Write the GALAGA tutorial chapters and the repeated-host-calls guide
docs/20 builds the engine and the boundary: the startup order, the starfield, actors and collision, booting a DEF-only script, the issue #8 mode workaround, the custom update hook, first light, screens, and the headless harness. docs/21 builds the three shared structures and the AI: the host type tables, the actor binding, the randomness route around issue #16, the measured case against structure arguments (issue #36), the three language rules that shape the script, the maneuvers, the argued formation decision, the script-death policy, and the interop proof. Every fenced block runs under tests/docs_examples.sh in both build configurations; five new preludes carry the C fragments. docs/10 gains the 'Calling a function every frame' section the chapters lean on: the per-call akbasic_environment_zero() rule, the set_mode(RUN) workaround, the clear_error() revival, and the case for rebinding over structure arguments. Index rows and chapter counts updated. Co-authored-by: andrew <andrew@aklabs.net> Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01XiGgpHuXUm2mR4Wzndw3dc
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@@ -100,6 +100,50 @@ bounded run is usually inside a `FOR` or `GOSUB` body, and a variable created th
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dies when the body pops — silently, with the script reading it correctly right up until
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it stops.
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## Calling a function every frame
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`akbasic_runtime_call_function()` calls a `DEF` by name with values you already
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hold — the entry point a game loop wants. A host that calls it repeatedly signs
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up for three rules the one-shot examples never meet:
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```c wrap=hostcalls
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CATCH(errctx, akbasic_runtime_call_function(&SCRIPT, "THINK", argp, 1, &result));
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/* ...consume the result... */
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CATCH(errctx, akbasic_environment_zero(SCRIPT.environment));
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```
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1. **Reset the value scratch after every call, once the result is consumed.**
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Each call parks its result in the caller environment's per-line scratch
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(`AKBASIC_MAX_VALUES` slots), and a host calling in a loop never crosses the
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line boundary that would reset it. Skip the `akbasic_environment_zero()` and
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the pool drains — measured at under two frames of forty calls — after which
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every call fails with `Maximum values per line reached`. The reset also
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invalidates `result`, which is why it comes after the consumption.
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2. **Force RUN mode once after the boot run.** A multi-line `DEF` body only
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runs while the runtime is in RUN mode, and by the time a host can call, the
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program that filed the definitions has ended. One
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`akbasic_runtime_set_mode(&SCRIPT, AKBASIC_MODE_RUN)` after
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`akbasic_runtime_run()` makes the bodies run, and the mode stays put because
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nothing steps the runtime between calls. Issue #8 tracks making this
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unnecessary.
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3. **Revive after a script error, deliberately.** A BASIC-level error inside a
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called body reports through the sink, answers a stale value, and latches:
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the runtime leaves RUN mode and every later call does nothing. When your
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policy is to absorb the error and keep calling — a game marking one actor
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dumb rather than killing the frame — the revival is two calls:
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`akbasic_runtime_clear_error()`, then `akbasic_runtime_set_mode(RUN)` again.
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The latch is deliberate for *programs* — the first error ends a run, once,
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with one line — so nothing clears it for you.
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Do not pass structures as per-frame arguments. A structure or pointer parameter
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spends a value-pool slot on every call and the pool never reclaims, so the
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interface dies after about a thousand calls — issue #36 has the measurements.
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Bind the instance once with `akbasic_host_bind()` and point it at each object
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with `akbasic_host_rebind()` ([Chapter 16](16-structures.md)), which spends
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nothing per call. The GALAGA tutorial ([Chapters 20](20-tutorial-galaga.md)
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and [21](21-tutorial-galaga-enemies.md)) is this whole recipe as a working
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game, forty calls a frame.
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## Where the output goes
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`PRINT` writes through an `akbasic_TextSink`, which is a record of function pointers plus
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