforms also discard queued gameplay keystrokes when RUN or CONT returns to Ready., so old movement keys do not reappear later in the editor or LIST pager.

PARFOR X=0 TO 639 reuse the same native worker graph frame after frame OPTION PARTHREADS 0 let Thoreau tune the persistent worker pool RUN "ISLAND3D" 1024×1024 fractal terrain, mouse-only controls

V2.5

BASIC, now with a native engine under the floorboards.

Thoreau BASIC 2.5 turns the experimental compiler work into a normal execution path on both Windows x64 and x64 UEFI. Stored programs can compile hot numeric and hypercomplex expressions, scalar and numeric/@ array work, assignments, IF/ELSE, FOR/NEXT, WHILE/WEND, DEF FN and large cross-line regions into native x64 code. Unsupported syntax simply drops back to the classic interpreter.

Classic line-numbered control flow is not treated as embarrassing luggage. Literal GOSUB/RETURN can stay native across compiled regions, including calls made from hot loops. The JIT preserves BASIC return points and single-line IF/ELSE context when a call has to fall back to the interpreter. JIT OFF disables both bytecode and native acceleration for a clean correctness A/B test; JIT ON restores it.

PROFILE now knows which engine executed each line. JIT sampling modes report RUNS, JITRUNS, INTRUNS and MODE, while PROFILE INTERPRETER gives an exact classic-engine comparison. The new GorseGlass demo puts the machinery under load with a 1024×768 raytracer using nested loops, arrays, many GOSUBs, reflections, true Snell refraction and Schlick Fresnel blending.

JIT OFF : RUN force the classic interpreter for an A/B correctness test JIT ON : PROFILE JIT : RUN run compiled and see which lines stayed native PROFILE INTERPRETER : RUN exact interpreter-only timing for comparison

V2.4.1

Sharper tools for the program you are already inside.

V2.4.1 added FIND NEXT/PREV/WORD, source REPLACE, syntax-aware XREF and AUDIT, the first line profiler, REDIM, FOR END/WHILE END, POLYFILL, graphics-slot introspection and several control-flow and input refinements.

V2.4

More input. More pixels. An actual network stack.

Games can now ask what is held right now with KEYDOWN(), so movement and firing no longer fight over INKEY$. Mouse support is shared across Windows and UEFI, with position, buttons, wheel, ON MOUSEMOVE and ON MOUSECLICK. UEFI draws its own software pointer, probes both Simple and Absolute Pointer protocols, and can fall back to a raw PS/2 mouse when firmware publishes pointer protocols that never deliver motion. MOUSEINFO shows which backend is active.

Windows SCREEN width,height now accepts arbitrary logical framebuffer sizes and scales them cleanly into windows or fullscreen with preserved aspect ratio. UEFI exposes its real GOP modes through SCREEN MODES, VIDEOMODES(), VIDEOMODE and SCREEN MODE.

Networking is now a BASIC feature rather than wishful thinking: eight TCP/IPv4 client slots, DNS, HTTPGET$(), HTTP status and network-error reporting use Winsock/WinHTTP on Windows. UEFI first uses firmware DNS4/TCP4/HTTP, but can now drop to EFI_SIMPLE_NETWORK_PROTOCOL and run Thoreau's own ARP, DHCPv4, IPv4, UDP, DNS and TCP stack. It probes real packet I/O even when firmware reports a stale media-present flag. NETINFO exposes exactly which path is active. Plain HTTP works on the raw fallback; authenticated HTTPS still uses the firmware HTTP/TLS stack.

Classic compatibility also gets quieter but important fixes: INPUT ; keeps the cursor on the current line, NEXT K,J,I closes several nested loops, and DEFxxx defaults now make an unsuffixed variable and its matching explicit suffix the same variable, as in GW-BASIC.

IF KEYDOWN("LEFT") AND KEYDOWN("SPACE") THEN GOSUB 9000 move and fire in one frame ON MOUSECLICK GOSUB 8000 event-driven pointer input MOUSEINFO show UEFI pointer protocols, PS/2 fallback and active backend NETINFO show firmware protocols, raw-stack DHCP and active backend J$=HTTPGET$("http://api.open-notify.org/iss-now.json") live ISS data even through the raw UEFI fallback