GOSUB variable in C64 BASIC

While writing a program with a student, we wanted to make an efficient dynamic jump table under C64 BASIC 2, where could have an array of line numbers that represent event handlers for particular events.  The idea is that we would then GOSUB JT%(EVENT) to dispatch to the appropriate handler, and be able to freely update the jump table as we go.

However, C64 BASIC doesn't allow this.  I am not really sure why they made the GOTO command (which is the heart of GOSUB also) unable to resolve variables. It would have meant that the ON ... GOTO command could have been left out, saving ROM space, for example.

Anyway, a bit of poking around found that other people have tried to do this, but none of their solutions really seemed particularly nice.

So, I thought, is it possible to do this just using BASIC 2, and without any assembly routines?

The answer is YES! Using the rather under utilised technique of self modifying BASIC programs.  Is this a horror beyond comprehension?  Probably.  But it also works a treat :)

So, here is how it works:

1. Have a GOSUB command somewhere in your basic program that you can reliably find in memory. I made it GOSUB,21456 in my program.  The number doesn't matter, provided it is 5 digits long, so that we have space to overwrite with any valid line number we might encounter.  The comma is there because GOSUB+COMMA = SYNTAX ERROR, and thus should not exist in any sensible program*. 

2000 REM THIS IS THE ROUTINE THAT WILL GET MODIFIED DURING EXECUTION
2010 GOSUB,21456
2020 RETURN

2. Find out where in memory that line lives, but searching for the GOSUB token (141) and the comma:

1000 FOR JA = 2048 TO 40959: IF PEEK(JA-1)<>141 OR PEEK(JA)<>44 THEN NEXT: RETURN


(By doing the comparison in the negative sense, the loop continues until it finds the location, and then aborts as soon as it finds it).

3. To GOSUB to any line, have a routine like this:

1100 REM GOSUB TO LINE IN VARIABLE LN
1110 LN$=STR(LN): REM GET STRING VERSION OF LINE NUMBER
1120 REM REPLACE ,21456 WITH CORRECT LINE NUMBER
1130 FORI=0TO5:POKEJA+I,32: REM FIRST RUB OUT WITH SPACES IN CASE LINE NUMBER IS SHORT
1140 FORI=0TOLEN(LN$)-1:POKEJA+I,ASC(RIGHT$(LEFT$(LN$,I),1)):NEXT
1150 GOSUB 2000
1160 POKEJA,44: REM PUT THE COMMA BACK READY FOR NEXT TIME
1170 RETURN

(The astute reader will realise that they can merge steps 1 and 3 to give something like:

1100 REM GOSUB TO LINE IN VARIABLE LN
1110 LN$=STR(LN): REM GET STRING VERSION OF LINE NUMBER
1120 REM REPLACE ,21456 WITH CORRECT LINE NUMBER
1130 FORI=0TO5:POKEJA+I,32: REM FIRST RUB OUT WITH SPACES IN CASE LINE NUMBER IS SHORT
1140 FORI=0TOLEN(LN$)-1:POKEJA+I,ASC(RIGHT$(LEFT$(LN$,I),1)):NEXT
1150 GOSUB,00000
1160 POKEJA,44: REM PUT THE COMMA BACK IN CASE WE WANT TO RUN AGAIN
1170 RETURN

Now you can GOSUB to any line you like with a simple program like:

10 GOSUB 1000: REM ONE-TIME ONLY LOOKUP PATCH ADDRESS

20 LN=12345: GOSUB 1100: REM GOSUB TO LINE 12345

999 END

Here is a complete program, and an example of it running. It is short enough to fit on a single screen, even with some comments!

* I don't claim that this program is sensible. It is also possible for it to show up in a string that has shift-M followed by a comma, but I can avoid that easily enough.