Built-in variables
Global built-in variables reflect the state of Logo. Some of these variables are read only, while changing others have effects on Logo programs. A few variables are actually property lists whose properties control Logo’s behavior.
:BASE
Sets the numeric base used when printing numbers.
Syntax
MAKE "BASE number
:BASE
Description
BASE is a pre-defined name that determines the base in which numbers are output by Logo. BASE requires an integer between 2 and 36 as its input.
Example
MAKE “BASE 2 PRINT 10 1010 MAKE “BASE 16 PRINT 10 A MAKE “BASE 10
:CASE
Makes Logo convert its input to upper case or not.
Syntax
MAKE "CASE TRUE or false
:CASE
Description
:CASE causes Logo to convert all input to upper case if set to TRUE, except for words that are enclosed in vertical bars. If :CASE is FALSE, Logo does not convert any input to upper case. When Logo starts, it sets :CASE to TRUE. Instead of setting the variable :CASE, you can also set the CASE property of the “PREFS object.
Example
MAKE “CASE FALSE PARSE “lower Result: [lower] MAKE “CASE TRUE PARSE “lower Result: [LOWER]
:CURRENT.GRAPHICS
Contains the current graphics window name.
Syntax
:CURRENT.GRAPHICS
Description
:CURRENT.GRAPHICS contains the name of the currently active graphics window. This is the frontmost graphics window which executes the DRAW and CLEARSCREEN commands. This variable is read-only.
Use the system variable :CURRENT.WINDOW to change the current graphics window.
Example
:CURRENT.GRAPHICS Result: GRAPHICS
:CURRENT.WINDOW
Contains the current window name.
Syntax
:CURRENT.WINDOW
MAKE "CURRENT.WINDOW windowname
Description
The :CURRENT.WINDOW variable contains the name of the currently active window, where the user can type into. Setting the variable causes the window with the given name to become visible, and the user focus is set to that window. If no known window has the focus, :CURRENT.WINDOW outputs a question mark.
A list of available windows may be obtained with the EVERY “WINDOW command.
Example
MAKE “CURRENT.WINDOW “LISTENER
:DATADIR
Reports the user’s data directory.
Syntax
:DATADIR
Description
:DATADIR is a system variable that contains the user’s Logo data directory. On a Windows system, this is the directory “Terrapin Logo” within the user’s Documents directory. Setting the variable changes the value.
If a file name starts with the characters ”~DATA“, Logo substitutes these characters with the contents of the variable :DATADIR. The file name ”~DATA/TEST.LOGO“, for example, could become “C:MYDATATEXT.LOGO” if DATADIR was set to “C:MYDATA”. See also :LOGODIR.
Example
:DATADIR Result: /C/Users/John/Documents/Terrapin Logo
:DESKTOPDIR
Reports the desktop directory.
Syntax
:DESKTOPDIR
Description
:DESKTOP is a system variable that contains the name of the directory of the PC’s desktop. It is read only.
Example
:DESKTOPDIR Result: /C/Users/John/Desktop
:ERROR
Contains the type of the last runtime error.
Syntax
:ERROR
Description
The built-in variable ERROR works together with the CATCH and THROW commands. Whenever Logo throws a word with the THROW command inside the instruction list of a CATCH command, or Logo throws a runtime error, and that error or word is caught, Logo sets :ERROR to the type of error caught. The CATCH command sets the variable to the empty list before executing its instruction list.
Use one of the following values to throw a Logo error:
| ACCESS | A name or a procedure does not exist |
| SYNTAX | Syntax error |
| BREAK | The user clicked the yellow light |
| STOP | The user clicked the red light. Same as TOPLEVEL, but prints the message Stopped! |
| TOPLEVEL | Thrown by the TOPLEVEL command; returns to toplevel if not caught. |
| CONVERSION | Data conversion error |
| INPUT | Missing inputs to a procedure |
| OUTPUT | A procedure did not output anything |
| RESULT | Unexpected result |
| BADPROC | Malformed procedure definition |
| BADFORMAL | Bad formal argument list |
| RUNTIME | General runtime error |
| NAME | A name is already being used |
| RECURSION | Too many active procedures |
| MATH | Math error |
| IO | I/O error |
| COMMAND | This command is only valid at toplevel |
| COMPONENT | A component is outside the window |
:ERRORTEXT
Reports the text of the last caught runtime error or THROWn word.
Syntax
:ERRORTEXT
Description
The built-in variable ERRORTEXT works together with the CATCH and THROW commands. Whenever Logo throws a word with the THROW command inside the instruction list of a CATCH command, or Logo throws a runtime error, and that error or word is caught, Logo sets ERRORTEXT to the text of the runtime error, or to the textual representation of the THROWn word. The CATCH command sets the variable to the empty list before executing its instruction list.
Example
TO TEST.ERROR CATCH “ERROR [1 / 0] (PRINT “|Error text:| :ERRORTEXT) END TEST.ERROR Error text: Division by Zero
:INITIAL.LAYOUT
Reports or sets the initial layout of Logo panels.
Syntax
MAKE "INITIAL.LAYOUT word-or-list
Description
The INITIAL.LAYOUT variable works like the LAYOUT variable, but it sets the initial layout of Logo, which can be referenced via the menu or the icon bar.
:LAYOUT
Reports or sets the layout of Logo panels.
Syntax
MAKE "LAYOUT word-or-list
Description
The LAYOUT variable reports the layout of all Logo panels as a property list. The property names are the panel names, and the values are two-element lists. The first element is a four-element list containing the left, top, width and height of a panel in percentage values from 0 to 100, and the second element is the state of the panel, like NORMAL or HIDDEN.
Setting LAYOUT changes the panels accordingly.
LAYOUT also accepts a word as input, which references a predefined layout:
| BASIC | Display the Graphics at the top and the Listener panel at the bottom. |
| VERTICAL | The same as BASIC, but with the Graphics at the left and the Listener at the right. |
| BLOCKS | The Logo Blocks layout. |
| STANDARD | The standard layout. |
You can also append one of these layout names to the web link of Terrapin Logo to set the initial layout:
https://weblogo.terrapinlogo.com?layout=basic
Example
MAKE “LAYOUT “BASIC
:LOGO.ENV
Contains a property list of global program and system settings.
Syntax
PLIST "LOGO.ENV
Description
LOGO.ENV contains a property list of program and system settings:
| MINIMAL | Set this property to TRUE to switch the UI of Logo to a minimalistic version that does not confuse users. When the property is TRUE, the number of buttons in the tool bar is reduced to two, the edit and output windows and the toolboxes are hidden, and the menu is stripped down to a bare minimum. |
| POSITION | Contains the position of the Logo frame window relative to the top left of the screen as a two-element list. Setting this property does not have any effect on the Mac, because Logo does not have a frame window on the Mac. Setting the value to the empty list restores the position to its value at startup. |
| SCREEN | Contains the size of the screen workspace as a two element list [width height]. This property is read only. |
| SIZE | Contains the size of the Logo frame window as a two-element list [width height]. Setting this property does not have any effect on the Mac, because Logo does not have a frame window on the Mac. Setting the value to the empty list restores the size to its value at startup. |
| VERSION | Contains the Logo version as a number, like e.g. 4.1. |
Example
GPROP “LOGO.ENV “SCREEN Result: [1846 1200]
:LOGODIR
Reports Logo’s startup directory.
Syntax
:LOGODIR
Description
:LOGODIR is a system variable that contains the name of the directory where Logo was launched from. It is read only. See also :DATADIR.
Example
:LOGODIR Result: /C/Users/John/Documents/Terrapin Logo
:PICTURE.FORMAT
Controls the format of saved pictures.
Syntax
:PICTURE.FORMAT
Description
The built-in variable PICTURE.FORMAT controls the file format of saved pictures when no file extension is given. It may hold one of the following values:
| JPEG | A compressed image format used widely on the Internet. It loses information during compression, so multiple loads and saves of a JPEG image will slowly reduce its quality. |
| BMP | The Windows bitmap format. The files are large, but no data is lost. |
| GIF | A picture format used widely on the Internet, with a maximum of 256 colors. |
| PCX | An old picture format from the early days of PC computing. |
| TIFF | A file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. |
Example
:PICTURE.FORMAT Result: BMP
:PRECISION
Sets the precision in which numbers are printed.
Syntax
MAKE "PRECISION number
Description
PRECISION is a pre-defined name that sets the number of decimal places displayed in Logo calculations. The default value of PRECISION when Logo is loaded is 2, the maximum allowed number is 15. Calculations are always performed using the full value of the number, regardless of the value of PRECISION. Another way to set the precision is to set the PRECISION property of the “PREFS object.
Example
PI Result: 3.14 MAKE “PRECISION 15 PI Result: 3.14159265358979
:PREFS
System-wide properties.
Syntax
GPROP "PREFS "propertyname
PPROP "PREFS "propertyname value
PLIST "PREFS
Description
The PREFS object contains a list of system-wide properties that control the look and feel of Logo. All of these values are restored when Logo starts. To force Logo to ignore the saved data, hold the SHIFT key when Logo starts.
| Name | Default value | Description |
|---|---|---|
AUTOSAVE |
FALSE |
If TRUE, Logo saves your environment into the file Environment.LGZ on exit. |
BACKGROUND.COLOR |
[255 255 255] | The background color of the Listener and Editor windows. |
COMMENT.COLOR |
[128 128 128] | The color of Logo comments. |
CASE |
TRUE |
If TRUE, Logo converts all input that is not enclosed in vertical bars or back quotes to upper case. Note that Logo resets this property to FALSE during a RESTART command. |
DRAGGABLE.OBJECTS |
TRUE |
Objects can be dragged and dropped. |
ERROR.COLOR |
[255 0 0] |
The color of Logo error messages. |
EXTENDED.PROPERTIES |
FALSE |
If TRUE, the Bitmap and Turtle properties dialogs are replaced with the standard property dialog editors. |
FONT |
[Consolas 9 0] |
The font for the LISTENER window. |
HINTS |
TRUE |
If FALSE, tooltip hints are not displayed. |
INPUT.COLOR |
[0 0 0] |
The color of user input. |
LISTENER.LINES |
100 |
The maximum number of lines that the LISTENER window displays. |
NAME.COLOR |
[0 128 0] |
The color of Logo names. |
NUMBER.COLOR |
[128 0 0] |
The color of Logo numbers. |
OUTPUT.COLOR |
[128 0 128] |
The color of Logo output. |
PRIMITIVE.COLOR |
[0 0 128] |
The color of Logo primitives. |
PROCEDURE.COLOR |
0 0 255] |
The color of Logo user-defined procedures. |
PROMPT |
` > ` | The prompt that Logo displays. |
QUIT.ON.ERROR |
FALSE |
This property can be handy if you write programs that work as stand-alone programs. If set to TRUE, and a runtime error or any other uncaught error occurs, Logo displays an error message box and quits. Note that Logo resets this property to FALSE during a RESTART command; it is not saved to disk when saving the environment. |
RELAXED.SYNTAX |
TRUE |
If set to TRUE, Logo automatically closes all open brackets at the end of an input line. Note that this setting only affects the Listener window, not editors, or loaded Logo files. Also, you do not need to use the colon (as in :VALUE) to access the contents of a name. Note that this feature is deprecated, and will not be supported in a future version of Logo. |
REPLACE.PRIMITIVE |
TRUE |
If set to TRUE, you can redefine primitives. Needless to say that this option is very dangerous. Note that Logo resets this property to FALSE during a RESTART command; it is not saved to disk when saving the environment. |
ROTATING.BITMAPS |
TRUE |
If set to FALSE, bitmaps do not rotate when their heading changes. |
SHOW.HEADINGS |
FALSE |
If set to TRUE, Logo displays an arrow with every widget to indicate its heading. |
SINGLE.EDIT |
TRUE |
If set to TRUE, Logo uses a single editor window instead of multiple editor windows. |
SMALL.ICONS |
FALSE |
If set to TRUE, Logo displays smaller icons in its toolbar. |
STARTANGLE.HEADING |
TRUE |
If set to TRUE, Logo sets the initial heading of a freshly dropped widget to its STARTANGLE property. |
SYNTAX.HILITING |
TRUE |
If set to FALSE, Logo does not use the colors defined here to display text. |
VERBOSE |
FALSE |
If set to TRUE, Logo prints messages when loading a file. |
VISIBLE.TELL |
FALSE |
If set to TRUE, Logo draw a small box around every widget on the TELL list. |
Example
GPROP “PREFS “PRECISION Result: 2
:STANDARD.INPUT
The number of the input stream.
Syntax
MAKE "STANDARD.INPUT channel
Description
STANDARD.INPUT is a pre-defined name that controls the source of the Logo input stream. When Logo starts up, the default value of STANDARD.INPUT is 0, which means that all input into Logo is read from the Listener window. To change the source of the input stream to another device such as a disk file, the device must be opened or created to prepare it for input, and STANDARD.INPUT assigned the channel number with the value that the OPEN command returned. The channel number for the Output window is 1. To redirect Logo’s output stream, use :STANDARD.OUTPUT. See also OPEN and CREATE.
Example
:STANDARD.INPUT Result: 0
:STANDARD.OUTPUT
The number of the output stream.
Syntax
MAKE "STANDARD.OUTPUT channel
Description
STANDARD.OUTPUT is a pre-defined name that controls the destination of the Logo output stream. When Logo starts up, the default value of STANDARD.OUTPUT is 1, which means that all Logo output is written to the Listener window. To change the destination of the output stream to another device such as a disk file, the device must be opened or created to prepare it for output, and STANDARD.OUTPUT assigned the channel number which the value that the OPEN command returned. The channel number for the Output window is 1. To redirect Logo’s input stream, use :STANDARD.INPUT. See also OPEN and CREATE.
Example
:STANDARD.OUTPUT Result: 0
:TAB
Sets the tab stop position.
Syntax
MAKE "TAB number
Description
The system variable TAB sets the tab stop width used in the Editor and
Listener windows. This width is pre-set to 4 at startup. The value is
saved when Logo exits and restored when Logo starts. Setting TAB is
equivalent to setting the TAB property at the :PREFS object.
Example
:TAB Result: 4
:TRACE
Controls the output of debugging information.
Syntax
MAKE "TRACE number
Description
TRACE is a pre-defined name that allows monitoring of procedure or command line execution. TRACE displays each step of a procedure in the trace window without pausing as it is run. TRACE displays the current step being evaluated as well as the procedure name, if any, line, and output. TRACE can be assigned a combination of the following values:
| 1 | Procedure calls and the execution of procedures |
| 2 | Assignments to values |
| 4 | Assignments to properties |
| 8 | Garbage collections |
:USERNAME
Reports the login user ID.
Syntax
:USERNAME
Description
:USERNAME is a read-only system variable that contains the name the user used to log on to Windows.
If a file name contains the characters ”~USER“, Logo substitutes these characters with the contents of the variable :USERNAME. The file name ”~USER/TEST.LOGO“, for example, could become “MichaelTEXT.LOGO” if the user logged on as “Michael”.
Example
:USERNAME Result: John