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- TCOMREAD.ME Welcome to the F-PC Target Compiler by Tom Zimmer
- °TCOM?
-
- TCOM is an optimizing Forth target compiler, that builds small ".COM"
- programs that contain only the functions in Forth that are needed to
- run your application. TCOM is excellent for building those small
- little utilities to do things around the house, like text filters,
- user query programs, mode change utilities, etc. Programs can be as
- small as 400 bytes depending on the functions needed.
-
-
- Files in TCOM.ZIP
-
- TCOM consists of several .ZIPfiles files containing the compiler,
- documentation, compilable examples, utilities, and the source code for
- TCOM (The source will only be useful if you have F-PC 3.50). Since TCOM
- is provided in pre-compiled form, you will probably not need to unzip
- TCOMSRC.ZIP, or SMALTCOM.ZIP unless you want to study TCOM's internals,
- or want to re-compile or modify it.
-
- Installing TCOM
-
- TCOM.ZIP contains the following files:
-
- TCOMREAD ME 2680 4-25-90 1:58p
- TCOMINST COM 11393 4-26-90 2:54p
- TCOMHELP DOC 7001 4-09-90 1:00p
- TCOM DOC 28582 4-25-90 2:00p
- LIBRARY DOC 41181 4-06-90 9:29a
- HISTORY DOC 56290 4-25-90 1:55p
- TCOM EXE 163840 4-25-90 1:40p
- HYPER NDX 262 4-25-90 2:02p
- TCOMSAMP ZIP 67513 4-25-90 1:48p
- TCOMUTIL ZIP 54084 4-25-90 10:14a
- TCOMSRC ZIP 75657 4-25-90 1:47p
- SMALTCOM ZIP 4468 4-25-90 1:49p
-
- Some of the dates, times, or sizes may have been changed to protect
- the innocent (humor). You will need a couple of megabytes of disk space
- to unzip everything. To start the install process, type:
-
- A:TCOMINST enter
-
- This will create a directory on your hard drive called \TCOM, and
- allow you to specify what parts of TCOM to install.
-
- TCOM Starting out
-
- If you are just starting to examine TCOM, you might want to just type
- TCOM <enter>. This will give you a single screen of helpful
- information. If you have the NEWZ editor available, you can then press
- F1, and TCOM will enter the Hypertext help system and let you examine
- additional online documentation. If NEWZ is not available, just print
- the .DOC files and read them through.
-
- The simplest example of using TCOM to compile a program, is as
- follows:
-
- TCOM SAMPLE enter
-
- If you have installed TCOM corrrectly, then TCOM will be able to open
- SAMPLE.SEQ, and compile it into a new file SAMPLE.COM. Various
- commandline options can modify the output of TCOM to optimize the .COM
- file created, and make symbol files for use while debugging.
-
- Further Exploration
-
- As with F-PC, TCOM is NOT A SIMPLE PROGRAM. It is intended to be
- simple to use, and I hope it succeeds in this area, but you do need to
- know Forth to use it. If you are an experienced Forth programmer, and
- you use a lot of esoteric programming techniques that are
- implementation specific in your programs, then TCOM will probably not
- be able to compile them. TCOM compiles directly to machine code, and as
- such can make up for a lot of seemingly inefficient code automatically.
- Write your programs using simple straight forward methods, and you will
- minimize your problems in getting TCOM to compile properly.
-
- I (Tom Zimmer) am generally available for one (1) phone call when you
- have problems with TCOM. Since TCOM is in the public domain, I cannot
- provide indepth support, it is just too expensive, and I don't have the
- time. If you are a professional programmer, and have a project that
- will require continuing support from myself, then some financial
- arraingment will need to be made. If you can't figure out how to get
- TCOM to work for you, and can't afford consulting rates for help, then
- you should consider using another compiler.
-
-
- MONEY
-
- The F-PC Forth system and TCOM are Public Domain programs, you may
- do with them what you wish. If you find either or both programs
- Amazingly Useful, you may want to send 60.00 dollars to:
-
- Tom Zimmer
- 292 Falcato Drive
- Milpitas, Ca. 95035
-
- Home (408) 263-8859
- Work (408) 432-4643
-
- You will receive the latest version of F-PC and the TCOM compiler. Be
- sure to specify the disk format, 1.2meg(5 1/4) is the prefered format.
- If you need 360k(5 1/4), 720k(3 1/2) or 1.4meg(3 1/2)m please add $5.00
- for additional handling. Please include a day and evening telephone
- number.
-
- WARNING!!
- TCOM should only be compiled and run on F-PC version 3.50 or higher.
- Earlier versions of F-PC contain bugs that will prevent proper operation
- of TCOM.
-
-
-