Flags in TI Basic

To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
Subject: Flags in TI Basic
From: Paliser <paliser@AOL.COM>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 08:20:46 GMT
Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com
Reply-To: Paliser <paliser@AOL.COM>
Xref: paladin.american.edu bit.listserv.calc-ti:22517

Back in the days of the very early programmable TI calculators the programming
language included a number of flags which could be set or cleared, and then
tested later by the program in order to find out what decision was made by the
user.

To illustrate...

Suppose the user is asked to make a menu choice between two options, and
suppose that later in the program, much later, it is necessary to know what
that choice was.  Ordinarily a flag would be set at the time the choice was
made.  This flag could later be tested to find out what that choice was.

To this writer, flags are an absolutely essential item in a calculator
programming language, and yet, I note they have not been provided in the
TI-85/86.  Even today, Hewlet Packard still provides flags in their
programmable calculaters.
How did the developers of the TI-85/86 intend this situation to be handled
without flags?

Please note that I am not asking how it COULD be handled; I am asking what the
developers INTENDED.

A two or three line example would be much appreciated.

Paul Goddard,
paliser@aol.com