Of course, what else could it mean ("in 64-bit editions ... heap pointers are 32 bits")?I think "heap pointers" are indexes into the heap rather than hardware memory addresses.
32-bit heap pointers in BBC BASIC are only used by 'managed' objects (principally scalar variables and strings) whereas arrays and structures use 64-bit raw pointers. This is essential for Operating System interoperability, for example it's not uncommon for an OS API function to return a pointer to a structure; this will point outside BASIC's heap, so a structure must have a 64-bit raw pointer not a 32-bit heap pointer.
Statistics: Posted by RichardRussell — Sun Mar 30, 2025 9:46 am