Welcome to Frogbit! It is a small programming language and development system for manipulating text files. Currently it is only available for Windows 95 and Windows NT.
This version of Frogbit is free. All versions 0.xx and 1.xx of Frogbit will also be free. Versions 2.xx will be shareware when released but will become freeware when version 3.00 is released ... and so on. The idea is that no-one should have to pay for Frogbit if they don't want to, but if they want to use the latest version they can have it for a small outlay.
Note: Frogbit is only free if you download it or if a friend gives you a copy of the installation executable. If you want a disc to be sent to you you'll have to pay a small fee for handling, postage and materials. None of the Frogbit V0.xx versions will not be available on disc anyway.
A complete license statement is in LICENSE.TXT.
THE FROGBIT INSTALLATION
The Frogbit icons are available through a sub-menu in your Start/Programs menu under "Frogbit". Using this sub-menu you can run the IDE, open the help file or launch the viewer for this readme file.
HELP ON FROGBIT
One of the icons in the Start/Programs/Frogbit menu is a Windows help file. This is comprehensive and well cross-referenced and you are strongly advised to look into it before attempting serious use of Frogbit. It includes a "Quick Start" section for the impatient!
EXAMPLES
The main Frogbit directory has an EXAMPLES subdirectory which contains a number of example projects and a Microsoft Word/Wordpad document describing them. Reading and single-stepping the examples should prove informative, as should a read of the project-notes associated with them.
THE FROGBIT IDE
This is where you write, debug and refine Frogbit programs. The main window consists of a program editor and a "watches" window (used to monitor variables while the program is running). You can also create any number of separate "file-view" windows which follow input and output files used by your program.
You can run your program at full speed and pause or halt it at any time. Or you can single-step it and follow what it's doing. Auto-step runs the program a line at a time and updates the watches window and also the highlights which show the current program position and activity in the file-view windows. Full details are in the online help.
THE FROGBIT 'RUN' PROGRAM
Once you have written a Frogbit program you may want to run it without using the IDE. A stand-alone program is supplied which allows you to create a Windows shortcut to run a Frogbit program. Full details are in the online help.
FROGBIT ONLINE
We welcome email about Frogbit: praise, criticism, bug reports, suggestions, queries, cries for help - send them all to frogbit@axiomati.demon.co.uk or to our Compuserve id of 100273,1543. And if you want us to email you whenever a new version of Frogbit is released just mention it in your email.
(By the way, we promise never to give your name, email address, postal address or any other details about you to anybody else - unless you give us express permission to, for example, pass on your email address to someone else using Frogbit in a similar area to you.)
A good way to keep up with what's happening with Frogbit is to regularly visit our WWW page :- http://www.axiomati.demon.co.uk
WHERE TO DOWNLOAD FROGBIT
Note: These locations are provisional because I have to write this README file before uploading the release :-) ... see the web site (or email us) for up-to-date information.
(1) From our web site: http://www.axiomati.demon.co.uk - either directly or via the link to the copy of Frogbit on the Demon FTP site.
(2) Demon FTP site: ftp.demon.co.uk in directory /pub/ibmpc/win95/apps/frogbit
