Hi fellows,
Last days I have been very busy on testing the new Sio2SD interface, so I had not much time on the BBS.
The original language to program .CMD files (these are special binary files, special = specially written for the BBS system) was ACTION.
There are also CMD's that were written in C (atari version of C)
Most of software now is written in Assembler. Stephen J. Carden uses a cross-assembler. That is fast, and can handle bigger source code. Cross assembler is easier to edit, thanks to modern edit software.
There is also a special Basic for this BBS. But I have to look for it.
The most important part is you have to know the so called "BBS Equates" ... (this is important for any program language you want to use).
Programming for a BBS needs a few things to know:
What info must be send to the screen of the sysop
What info must be send to the user.
What characters can be used, and which characters can't (not everybody has ANSI etc.)
How is the User Interface controled?
If there is a highscore data file... where should it be stored? And how to detect Sysop-Settings for the BBS.
If there are any other external files in your program, where are they stored, so the new written program can find them on HD of BBS.
This all sounds a bit scarry perhaps. But once you are busy with the code, things will be clear.
But... my first advice: concentrate on writing a few Assembly programs for yourself. Assembler is the very best language to use on atari 8bit. You get the best performance, and in fact it is a very easy language. Some people will argue on that... but once you know how it works... assembler is piece of cake.
Good luck
Marius
p.s. Nathan already said, but when someone is online on the BBS, the connection appears to be DEAD! That is really stupid. You won't see a difference between a network error, or a down/crashed bbs, or a BBS doing maintenance events, or a BBS occupied by a user. That is all a dead connection. So if you can't get a connection, please try again in a few minutes.
telnet://ainside.no-ip.org
And try the online games!