Editing AMOS (programming language) (section)

== History ==
AMOS competed on the Amiga platform with Acid Software's [[Blitz BASIC]]. Both BASICs differed from other dialects on different platforms, in that they allowed the easy creation of fairly demanding multimedia software, with full structured code and many high-level functions to load images, animations, sounds and display them in various ways.

The original AMOS was a [[BASIC interpreter]] which, whilst working fine, suffered the same disadvantages of any language being run [[interpreter (computing)|interpretively]]. By all accounts, AMOS was extremely fast among interpreted languages, being speedy enough that an extension called AMOS 3D could produce playable 3D games even on plain 7&nbsp;MHz 68000 Amigas. Later, an AMOS [[compiler]] was developed that further increased speed. AMOS could also run [[MC68000]] machine code, loaded into a program's memory banks.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/1990-lionet-francois-amos-the-creator-user-guide/1990-lionet-francois-amos-the-creator-user-guide_djvu.txt The Creator], by François Lionet, 1990, ''"AMOS Basic includes special facilities which allow you to combine assembly language routines with your Basic programs."''</ref>

To simplify animation of sprites, AMOS included the AMOS Animation Language (AMAL), a compiled sprite scripting language which runs independently of the main AMOS BASIC program.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://grove.ufl.edu/~cwarner/computers.html |title=Computers  |access-date=2010-11-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101208051702/http://grove.ufl.edu/~cwarner/computers.html |archive-date=2010-12-08 }}</ref> It was also possible to control screen and "rainbow" effects using AMAL scripts. AMAL scripts in effect created CopperLists, small routines executed by the Amiga's Agnus chip.

After the original version of AMOS, Europress released a compiler ('''AMOS Compiler'''), and two other versions of the language: '''Easy AMOS''', a simpler version for beginners, and '''AMOS Professional''', a more advanced version with added features, such as a better [[integrated development environment]], [[ARexx]] support, a new [[user interface]] API and new [[control flow|flow control constructs]]. Neither of these new versions was significantly more popular than the original AMOS.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012|reason=For example, from my experience it was way more popular. References to sales figures or alike would be nice.}}

AMOS was used mostly to make multimedia software, [[video game]]s (platformers and graphical adventures) and educational software.

The language was mildly successful within the Amiga community. Its ease of use made it especially attractive to beginners.

One of AMOS BASIC's disadvantages, stemming from its [[Atari ST]] lineage, was its incompatibility with the Amiga's [[AmigaOS|operating system]] functions and interfaces. Instead, AMOS BASIC controlled the computer directly, which caused programs written in it to have a non-standard user interface, and also caused compatibility problems with newer versions of hardware.

Today, the language has declined in popularity along with the Amiga computer for which it was written. Despite this, a small community of enthusiasts are still using it. The [[source code]] to AMOS was released around 2001 under a [[BSD licenses|BSD style license]] by [[Clickteam]], a company that includes the original programmer.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://clickteam.com/eng/downloadcenter.php?i=58 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130053321/http://clickteam.com/eng/downloadcenter.php?i=58 | archive-date=2007-11-30 | title=Amos & Stos » Main Download}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://github.com/AOZ-Studio/AMOS-Professional-Official | publication-date=2020-04-26 | first=François | last=Lionet | via=AOZ Studio | access-date=2024-11-29 | website=GitHub | title=AOZ-Studio/AMOS-Professional-Official: The official source code of AMOS Professional on the Amiga}}</ref>