While searching the ticalc.org archives, it suddenly occurred to me that there is no short, concise reference guide for (TI-83+) TI-BASIC. What I mean by reference guide is a reference of the commands and other features in the TI-BASIC language. I realize that you can always read the TI-83+ manual, but for many people it's quite cumbersome and it leaves some stuff out.

So, I have decided to make one myself. I have some ideas of my own on things to include, but I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on things that you would like to see?

Please note that I don't intend on covering all of the different facets of TI-BASIC programming in this guide. There are just too many things to cover; I would almost need to write a book for that. I want to at least cover all of the general topics and the stuff that isn't in the calculator manual, though.

Hmm, this is a pretty cool idea. Like explain what each of the [PRGM] commnands do, or in essence an advanced CatalogHelp document?

Yeah, I want to cover most of the PRGM commands. Some of the other stuff I'm covering so far is: program flow (if, then, else,end); loops (while, repeat, for, goto/lbl); operators (arithmetic, logical, comparison).

The format I have currently is:

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OK, that sounds like a plan. Do you want people to make some for you and post them here?

No, I just wanted to hear some ideas for stuff to include. I want it to be fairly complete, so I was looking to see if you guys had any ideas. I will be putting the whole thing together myself.

Fair enough, good luck with this!

maybe including the time functions from the 84's would be good, I got a new one yesterday and it was sort of confussing the first time i tryed to program with it (not that i really program anymore)

Unfortunately, I only have an 83+SE, so I can't really cover the time functions. Besides, the reference guide will not be all-encompassing. I primarily just want to cover the basics of the language and anything else that is essential for TI-BASIC programming (i.e. program flow, loops, operators; the things that are used in every program). I was hoping that you guys would have some things that you want to see included.

I also want to clarify that it's not really a reference guide, so much as it is a reference card. It's just three or four pages of TI-BASIC commands and other facets of the TI-BASIC language.

Ah, OK. Closer to a reference than a tutorial?

Personally I would prefer to see a complete reference guide with every feature convered. That way your guide would be the holy grail of TI BASIC. I think it would be cool to have one complete guide to every function out there that was easy for beginners to learn from. But do as you will

While I understand what you are saying, you probably don't realize how much work would be involved in creating that. It would take a long time to do by yourself, and it would still take a considerable amount of time if you had a group of people helping.

Maybe it would be easier to just release an 'enhanced' edition of the manual rather than a completely new document (of course, I'm sure there might be legal issues with that...)?

that is a good idea. If you looked in the index of your manual, it tells you how to use all the commands.

Yeah, but there are definitely copywrite issues, you would need to email TI's legal department and double-check that it's OK before proceeding.

I realize that it would be a huge undertaking, but you would go down in TI history

Copyright. Not copywrite.

Gosh frickin' XYZing #@$%#@$% it! I always do that!

i thought the manual insert covered the time stuff really well....

Except for the dbd( command. I think its just there for decoration, it's so hard to use.

or the OpenLib and ExecLib