In order to scroll forward, move the mouse into the Scroll Bar next to the line that you wish to move to the top of the window. Then click the mouse button. Scroll backward by pressing the "option" key on your keyboard while the mouse is in the scroll bar.
MacOberonTM V4.0
Copyright (C) 1989-93 by Institut f
r Computersysteme ETH
"Oberon" and "MacOberon" are trademarks of ETH Zurich.
Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of ETH not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. ETH makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.
ETH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL ETH BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
Syntax Font
Copyright (C) 1968 by Linotype AG
"Syntax" is a registered trademark of Linotype AG.
The Syntax font is owned and used by permission of Linotype AG.
RASTER DATA DESCRIBING SEVERAL TYPEFACES OF THE SYNTAX FONT FAMILY IS SUPPLIED WITH THIS RELEASE OF OBERON AND MAY BE USED ONLY IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE OBERON SOFTWARE. ANY OTHER USE OF THE SYNTAX FONT REQUIRES A LICENSE FROM LINOTYPE AG.
PostScript versions of the fonts in the Syntax family are available from Linotype, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Getting started with MacOberon
Oberon is an extensible system. There is no difference between functions offered by the operating system and functions added by a user which enhance the basic system. As a matter of fact, Oberon abandons the notion of a Program altogether. Atomic actions in Oberon are called Commands.
Commands are parameterless procedures which may be executed directly from the operating system interface. Procedures from anywhere in a module hierarchy may be called in this way and there is no need for a "top" module which distributes commands to other modules. Instead, command distribution is built into the operating system. When a command terminates, control is passed back to the operating system's main loop. However, the module that contained the last command remains loaded in the system and all of its global variables remain unaltered. Subsequent commands may reference these variables freely.
The granularity of commands may be quite fine. Typical commands display the directory of a storage device, increase the font size of the text last selected or compile the contents of the active window. A user may execute commands in any sequence and may thus be working on completely different problems in different windows at the same time. We call this "one_process multitasking".
Using Commands
Commands are activated by the use of an Action Button (on the Macintosh, this is the "control" key on the keyboard). Pressing the Action Button while pointing at any text anywhere on the screen will try to execute a command of that name. This may be text in a pull_down menu, in a word processor document, captions in a drawing, or even the title string of a window.
The system will then attempt to interpret the text that is pointed at as "Modulename.Commandname" and search for the corresponding module, possibly loading it from disk if it cannot be found in memory. If the module is present or can be loaded, it will then search for the requested command and execute it. If the module or the command cannot be found, the system will simply resume its usual input state (i.e. not display an error message).
For example, the text written in italics following this paragraph is a command that will display the current time in the System.Log (the window in the upper right corner). Execute this command by moving the mouse over it and pressing the "control" key on your keyboard:
System.Time
Extensibility
The main feature of Oberon is extensibility. A user can add an arbitrary number of commands to the system at any time simply by writing a module and compiling it. There is no need to install the command (it may be activated as soon as compilation is completed) and modules containing commands are not added to the system until an actual call is made. The <working menus> of commands that users keep (called Tools in Oberon) are regular text documents and freely editable.
Even the basic resources of the system are extensible. For example, the editor you are just using supports "live" extensions of characters which are sent messages when editing operations occur. The moving objects that you see below are such "extensions" of characters. They float in the text just as characters, and may be cut, copied and pasted.
To Probe Further
A lot of documentation is supplied in this distribution. Execute the command below (by pressing and releasing the "control" key over it) for viewing a first introduction to the built_in mouse commands and most important basic commands of Oberon:
Edit.Open DK.MacOberon.Starter.Text
We have also prepared a Tool for you that leads you to further documentation about different parts of the system. Please:
System.Open Documentation.Tool
Portability
Oberon is also available for Ceres, DECStation running ULTRIX, IBM PC (Versions for MS_DOS and MS_Windows), IBM RISC/System 6000, Silicon Graphics, and Sun SPARC machines. The Oberon libraries on those machines as well as the document architectures in all implementations are identical. For example, you could open this document on any of the machines mentioned above and see the same moving icon and clocks, despite even the fact that not all of the machines use the same byte ordering
Only the compiler and the low_level_modules Kernel, Macintosh, Modules, Input, Display, Display1, Fonts, Files, Files1, Reals, SCC, Printer, Math, MathL and Oberon contain some machine_specific code. All other modules, including the Edit and Draw application packages and the user interface modules (Texts, Viewers, MenuViewers, TextFrames) were simply recompiled on the Macintosh without changing a single line of source text.
The source texts of the original Oberon system for the Ceres personal workstation, including the original NS 32000 Oberon compiler written in Oberon itself, have been published in the Book:
Project Oberon. The Design of an Operating System and Compiler.
Niklaus Wirth and J
rg Gutknecht.
Addison_Wesley, 1992.
ISBN 0-201-54428-8.
The source code of the portable compiler used in MacOberon, as well as Oberon compilers for other harware platforms, can also be licensed from ETH, but require a fee. For details please contact us at the address below.
Registration
MacOberon is free. However, we appreciate some user feedback. Please send a postcard with the words "I like MacOberon" (or the opposite, if you don't) and your name and address on it to:
Michael Franz
Computersysteme ETH
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Picture postcards are preferred, because we can paste them to our wall... If you give us your E-mail address, we will also keep you informed of updates.
Hints
Due to a conceptual error in the Macintosh Finder, MacOberon runs much slower, and takes much longer to start, when its folder is opened on the desktop. You will get much better performance if you run MacOberon from a closed folder. Under System 7, you should define an alias for the MacOberon application and put that on your desktop.
(.txt)