Random Fixes TODO¶

Collection of miscellaneous fixes and improvements identified during documentation review.

Output Clearing¶

Issue: Need to verify all _clear_output() calls have been removed from all UIs

Files to check: - src/ui/curses_ui.py - src/ui/tk_ui.py - src/ui/web/nicegui_backend.py - src/ui/cli.py

Goal: Continuous scrolling output like ASR33 teletype (no auto-clearing)

Status: Done. No UI clears the output on its own now. Checked by reading the code: the CLI has no clear call; curses clears only on the menu item Clear Output (and replaces the output with the syntax errors while the program has some, which is a feature of the syntax check); the web UI clears only on Run > Clear Output; Tk cleared the output at RUN, LIST and NEW, and the three calls are removed. Only the menu item Run > Clear Output is left in Tk.

SYSTEM Command Security (Multi-User Web UI)¶

Issue: Multiple users connected to web UI - one user running SYSTEM shouldn't exit the entire server

Old behavior: execute_system() ended with sys.exit(0). The web UI later got SandboxedFileIO.system_exit(), which raised IOError, so SYSTEM was an error in a web session.

Files: - src/interpreter.py (execute_system) - src/file_io.py (SandboxedFileIO.system_exit) - src/ui/web/nicegui_backend.py (cmd_system)

Status: Done. In the web UI SYSTEM prints Goodbye and halts the program of that session only (the pc is halted and CONT does nothing). The server and the other sessions are not touched. The CLI, curses and Tk UIs still exit the process. Tests: tests/regression/ui/test_web_immediate_commands.py (a mock replaces nicegui). Not fixed, found on the way: File > Exit in the web UI calls app.shutdown(), which stops the whole server (see docs/dev/WEB_UI_NICEGUI_BACKEND.md).

Consolidate cmd_ Functions Across UIs¶

Status: Open. The work is a refactor and not a bug, so it was left alone.

Issue: All UIs have their own cmd_ function implementations for things like LIST that could be done in a program. Implementation should be common, with UI-specific hooks if needed for updates.

Files with cmd_ functions: - src/ui/curses_ui.py - src/ui/tk_ui.py - src/ui/web/nicegui_backend.py - src/ui/cli.py - src/interactive.py (base implementations)

Problems: - Duplicated logic across UIs - Inconsistent behavior - Hard to maintain

Proposal: - Move common cmd_ logic to shared location (interactive.py or new module) - UIs provide hooks for UI updates (refresh display, etc.) - UI-specific code only handles visual updates, not logic

Examples of commands to consolidate: - LIST - DELETE - RENUM - FILES - SAVE - LOAD - MERGE - NEW

CLI LIST Command Does Nothing¶

Issue: In CLI UI, the LIST command does nothing (no output)

File: src/ui/cli.py

Expected: Should list the program like other UIs

Current: Silent failure or no implementation

Status: Not a bug. LIST in python3 mbasic --ui cli prints the program (tested by typing two lines and LIST). No change.

Related: Part of cmd_ consolidation issue above

Notes¶

These issues were identified during docs_inconsistencies_report-v12 review on 2025-11-07.

Priority: Medium - not blocking, but affects UX and maintainability

Web UI Guide Is Out of Date¶

Issue: docs/dev/WEB_UI_NICEGUI_BACKEND.md (moved out of src/ui/web/README.md on 2026-09-30) still describes an early web UI. For example, the guide says INPUT is a placeholder and that programs using INPUT hang. The guide is built into the published docs site.

Files: - docs/dev/WEB_UI_NICEGUI_BACKEND.md - src/ui/web/nicegui_backend.py (the current behaviour to check the guide against)

Goal: Check each status claim in the guide against the code and update the guide, or mark the guide as historical and move the guide to docs/history/.

Status: Done. The guide was rewritten from the current code: INPUT works inline, the editor holds the whole program, and File, Edit, Run, Debug and Help menus, the debugger and the immediate line exist. The guide also lists what is still true: Recent Files is not restored after a reload, and File > Exit stops the server.