REM statement

Comments can be made in two ways, either using a Rem statement, in which case die entire line is considered a comment, or by using a quotation mark, in which case all text to die right of the quotation mark also constitutes a comment. 

The program is written in GWBASIC for use with personal computers. It can easily be adapted for use with other languages. Sufficient comments (REM statements) are included in the listing for the structure and logic of the program to be readily followed. MASSBAL consists of three separate BASIC programs ... 

When you type in a line from a program listing and press RETURN, the Proofreader displays a number at the top of your screen. This checksum number must match the checksum number in the printed listing. If it doesn t, it means you typed the line differently from the way it is listed. Immediately recheck your typing. Remember, don t type the rem statement with the checksum number it is published only so you can check it against the number which appears on your screen. 

If either file becomes damaged or corrupt (with incorrect entries), the best two tools you have are the REM statement and backup files. 

Sherlock Holmes said it best When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. In our example, the only device drivers were for the sound card, so it s probable that the sound card was configured improperly. If you had multiple device drivers in the configuration files, you would have to test each possibility separately to find out. Troubleshooting with REM statements is a process of elimination. One by one, you must eliminate the impossible, so that you can find the improbable. 

REM statement A command placed in the beginning of a line in a DOS batch file to prevent that line from executing. 

Even in the earliest days, it was considered good form to use REM statements to explain what the program did and what each of the subroutines in the program did. The use of indentation following the line number to display the extent of the loop also began to appear around the time BASIC was invented. The reason is that people, in addition to computers, have to read computer programs remarks and indentation help. Two other stylistic features were not common in 1964 lowercase letters (most terminals did not even have them) and completely blank lines. 

All versions of BASIC have always allowed the REM statement, which allows including remarks or comments in the program. Such comments might include the programmer s name, brief descriptions of how the program works, or a detailed explanation of some particularly tricky section of code. Many versions of BASIC also allowed comments on the same line as other BASIC statements. For instance, in... 

REM FROM LINE 800 OBLIGATORY STATEMENTS ARE REM GOSUB 5388 RETURN... 

Rem Description A series of statements to demonstrate the operation of a contrast ... 

Some of the listings in this book have a checksum number appended to the end of each line, for example, rem 123. Don t enter this statement when typing in a program. It is just for your information. The rem makes the number harmless if someone does type it in. It will, however, use up memory if you enter it, and it will confuse the Proofreader, even if you entered the rest of the line correctly. 

If the computer boots and operates normally with this configuration, you can assume that the problem was related to one of the non-DOS entries—that is, a driver for a peripheral (if not the peripheral itself). It should be noted that REM-ming out the statements (as we did above) would cause the devices that the statements were intended to configure to not function at all. This is not a failure, but simply the way computers work. 

A. The non-DOS items can always be taken out or REMmed out to see if the machine is operating properly without that statement placed in the configuration files. 

Statements useful for verification and troubleshooting have been disengaged by REM prefixes these can be re-activated as needed. BASIC has been nsed as the source code for simplicity along with the resident random number generator. The algorithm is readily adapted to higher order analyses, longer record tapes, and to C, C++, and Pascal codes. 

Dr. Becker, the American Thyroid Association recommended a level of 100 REM for intervention. The statement seems somewhat ambiguous to me, since if 100 REM represents a level that you do not want to reach, the radiation level to intervene must be set at a lower level. 

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