ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/PROG/MISC/FPC355_1.ZIP/FPC.ZIP/FPCINTRO.TXT

Text File | 1989-11-01 | 9.8 KB | 223 lines

°More-Details            Introduction to F-PC
                         ────────────────────

  This file contains some additional hints on how to get started in F-PC.

  Use Down Arrow or the PgDn key on the keypad to advance through this
file, and the Up Arrow or PgUp key to backup toward the beginning of a
file. Press F10 when you want to unlink to the previous Browser.

Now let's look at the various parts of the screen before going on to the
hints.

  The top and bottom lines of the screen are used for status.  The bottom
line displays the name of the file being viewed, and a couple of helpful
hints. HELP=F1, and MENU=ESC. F1 will link you into another copy of the
Help system where you can get help on the various editor functions.

  You can press F1 now if you want to; just press F10 to get back here.

  Pressing the ESC key will cause the MENU line to be displayed. Having
pressed ESC, you can press the first letter of a menu name, or use the
keypad arrow keys to move around on the menubar. Pressing Enter while a
menu item is selected will cause the specified operation to be performed.
Pressing ESC again while the menubar is visible, will make it go away.

  When the menubar is NOT visible, you see a status line at the top of the
display.  This line contains various pieces of information about the file
being browsed or edited, including the word BROWSE at the left hand side.
When you are in the editor, the word BROWSE will change to INSERT, or
OVERWRITE indicating the appropriate edit mode.

  Now lets move on to the hints I promised. Move the cursor down until
this line is NEAR THE TOP OF THE SCREEN.

  The UPPERCASE  words to the right are F-PC Forth commands, the "<words>"
to the right are parameters to be passed to the command. The Enter key must
be pressed after entering a command.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To open an existing file:                      ∙OPEN <filename>
To edit a file already open:                   ∙ED
To leave the browser:                           F10      or ESC F E
To leave the editor and save changes:           F10      or ESC F E
To leave the editor and discard changes:        Alt-F10  or ESC F Q
To create and edit a new filename:             ∙NEWFILE <newfilename>
To load a file:                                ∙FLOAD <filename>
To load a file already open:                   ∙OK  or  1 LOAD
To view/browse a word's source:                ∙VIEW <word>
   some short cuts to view and browse:         ∙V  <word>  or  ∙B <word>
To edit a word's source:                       ∙ED <word>  or  ∙E <word>
To see all words containing a string:          ∙WORDS <substring>
   WORDS can be followed by two substrings:    ∙WORDS <substring> <substring>
To de-compile a dictionary word to the screen: ∙SEE <wordname>
To find all occurances of a string in a file:  ∙FLOOK <string> <filspec>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Some specific examples are given in the remainder of this file; browse
it at your leasure.  Press F10 to leave at any time.


Example:       ∙WORDS H <Enter>

  Will display all words in dictionary containing "H".

--[ FORTH ]--
       ∙$HOPEN         ∙HOPEN

Example:       ∙VIEW ∙HOPEN <Enter>

  Will enter the browser displaying the source code for HOPEN.  Press F10
to leave the browser.

Example:       ∙ED <Enter>

  After performing the above command sequence, ED will enter the editor
on the source for HOPEN. This is like the browser but you have to be
careful not to make any changes.  Press Alt-F10 to leave the EDITOR and
NOT SAVE changes.


Example:       ∙FLOAD SWINDOW <Enter>

  If the file SWINDOW is present on your disk, it will be compiled.  You
can now type "POPUP" to see a sample popup window. You may get an error
message if the file SWINDOW.SEQ is not present on your disk.


Example:       ∙OPEN SWINDOW.SEQ ∙ED <Enter>

  This command will open the file SWINDOW, and enter the editor. The
extension .SEQ is used AUTOMATICALLY if no extension is specified.


Example:       ∙OK <Enter>

  Will compile the currently open file. This is the same as FLOAD but
works on the most recently edited or viewed file.


Example:       ∙SEE ∙HEX <Enter>

Displays:       : HEX
                        16 BASE ! ;

  Allows you to see the source for a ":" definition without having the
source file available on disk.


  Here are some additional words you can use to manipulate files.

              <n1> ∙LOAD                \ Start loading file at <n1>.
                                        \ (Defaults to 1 if stack empty)
              ∙LISTING                  \ Print out the current file
              ∙NEWFILE <newfile>        \ Create the file <newfile> if it
                                        \ does not already exist, and edit it.
              ∙INDEX                    \ Display first line of all .SEQ
                                        \ files in current directory.

  The above examples should be enough to get you at least started in
exploring F-PC.  If you are the type of person who likes to read everything
before experimenting, then continue on and you will find out how to print
the documentation included with F-PC.

  There is a considerable amount of documentation provided on disk to
assist you in discovering F-PC.  Actually it is provided on disk because
many of you won't have the User's Manual available to help you get started.
I of course recommend you get the User's Manual: it was generated on a
Macintosh, and laser printed. It is a good reference, with a good glossary,
and is available from me for $20.00 dollars plus postage. You can see my
address at the end of this document.

If you insist on making printouts of all of documentation files, here
is a command to print a text file in the current directory:

               ∙FPRINT <filename.TXT> <Enter>

  Be sure your printer is ready for printing. If you are going to print all
of the documentation, have at least several hundred sheets of paper
available to complete the job.  The F-PCGLOS.TXT file may be too large to
print from F-PC, depending on your memory size; in that case, use the NEWZ
editor provided.


  This next section of INTRO will tell you about some of the features of
F-PC.


  F-PC is a Forth derived from F83 and many other sources. Henry Laxen and
Micheal Perry are the original developers of F83. My name is Tom Zimmer;
I along with Robert L. Smith, Charles Curley, and Jerry Modrow put together
this Forth.

  F-PC is a Direct Threaded Code (DTC) Forth. That is, it contains CODE in
the CODE field rather than pointing to CODE. DTC gives a noticable boost
in performance, which was needed to counteract the next enhancement.

  F-PC keeps the BODYs or LIST portion of ":" (colon) definitions in a
seperate segment. This substantially increases the space available for
your program. There is a penalty to pay in performance, with an extra
level of indirection required in NEST.

  F-PC has a PREFIX assembler. CODE definitions are coded with a syntax
similar to MASM, in the form " MOV AX, BX ".  We have found this syntax
to be much more readable to "traditional" programmers than the standard
F83 assembler.  To reduce the pain to current F83 users, the assembler
supports the old F83 assembler syntax as well. Just use the word
POSTFIX to select Postfix assembler syntax, and then use PREFIX to
switch back to the Prefix syntax.

  F-PC supports full pathnames and file handles. Filenames may be up to
63 characters in length including the path.

  All source is in sequential files. No blocks in this system. The
original F83 BLOCK system is available as a load-on if needed.

  An 8086 family disassembler is provided. The disassembler was
written by Charles Curley, and includes 8087 support added by Robert
L. Smith.

  The compiler itself has been substantially optimized, with almost
all of WORD being in CODE. The system currently uses 64 threads, which
is just at the point of diminishing return for a 1000 word vocabulary.
With the 8 vocabularies this system has, only about 1k bytes of CODE
space is used for the Vocabulary HEAD pointers.

  A help file is provided with each source file. These can be used
like F83 shadow screens were used, that is to hold comments about the
words in the source file. The word VIEW accesses the .SEQ file, and
the word HELP accesses the .HLP file. As much or as little text as you want
can be placed in the help file for each word compiled.

  Many utilities are included. An enhanced DEBUGger allows nesting
and unnesting of ":" definitions.

  Several powerful file words have been included. FLOOK allows searching
through one or many files for a particular character sequence. FPRINT
allows you to make formatted listings of one, all, or a set of Forth
source files. INDEX displays the first line of a set of files.

                ********* NEW with release 3.5 *********

  This release includes my new TCOM Target COMpiler for generating
small standalone .COM applications. See the TCOM.ZIP archive for full
documentation and information.

  Upgrade Information:

        Send $50 in the continental US, or $60 overseas to:

                              Tom Zimmer
                              292 Falcato Drive
                              Milpitas CA        Home [phone]
                                      95035      Work [phone]

        You will receive the latest version of the F-PC Forth, and
        TCOM target compiler. Please be sure to include your return
        address, and telephone number. You may want to call me for
        information on the current version before ordering.

        NOTE: Funds must be in US currency.

PRESS F10 to leave this BROWSER.