Play and Learn 2

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PC-Study PC-Study - Fairware!! Wash 'n Ware Software Products Back-To-School Division P. O. Box 91016-199 Baton Rouge, LA 70810 PC-Study is a program from Wash 'n Ware Software Products, Back- To-School Division, copyright 1986, all rights reserved, which is licensed to any user for non-commercial use. The program may be freely distributed by any registered user to any other user provided the entire diskette is copied and no files and no programs may be modified. Fairware is a concept of software distribution that allows free distribution of programs and documentation and asks users to be fair to an author by providing some small remuneration for his/her work. This differs from the Shareware concept where registered users are paid commissions for subsequently registered copies. The fees that are requested by the Fairware distributor are modest, and intended to cover the cost of maintaining records about registered users, and to provide motivation for additional development. If you use the software, then "BE FAIR" and pay the registration fee, please. IBM is the trademark of IBM Corporation. PC-Write is a trademark of Quicksoft. PC-Study Overview The PC-Study program provides the capability to utilize the personal computer as a question and answer device, with the user having the capability to easily develop the questions and answers. The program randomly selects alternate choices and presents the information in a multiple choice format. The program records the number of correct answers to compute an ongoing score and this score is displayed at the top of the screen. If more than one question is incorrectly answered, the program shuffles the alternative responses and re-asks only the missed questions. In order to review the complete list of questions, the user need only began again at the beginning of the selection process (at the menu). The registration fee for PC-Study is $10.00 until March 1, 1987 and $15.00 thereafter. Program Use The most common use of the program is to practice learning words and definitions. However, there is no restriction to that environment as the study material may be questions and answers, or states and capitals, or the names of figures and formulas for their area, etc. The program allows you to study a list of entries. Each entry consists of a first part which is one line long (i.e. the word), and a the second part which is two lines long (i.e. the definition). Each list must be identified to the PC-Study program so that the list may be placed in a 'directory' of lists for studying. In fact, there are few restrictions. They are: 1) There must be at least 6 entries (words, questions) in a list. 2) There may not be more than 80 characters in a list entry (word, question). 3) There must be two lines of 80 characters in the second part of the entry (definition, answer), with the second line being blank if it is not needed. 4) There should not be more than about 22 lists in the study 'directory' or the choices to study will overflow a page. 5) There may not be more that 1000 entries in a single list. Example Suppose that you have a list of words that you must learn the definition of, say for your math class. This list of words can each be defined with a couple of lines of definition. To make up a study list, you only need to use a word processor or text editor that will prepare a standard ASCII text file. A good example is the EDLIN program that comes with PC-DOS/MS-DOS. Another is the excellent Shareware program, PC_Write from Quicksoft. Many others exist. Do be careful of standard word processors, because some leave special characters in the file as format indicators, etc. These characters will have a strange effect on PC-Study. Study List File Format The study file simply needs to contain the word/question on one line, followed by the two lines of definition/answer that apply, one right after the other. That is: word1 definition line 1 for word 1 definition line 2 for word 1 word2 definition line 1 for word 2 definition line 2 for word 2 word3 definition line 1 for word 3 (a blank line) word4 definition line 1 for word 4 definition line 2 for word 4 etc. Notice that each word and its definition, or each question and its answer, take up three text lines. Text lines are terminated in the file with a standard 'carriage return' and 'line feed'. No other unusual characters are used or should appear. (Such normal printable characters as the period, the comma, the exclamation point, number and so on, may be freely used.) Another example of a list, using questions and answers might be: What is the capital of Texas? Austin (a blank line goes here) What is the capita of Louisiana? Baton Rouge (a blank line goes here) What is capital of the United States? Washington, D. C. (a blank line goes here) etc.... Study Directory Once the list is prepared, the list must be added to the 'study directory'. This is simply another file which lists the various subjects which may be studied and tells the program where the lists are. The study directory is a file named 'study.dir' and should reside in the directory where study.com resides (which is where you are running the program from, probably). You add a list of words or questions to the list by selecting the add a list function on the PC-Study menu. Then, PC-Study will ask you for the phrase that you want to use in describing the list, such as 'English Vocabulary Words, pp 19-33'. Then, you will describe the complete path to the file containing the words/questions and their definitions/answers. If you are not using sub-directories, this will be easy. Be sure to give the file's extension if you used one. Examples of this might be: \words\mathword.ch3 or \study\wordlist\engvocab.131 or list2 (assumes we are in the same directory as the program was.) for access to three different files. Then you will tell the program whether you are giving words, or questions, or things, or whatever you want to call the items you have on the first line. Then you will tell the program what to call the things on the next two lines, such as definitions, answers, or whatever. This completes the directory entry. The entry will be shown to you, and if you do not like it, say 'N' that it is not okay. You will then be allowed to recreate the entry. Once you have created the entry, you must use your text processor to edit the study.dir file to delete them. Each directory entry takes four lines of text, so if you are deleting one, be sure that you delete all four lines. You can modify an existing directory entry with the 'Modify' option on the menu. Each line of the directory entry will be shown to you and you may retype it with any correction that you want. If the text of a directory line is okay as is, simply press the return (enter) key, and the line will be left intact. To blank out a line, enter at least one blank before you press return. Studying the list Now you are ready to study your list. If you select the 'study' option on your menu, you will be shown the directory of available study topics and you may then choose one. If you don't want to choose one, type 'q' to quit. (Don't type the quote marks, just the letter to quit.) When you have chosen a list to study, you will be allowed to choose in which sequence you wish to have the list presented to you. For example, you can see the words and select the matching definition, or you can see the definitions and select the matching word. Finally, the program will present you with the list you have chosen, in the order you have chosen, one element at a time, with randomly chosen alternative answers. If you select the correct alternative, you will go on to the next item in the list. If you make an error, the correct choice will be highlighted, and you will be given a few moments to study the correct answer. If you tire of seeing the correct answer and want to go on to the next list item, simply press the space bar. To select a response, you only need to press the number of the response; you do not need to press the 'enter' or 'carriage return' key. When you have completed the items in the list, you will be shown your final score. Then, if you made any errors, the erroneous items will be reshown one at a time, with new alternative answers, and you may continue to study the shorter list. When you get them all right, the program will return to the study menu. To quit studying If you want to quit studying a list, simply press the letter 'q' to return directly to the study menu. Program Installation The program should work equally well on a black and white text monitor, or on a graphic monitor. If you encounter trouble in using your system, and you are a reqistered user, send the specifications of your system to Wash 'n Ware Software Products they will develop a version for you if they can. (If they cannot, they will return your registration fee.) The required files are the program file, study.com, and the directory file, study.dir. Example lists are provided on the distribution diskette for your immediate practice in using the program. Try using engvocab.wb and funny.stf. The first is a legitimate word study list. The second is simply an example of the variability of the use of PC-Study, and is meant to be funny. Simply copy these files to a working diskette, or to your hard disk, using a sub-diretory if you wish. After having made a work-copy, please store your distribution diskette safely away and work only on the copy. To execute the program, make that diskette, disk, or sub- directory your default directory and in response to the operating system prompt type 'study' and press 'enter' or 'carriage return'. Then follow the directions above. Add your own lists, and delete the samples. Note that the program does a warm boot on the primary disk when the program terminates, so your primary disk, (either A: or the hard drive) must have COMMAND.COM on it. COMMAND.COM is not supplied by the PC-Study system. In the event that you have a problem with your screen not clearing correctly, you may need to run the installation batch file supplied on the distribution diskette. Try PC-Study without doing the INSTALL process first. Then, if you have a problem, you may perform the following INSTALL process. INSTALL Batch file in case of difficulty Before you use PC-Study, it may need to be installed for your particular computer, i.e. provided with information regarding control characters required for certain functions. This installation is easily perfomred using INSTALL (a .BAT file). Now start the installation by inserting the work-copy in your A: drive and making it the default drive by typing A: and pressing the return or enter key. Then type INSTALL and press the return key. Select System installation from the main menu. Depending on your version of PC-Study, the installation proceeds as described in the following two sections. IBM PC Compatible Display Selection If you use PC-Study without installation, the default screen set- up will be used. You may want override this default if you have two screens or a multimode screen by selecting another screen mode from this menu: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Choose one of the following displays: 0) Default display mode 1) Monochrome display 2) Color display 80x25 3) Color display 40x25 4) b/w display 80x25 5) b/w display 80x25 Which display (enter no. or ^X to exit) ! ----------------------------------------------------------------- IBM PC Screen Installation Menu Each time PC-Study runs, the selected mode will be used, and you will return to the default mode on exit. Non-IBM Compatible Installation A menu listing a mungber of popular terminals will appear, inviting you to choose one by entering its number: ------------------------------------------------------------------- Choose one of the following terminals: 1) ADDS 20/25/30 15) Lear-Siegler ADM-31 2) ADDS 40/60 16) Liberty 3) ADDS Viewpoint-1A 17) Morrow MDT-20 4) ADM 3A 18) Otrona Attache . . . 13) Kaypro II and 4 27) None of the above 14) Lear-Siegler ADM-20 28) Delete a definition Which terminal? (Enter no. or ^X to exit): ----------------------------------------------------------------- Terminal Installation Menu If your terminal is mentioned, just enter the corresponding number, and the installation is complete. Before installation is actually perfomred, you are asked the question: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Do you want to modify the definition before installation? ------------------------------------------------------------------ This allows you to modify one or more of the values being installed as described in the following. If you do not want to modify the terminal definition, just type N, and the installation completes by asking you the operating frequency of your CPU (see last item in this section). If your terminal is not on the menu, however, you must define the required values yourself. The values can most probably be found in the manual supplied with your terminal. Enter the number corresponding to None of the above and answer the quesitona one by one as they appear on the screen. In the following, each command you may install is described in detail. Your terminal may not support all the commands that can be installed. If so, just pass the command not needed by typing RETURN in response to the prompt. If Delete line, Insert line, or Erase to end of line is not installed, these functions will be emulated in software, slowing screen performance somewhat. Commands may be entered either simply by pressing the appropriate keys or by entering the decimal or hexidecimal ASCII value of the command. If a command requires the two characters 'ESCAPE' and '=', may: either Press first the ESC key, then the =. The entry will be echoed with appropriate labels, i.e. <ESC> =. or Enter the decimal or hexidecimal values separated by spaces. Hexidecimal values must be preceded by a dollar- sign. Enter e.g. 27 61 or $1B 61 or $1B $3D which are all equivalent. The two methods cannot be mixed, i.e. once you have entered a non-numeric character, the rest of that command must be defined in that mode, and vise versa. A hyphen entered as the very first character is used to delete a command, and echoes the text "Nothing". Terminal type: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the name of the termanal you are about to install. When you complete the installation, the values will be stored, and the terminal name will appear on the initial list of termianls. If you later need to re-install PC-Study for this terminal, you can do that by choosing it from the list. Send an initialization string to the terminal? ------------------------------------------------------------------ If you want to initialize your terminal when PC-Study starts (e.g. to download commands to programmable function keys), you answer Y for yes to this question. If not, just hit RETURN. If you answer Y, you may enter up to 13 characters for this string. Send a reset string to the terminal? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Here, you may define a string to be sent to the terminal when PC- Study terminates. The description of the intiialization command above applies here. CURSOR LEAD-IN command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Cursor Lead-In is a special sequence of characters which tells your terminal that the following characters are an address on the screen on which the cursor should be placed. When you define this command, you are asked the follwing supplementary questions: CURSOR POSITIONING COMMAND to send between line and column: ------------------------------------------------------------ Some terminals need a command between the two numbers defining the row and column cursor address. CURSOR POSITIONING COMMAND to send after line and column: ------------------------------------------------------------ Some terminals need a command after the two numbers defining the row and column cursor address. Column first? ------------------------------------------------------------ Most terminal require the address on the format: first ROW, then COLUMN. If this is the case on your terminal, answer N. If you terminal wants COLUMN first, then ROW, then answer Y. OFFSET to add to LINE: ------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the number to add to the LINE (ROW) address. OFFSET to add to COLUMN ------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the number to add to the COLUMN address. Binary address? ------------------------------------------------------------ Most terminals need the cursor address sent in binary form. If that is true for your terminal, enter Y. If your terminal expects the cursor address as ASCII digits, enter N. If so, you are asked the supplementary question: 2 or 3 ASCII digits? ------------------------------------------------------- Enter the number of digits in the cursor address for your terminal. CLEAR SCREEN command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the command that will clear the entire contents of your screen, both foreground and background, if applicable. Does CLEAR SCREEN also HOME cursor? ------------------------------------------------------------------ This is normally the case; if it is not so on your terminal, enter N, and define the cursor HOME command. DELETE LINE command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the command that deletes the entire line at the cursor position. INSERT LINE command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the command that inserts a line at the cursor position. ERASE TO END OF LINE command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the command that erases the line at the cursor position from the cursor poisiton through the right end of the line. START OF 'LOW VIDEO' command: ------------------------------------------------------------------ If your terminal supports different video intensities, then define the command that initiates the dim video here. If this command is defined, the following question is asked: START OF 'NORMAL VIDEO' command: ----------------------------------------------------------- Define the command that sets the screen to show characters in 'normal' video. Number of rows (lines) on your screen: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the number of horizontal lines on your screen. Number of columns on your screen: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the number of vertical column positions on your screen. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Delay after CURSOR ADDRESS (0-255 ms): Delay after CLEAR, DELETE, and INSERT (0-255 ms): Delay after ERASE TO END OF LINE and HIGHLIGHT On/Off (0-255 ms): ------------------------------------------------------------------ Enter the delay in milliseconds required after the functions specified. Return means 0 (no delay). Is this definition correct? ------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have made any errors in the definitions, enter N. You will then return to the terminal selection menu. The installation data you have just entered will be included in the installation data file and appear on the terminal selection menu, but installation will not be performed. When you enter Y in response to this question, you are asked: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Operating frequency of your microprocessor in MHz (for delays): ------------------------------------------------------------------ As the delays specified earlier are depencing on the operating frequency of your CPU, you must define this value. The installation is finished, installation data is written to PC-Study, and you return to the outer menu. New installation data is also saved in the inmstallation data file and the new terminal will appear on the terminal selection list when you run INSTALL in the future. Registration All users are requested to fill out the form below and mail with the registration fee ($10 before March 1, 1987, $15 thereafter) to: Wash 'n Ware Software Products Back-To-School Division P. O. Box 91016-199 Date:___________ Baton Rouge, LA 70810 Name: __________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ City:_________________________ State:______ Zip:_________ (optional) Phone: (______) _____-__________ _______________ Primary use for program:_____________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Suggestions:_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________