perm filename NOTICE[UP,DOC]6 blob
sn#019297 filedate 1973-01-09 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
*25 Feb 1972 NOTICEs LES
This file, kept in NOTICE[UP,DOC], is intended to function as a
computerized bulletin board. System programmers and CUSP file
contributors are invited to disseminate information concerning new
programs and system features by adding notices to this file. The
format is arbitrary, except that the first line (and only the first
line) should begin with a "*" and should contain three fields in the
form
*<date><TAB><subject><TAB><programmer initials>
In the date field, the year, month and day may be given in any order
and the year may be abbreviated to 2 digits, but the month must be
given as 3 or more letters.
*9 Jan 1973 NEWS LES
To get selective listings from the NOTICE file, say "R NEWS", which
will respond with an asterisk and expect a query such as
*March 15
This asks for all notices posted since the ides of March. If the day
is omitted, 1 is assumed; if the month is omitted, January is
assumed; if the year is omitted (as above) the last instance is
assumed.
*Nov<TAB>SAIL
is an example of a more general kind if query. This asks for all
notices since last November 1 that contain the string "SAIL"
somewhere in the subject field, with any case differences ignored.
The search could be made more specific by saying
*NOV<TAB>SAIL<TAB>DCS
which delivers only such notices written by Dan Swinehart.
If the query begins with a <TAB>, so that the date is omitted, then
all dates will be accepted. Similarly, the Subject field may be
omitted. A null query outputs the entire NOTICE file.
If you would like the output to be spooled, type "*" at the end of
your query, e. g.
*July 4, 1776 Sex*
If you would like to see title lines only, put a "-" at the end. You
can use both "*" and "-" together in either order.
If you forget all this, type "?<return>" and this notice will appear
magically.
*1 JAN 1972 DO RPH
Manual is in DO.RPH[S,DOC].
*1 JAN 1972 DMAN REG
Dectape manager (PDP-10 format) -- see DMAN.REG[S,DOC].
*1 JAN 1972 SPOOLER REG
See SPOOL.DOC[S,DOC].
*1 JAN 1972 RSL SL WHAMS BAMS ETC JHS
Service Level Reservation System -- see RSL[S,DOC]
*1 JAN 1972 Keyboard Commands LES
To get a summary of line editor and other Monitor commands, list
KEY.LES[S,DOC).
*1 FEB 1972 INFO REM
To have access to the REM information system, type "RU I[S,REM]".
*1 Jan 1972 FINGER LES
To get a listing of the names of all users currently logged in and
their locations, say "R FINGER".
*29 Feb 1972 "Sticky PPN's" (RPG, COMPILE) DCS
A PPN specification [P,PN] appearing before a file name in an
RPG command string will be used for all subsequent files which
do not specify a PPN explicitly. This default remains in effect
until another "sticky PPN" is specified.
As an example, if I am running under [AIL,DCS]:
COMPILE SAIL=HEAD+DB+[S,AIL]SAIL+SYM+PARSE+PROD[AIL,DCS]+EXPR
would write the output on [AIL,DCS], get HEAD,DB, and PROD from
[AIL,DCS], and get SAIL, SYM, PARSE, and EXPR from [S,AIL].
*1 Jan 1972 SAIL Statement Counter Profile RES
To find out how to get SAIL to give you execution frequency data for
pieces of your program, list NEWMAN[S,AIL].
*2 Mar 1972 CREF Default Listing Device DCS
The CREF default listing device has been changed from LPT to DSK.
This change is not made in RPG mode (so that the CREF system
command will still go directly to LPT).
*14 Mar 1972 TV "." and <esc>I Features DCS
Typing "⊗." (see TVED.DCS[UP,DOC] for notation) will cause the current
page to become a permanent part of the file (like "W" in SOS). CANCEL
will henceforth bring back this version, not the old one.
To interrupt a "FIND" search prematurely, type <esc>I. This replaces
the "\<crlf>" method.
*23 Mar 1972 TV for III DCS
The TV editor (though still officially unsupported) will now run on
both Data-Disk and III. In fact, you can transfer (by detach/attach)
from one to the other in mid-edit!
*30 APR 72 SEND RPH
SEND NOW HAS THE FOLLOWING FORMATS:
SEND PN SEND TO ALL PN'S
SEND * WRITE NOTICE.TXT
SEND *,PN SAME AS SEND PN
SEND P,* SEND TO ALL P'S
SEND P,PN SEND TO SPECIFIC P,PN
SEND *,* SAME AS SEND *
A PN IS SOME PROGRAMMER NAME
A P IS SOME PROJECT NAME
*30 APR 72 FAIL FW
The double arrow character is no longer treated specially
within the comment portion of a line. When not within a
comment, it is equivalent to a carriage-return, line-feed
pair. Now, within comments, it prints as itself.
*3 JUN 1972 RAID DCS
A new version of RAID is on the system. Since it is compatible with
both Data-Disc and III consoles, I have put it on SYS: as both
RAID.REL and TVRAID.REL. Therefore /V, /1V, /H, /1H will all load
the same program. Later, TVRAID will be phased out (of LOADER, RPG)
and the numeric argument to H and V switches will be ignored.
This version has been tested fairly carefully. But report any
problems you have to DCS, anyway. The old files are saved as
RAID.RLO and TVRAID.RLO on [CSP,SYS].
The following things have been changed:
__ There are a few display changes; in particular, the arrow
conventions of the Data-Disc RAID are now used everywhere.
__ Byte mode input will be displayed in byte mode.
__ Conditional breakpoints now work exactly as advertised.
__ Symbol←Expr, Symbol:, and Symbol<ctrl>K now work properly.
__ All opcodes work on input (incl. ANDCAM, ORCAB, etc.)
The following new features have been added:
__ There are three new entries to the dispatch table preceding
DDT (JOBDDT → DDT) -- see RAID.ON[S,DOC] for the meaning of
this table. The three are:
DDT-12: →$RPTCNT See below
DDT-11: →$BGDDT First word of DDT
DDT-10: →DDTEND Last word of DDT
__ This is "Version 1" of RAID. The version is henceforth stored
in the leftmost 13 bits of JOBDDT. Since DDT and old RAID
contain 0 here, you can tell which you have loaded. This is for
the benefit of programs which use new features -- they can
try alternate methods if the Version isn't high enough.
__ If you insert a JSR $I in your program, you will effectively
place a breakpoint at that location. You can proceed via <ctrl>P.
DO NOT single-step or set a breakpoint on this instruction!
$I is an INTERNAL symbol in RAID. There is a pointer to it at
DDT-6.
__ When you type <call>DDT<cr>, RAID will simulate a breakpoint at
the address specified by JOBOPC. You can proceed with <ctrl>P.
Do not expect this to work if you enter DDT before running anything,
or if your program jumps to DDT (unless it stores a reasonable
address in JOBOPC first).
__ n<ctrl><meta>S, where n is a number, will execute instructions
in multi-step mode, as it would if n were absent. However, no
change will be made in the display until:
1) n instructions have been executed (<ctrl>X'ed subr =1 instr.)
2) RAID must pause to get instructions at a subroutine call.
3) You interrupt the stepping by typing something, or a
breakpoint is encountered.
After you respond at a type (2) pause, again the display remains
unchanged until one of the conditions occurs again. If you
responded <ctrl>S or <ctrl>X to the pause, the count will be
exhausted before the display changes again -- barring type (3)
events. The remaining count, if any, is always available in
$RPTCNT. This is useful for counting exact numbers of
executions in a given routine, etc.
__ Symbol<meta>K obliterates the Symbol. Unlike <ctrl>K, which
simply eliminates typout of the symbol, this also makes it
undefined for typein. If, for instance, you have two locations
with the name NM1, do:
NM2←NM1 Assigns a new name to one of them.
NM1<meta>K Deletes this symbol completely.
NM1; Reveals value of the other NM1. Now
NM2 refers to the first.
__ Macros:
Address<ctrl>M<letter> defines <ctrl><meta><letter> as
a macro. When the macro is invoked, Address (it can be just
an address or a byte pointer value) will be put in $M-1 (see
RAID.ON[S,DOC]. This has the effect of evaluating the string
at Address before evaluating any more keyboard input -- expanding
the macro. Be warned that many <ctrl><meta><letter> combinations
already mean something -- use one you can do without (the macro
takes precedence).
*4 JUN 1972 NEW DISPLAY EDITOR SRS
there now exists a new display editor, called ED, available for
experimentation. to run it, type
RU ED[S,SRS]
when it starts up, there will be some documentation on the screen.
ED is presently experimental, and improving. Features
include: editing several files at once, splitting screen between
several files or strings, faster than TV in some cases.
*6 JUN 1972 PUB MANUAL TES
A new version of PUB was put up today with some obscure bugs fixed.
Indexes and headings now work well. AFTER PAGE does not always
work, but AFTER TEXT is usually equivalent and does work.
If you must use old version, please tell me why! To use it, log in
as 12,TES and RUN PUB.
There is a new manual: SPOOL PUB.TES[S,DOC]/N/B It is 80 PAGES long, so
if you don't plan to use PUB for a few months, it is advisable to
wait for the SAILON to be printed. The new manual has an index
and a tutorial for beginners, plus appendices with (untested) examples.
To use PUB for simple purposes, only a portion of the manual needs to be
read.
*MAR 1972 LOGOUT REG
Recent changes to logout command.
The logout command is used to terminate a job that was created
by Login, Fork, or Cfork commands. The usual form of the command is
K or KJOB, typed at monitor level, followed by a carriage return.
A new command is called KAT, which combines the features of the
K command and the ATtach command. KAT requires the job number of the
job to which you want to attach. As in the Attach command, if you
are attaching to a job with a different PPN than the job you are leaving,
you must supply the ppn of the job to which you are attaching.
Command Formats
Note that curly backets { and } denote optional
arguments; pointy brackets < and > denote a symbolic item which should
be replaced by some concrete instantiation of that item.
K or KJOB command:
K{JOB}{/<switch list>}
KA{TTACH} <job number> {[<project name>,<programmer name>{]}}{/<switch list>}
Each command line is terminated by a carriage return.
The item <switch list> consists of any sequence of letters
chosen from the list below:
THIS LIST HAS BEEN OMITTED BECAUSE I FORGOT THEM ALL.
For further confusion, consult R. Gorin.
*1969 DDT WFW
The following changes have been made to DDT:
l. Halfword printout is now of the form A,,B instead
of (A)B. Either form may be used on input. The difference
is that A,,B truncates A to 18 bits before
swapping halves while (A)B does not.
2. $U is a new output mode. It is the same as $A$H.
3. $F mode will now print normalized floating permit
numbers as decimal integers. This means that
FORTRAN users may, in general, use $F to look at
all variables and they will be printed correctly
either fixed or floating.
4. If the address of a string of ASCIZ text is placed
in $nB+3, then whenever breakpoint n is reached,
DDT will act as if the characters in the string were
being read from the teletype. If you are preparing
such a string in advance use either $ or ≠ (≠33 octal)
for altmode.
5. If a bytepointer to an asciz string is placed in
$M-l, DDT will act as if the characters in the string
are being read from the teletype.
6. $$7" <delimiter> characters <delimiter> will act just
like an asciz statement in MACRO or FAIL,i.e.,
more than one word will be filled with asciz for
the characters if necessary. $$" will have a similar
effect but with sixbit.
7. Typing <number>$$P will cause DDT to do an automatic
proceed <number> times instead of forever.
8. When printing in $$ mode, no word will be printed
out as an I/O instruction (COND, DATAO, CONI, etc.)
unless the device number is in a special table. The
table is 10 words long and is in $I-1, $I-2, etc.
Simply put device number here to have the appropriate I/O
instructions printed.
9. If an address is placed in $M-2 then for each character
DDT wishes to output, a pushj 1,@$M-2 will be executed.
This allows output to be redirected to some device
other than the TTY. The character is in register 5. The
routine should preserve all AC's and end with a POPJ l,.
10. In byte mode output ($<number>0), if a size of 0
is specified, DDT will use a special mark in $M+2.
The boundry between 1 and 0 bits specifies the size
of the bytes. For example, a word containing
11111111111 00000000000 11100010110001
would print 2 . 11 bit bytes, 2 3 bit bytes, 2 1 bit
bytes, a 2 bit bytes, a 3 bit byte, and a 1 bit byte.
11. Bytes may be input of $<number>%. This should be
followed by a string of unsigned octal numbers
separated by common and terminated by an altmode. The
number of bytes in a word is not integal the last
byte is treated as if the word were larger
(bit number greater than 35). This makes input compatible
with output. A size of O uses the mark in $M+2
as above.
12. It is now possible to print flag words and T type
instruction (TRUN, TLNN, etc.) with suitable names
for the bit involved. In $M+3 a pointer of the following
form is placed:
_______
| |
_______ | |
$M+3 | L1 | T0 | | Table 0 |
| |
_______
_______
| |
| Table 1 |
| |
_______
_______
| |
| Table 2 |
| |
_______
As many tables as desired may be included. The pointer
to the last table should have 0 in the left half. Each
table contains 36 words. The nth word contains the
RADIX50 for the name of bit n. $<number>J mode will
cause a word to be printed out using the bit names in
table number. If an entry for a bit in 0, the numeric
value will be printed. A typical word might look like
foo! baz! 123,, fool! garp! 2
$J means $0J. $nL causes the left half to be
printed in symbolic and the right half to be printed in
↑STODAT:
bit mode, using the names of the bits as if they appeared
in the left half. $<number>V prints the left half in symbolic
and the right half in bit mode.
13. You can now transfer to what is pointed to by the left half
of a word in the same manner as you transfer using <tab>.
The command is <control>].
*FEB 1972 NEW WHO DCS
As of 12-9-71:
1. WHO will run for about two minutes, then quit. You can reset
this time by issuing commands (see below).
2. Typing <call> does not stop spacewar jobs. However, after about
6 seconds of operation after a <call>, the spacewar portion of
WHO will bomb out (PC EXCEEDS MEM BOUNDS AT 377777). This will
be made cleaner if the system types give me some help.
3. WHO commands are now single-character commands. WHO will not wait
for a carriage return before executing one.
4. Previously, many lines of the WHO page were lost below the bottom
of the screen. WHO now provides a "windowing" feature. Type "↑"
to move the text up, so that the line which did appear at the
center of the screen now appears at the top. This reveals several
new lines at the bottom. A digit preceding the "↑" serves as a
repeat factor.
5. The "↓" command, with optional repeat factor, moves the text down
by a half-screenful, unless the first line already is displayed.
6. The "E" command causes WHO to quit. However, the last-drawn screen
will not be cleared. So you can look at it.
7. Any other character will cause WHO to clear the screen (revealing
your old page printer), then quit.
*14 June 1972 VIDEO SWITCH DOCUMENTATION LES
A SAILON describing the video switch hardware resides in
VDS.LES[S,DOC]. A description of keyboard commands and monitor calls
for controlling the switch and DD channel allocation are described in
VIDEO.LES[UP,DOC]. To get a summary of the keyboard commands, say
"HELP DISPLAY" or "SPOOL KEY.LES[UP,DOC]".
*7 July 1972 DOCUMENTATION FILES LES
Online documentation files are divided into several areas, as follows.
[P,DOC] contains the compiled version of the lab phone
directory and other lists of people.
[UP,DOC] contains user program descriptions (informal).
[S,DOC] contains SAILONs, which are more formal descriptions
of programs and hardware.
[AIM,DOC] contains A. I. Memos, which report research results.
[BIB,DOC] contains bibliographies of films, theses, SAILONs, etc.
*23 JULY 1972 KLOG RHT
The KLOG command allows you to switch areas in one line. Semantically
it is LOGOUT, followed by LOGIN. The syntax is:
KLOG {/<logout switch>} {ppn spec (as you would type to LOGIN)}
examples
KLOG 1/RHT
KL/F 1|RHT
KL
1,RHT
*24 Jul 1972 SAIL DCS,RHT,JRL
LEAP news
1. In the past global model users of LEAP were required
to have the statement:
REQUIRE -1 NEW_ITEMS;
in order to inhibit the allocation of various tables
for the local leap model. This statement is no longer
required. Instead the decision to allocate the tables
will be made using the following criteria. The local model
tables will be allocated only if any of the programs loaded
together to form a single job contain any declared local
items ( that is, any items declared without the attribute
GLOBAL), or any of the programs contain the statement:
REQUIRE n NEW_ITEMS;
where "n" is greater that 0.
NOTE: this means that all users of local model LEAP must now
"require" new_items if they are going to dynamically create
non-global items by using the function NEW.(previously an
implicit REQUIRE 60 NEW_ITEMS was contained in every program).
2. LEAP tables are now allocated as part of the SAIL initialization
code rather than on the first call to any LEAP subroutine.
The tables will be allocated if any of the SAIL programs
loaded contain declared items, itemvars, sets, lists or calls
to LEAP. This change was made so that datums of items could
be utilized before the first call to LEAP.
3. The type codes for items have been altered. The new codes
returned by the TYPEIT function are as follows:
0 - item deleted or never allocated
1 - no type (no datum for this item)
2 - item is bracketed triple
3 - string
4 - real
5 - integer
6 - set
7 - list
8 - procedure
16 - string array
17 - real array
18 - integer array
19 - set array
20 - list array
21 - invalid (runtime has screwed something up)
The very astute user will notice that the only changes are to
up the codes for arrays and invalid by 5.
IMPORTANT NOTE:This unfortunately will necesitate the recompilation
and reloading of any programs which use array items as the RUNTIME
routines also use these type codes.The standard
compiler SAIL on [1,3] will have these changes as of 23:59 WED,
jul26. Therefore if any of your programs use array items you should
recompile them starting Thurs jul 27. Foist all complaints onto
Jim Low.
*25 Jul 1972 SPOOLER REG
SPOOLER NEWS:
The old spooler '*LIST*' has been removed from the system.
Users of the spooling subroutines described in SPSUB.REG[UP,DOC] will
have to reload with the new libraray.
The command SPOOLQ has been removed. Instead, use the command
QSPOOL. This has the advantage that the command can be abbreviated
to one letter and the SPOOL command to two letters.
A new SPOOL command is planned. This will allow users to more
fully utilize features of the new spooler.
*1 Aug 1972 FORTRAN REG
DEC FORTRAN version 25 and LIB40 version 31 have been put up.
Some of the bugs in the compiler / operating system have been
eliminated.
*9 Aug 1972 DATA DISK FW
Two new features have been added to data disk DPYOUT:
1) Overlapped mode, enabled by bit 0 of header word 0.
In this mode, a DPYOUT will return without waiting for
the transfer to be completed (although it will wait
for any previou transfer), enabling the program to
continue running. Header+2 will be set nonzero during
the transfer, and to zero after the transfer is complete,
so testing this is convenient (which should be done before
changing the buffer). A DPYOUT with a zero word count will
wait for a previous transfer without initiating a new one.
2) Double field mode, useful for text output. This is enabled
by bit 1 of header word 0 and will cause the buffer to be
transferred twice, once on each field. Header+3 should specify
the address of the line address command word, which should
contain the low-order line address as the third command in
the word. Bit 24 of this word will be set to the proper
field on each transfer. This feature cannot be used if more
than one low-order line address command is used.
*16 Aug 1972 AP NEWS (APE, HOT) ME
We have a line from the Associated Press (AP) over which we get
national and international news. The news that comes in gets filed
on the disk and saved for about 24 hours.
For use in reading the news, there are two programs on the system.
Type "R HOT" to have the news typed on your console as it comes in.
Type "R APE" to be able to selectively read the news that is on file.
The stories are catagorized by keywords; to read the news, you type
to APE whatever keywords you want to read about. To get help when
you are running APE, type "?" and carriage return at any point. For a
list of the keywords, TYPE the file WORDS.SRT[AP,SYS] or SPOOL the
file WORDS.LST[AP,SYS].
For further information, see the file APE.ME[UP,DOC].
*16 AUG 1972 SAIL MATRIX ROUTINES PACKAGE SHK
Following Matrix Routines Now Available:
1) Real Matrix Multiplication Routine
Multiplies two n-dimensional matrices (2-dimensional arrays)
(size m x n by n x p to get a m x p matrix)
or multiplies a 1-dimensional matrix by an n-dimensional matrix
or an n-dimensional matrix by a 1-dimensional.
MATMUL(REAL ARRAY A[a:b,c:d],REAL ARRAY B[c:d,e:f],REAL ARRAY C[a:b,e:f]);
multiplies A by B and places the result in C
(MATMUL(A,B,A) and MATMUL(A,B,B) are also valid.)
The only thing it won't do (I think) is multiply two 1-dimensional
matrices or n-dimensional arrays (n>2).
2) Array Clear Routine
MATCLR(REAL (or INTEGER) ARRAY A);
Zeros the array A.
3) Real Array Multiplied by a Real Constant
CONMUL(REAL ARRAY A,REAL B);
Multiplies array A by constant B and places the result in A.
All three are available by saying REQUIRE "MATMUL[4,SHK]" LOAD_MODULE;
*30 Aug 1972 UUO SHK
There is now a numerical listing of the UUO's - UUO.SHK[S,DOC]
*4 Sept 1972 AP NEWS (APE, HOT) ME
The AP news is now spooled once a day (at a somewhat random
time). The listing, which will be kept in the conference
room, will indicate a file name of "APNEWS[AP,SYS]".
*4 SEP 1972 FILDMP RPH
New program to list files in different formats. See FILDMP.RPH on UP,DOC.
*4 SEP 1972 NEW SAIL RHT
EFFECTIVE 1201 AM SAT, 26 AUG, A NEW SAIL SYSTEM WILL BE UP. ITS
SEGMENT WILL BE SAISG4. THIS NEW SYSTEM WILL INCLUDE SEVERAL NEW
FEATURES, INCLUDING USER REQUESTED INITIALIZATIONS, A LOCATION(X)
FUNCTION, AN IMPLICIT ARRAY: MEMORY[0:MEMSIZE], THE RUDIMENTS OF
MULTIPLE PROCESSES, AND MUCH MORE. WE WILL TRY TO HAVE SOME
DOCUMENTATION READY BY THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK.
*22 SEP 1972 NEW SAIL RHT,JRL,KVL
THE NEW SAIL SYSTEM IS UP. THERE ARE MANY NEW FEATURES INCLUDING
MULTIPLE-PROCESSES WITHIN JOBS,EVENTS, A LIMITED FORM OF BACKTRACKING
BETTER FOREACH STATEMENTS, BETTER ERROR RECOVERY ETC.
THE DOCUMENTATION FOR THE NEW FEATURES IS NOT YET AVAILABLE, BUT
EXAMPLES OF THE GLORY OF NEW SAIL ARE CONTAINED IN PAPER.DOC[S,JRL]
NEWFEA.TXT[S,JRL].
THE NEW SYSTEM USES SAISG4, LIBSA4, HLBSA4, AND FOR YOU GLOBAL
MODEL HACKERS GLBS10.
NO SOURCE LANGUAGE INCOMPATIBILITIES ARE KNOWN, BUT OF COURSE
ALL PROGRAMS LOADED TOGETHER SHOULD BE COMPILED WITH THE
NEW COMPILER, AND OLD PROGRAMS SHOULD BE RECOMPILED BEFORE THEYY
ARE RELOADED.
OLD DUMP FILES SHOULD CONTINUE TO RUN FOR A WHILE UNTIL
SAISG3 IS DELETED.
SEND COMPLAINTS AND BUGS TO S,AIL OR SEE JRL,KVL OR RHT
A CURRENT LISTING WILL BE APPRECIATED. BETTER SERVICE
WILL BE GIVEN IF YOU ARE ABLE TO TICKLE THE BUG IN A SMALL
PROGRAM WITHOUT UNREADABLE MACROS.
FOR THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS WE WILL KEEP THE PREVIOUS COMPILER
AROUND AS SAIL.921[1,3], SAILOW.REL AS SAILOW.921, AND
GLBLOW.REL AS GLBLOW.921. IF YOU FEEL YOU ARE BEING
SCREWED BY SOME TERRIBLE BUG, YOU CAN, FOR INSTANCE,
SAY SOMETHING LIKE
R SAIL.921 <CR>
* FOO←FOO <CR>
* LOADER!
* SAILOW.921[1,3],FOO <ALT>
WHERE THE STARS ARE TYPED BY THE SYSTEM
THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE EFFECT OF DOING
LOA /COM FOO
USING THE PREVIOUS SYSTEM.
*22 Sept 1972 Upper Segment RAID and DDT TVR
RAID or DDT may be retrieved from the disk and run from an upper
segment. This means your core image may contain RAID at a much lower
cost (102 octal words instead of 12200 words for RAID). For details
see DEBUG.DOC[1,TVR]
*22 Sept 1972 AP NEWS (APE) ME
Multiple word keywords are now implemented in APE. To use them,
separate the individual words with spaces in your keyword exressions.
Also, to have only the first few lines of each story you select
typed out, type an "F" at the beginning of the story selection
line ("Read which one(s)?"). If you use both "F" and "=" on
the same line, the order is irrelevant. When you use the "F"
feature, you cannot spool or save the stories in a file.
For details on using APE, see the file APE.ME[UP,DOC].
*12 Oct 1972 FAIL TVR
FAIL has been changed to stop at each error and give the option to
continue to next error, continue automatically or to edit. The edit
option will call SOS if there are line numbers and TVED if not. Any
complaints should be sent to TVR. If you don't want to stop at each
error, give FAIL the switch (F). The old version is FAIL.OLD[1,3].
*21 Oct 1972 SAIL JRL,RHT,KVL
A new SAIL compiler has been put up to correct bugs reported in the
last few weeks. There should be no incompatibitlies with the preceding
compiler and programs compiled with the previous compiler should
be runable with programs compiled with the new compiler. Thus, there
is no need to recompile or even reload SAIL programs which have
been compiled since SEPT 21. If you do have a program which
compiled in the last month but doesn't now:
1. REPORT THE PROBLEM TO A SAIL HACKER - or send
a message to AIL, including such details as
where a copy of the offending program is and the
nature of the SAIL bug.
2. You may use the previous compiler by
R SAIL.102
* FOO←FOO
* <call>
where FOO is the name of your sail program and <call>
represents the typing of the CALL button (the stars are
typed by the system). The above sequence is equivalent to
the system level command:
COM /COM FOO
A note to users of multiple processes and matching procedures:
To initialize the multiple process environment the user
should include the following declaration:
EXTERNAL PROCEDURE MAINPR;
He should also make sure this procedure is called before
doing any process sprouting or matching procedure calling.
This is best done by using the REQUIRE INITIALIZATION feature
or by making:
MAINPR;
The first executable statement of your program.
This initialization will be compiled in, in the near future but until
then the above hack is required.
*3 Nov 1972 USER INTERRUPTS FW
The PC stored on a memory protect interrupt via the new-style
user interrupt system is now the exact PC stored by the hardware,
rather than being incremented as it used to be. This is consistent
both with the old-style (DEC) user interrupt system and with the
"ILL MEM REF AT USER xxxxxx" typeout. If you really care about
the exact value of this PC, consult me or the PDP-10 flowcharts,
as it is anything but consistent.
*3 Nov 1972 VIDEO SWITCH FW
The VDSMAP UUO now allows the 6 extra switch channels to be
addressed by setting bit 9 in the AC and putting the channel number
(0-5) in the TTY# field (11-17).
*8 Nov 1972 DUMPS REG
DART, a new program to back up disk files on tapes, is available.
system commands DUMP, RESTORE, TLIST, REWIND, BACKSPACE, ADvANCE all
run DART now, instead of DAEMON (CAUTION: new syntax in some cases).
See DART.REG[UP,DOC].
*8 Nov 1972 PROTECTION REG
The file access protection bit 400, which formerly had no
signifigance, now means 'Dump Never' in DART. All files that had
used this bit have been renamed without it.
*11 Nov 1972 SYSTEM REG
The job table JOBQUE in the system now contains either the positive
or negative value of the queue code of a job. Formerly, it had
always been negative.
*26 Nov 1972 FTP DCS
A new FTP has been installed with the following features:
1) You needn't type the MODE, TYPE, or BYTE commands at all
unless you want to change the defaults of S, I, and 36 resp.
Changing them is inadvisable since we only support those
settings. The defaults will be to the foreign host just
before the first data transfer.
2) RSTR clears any DATA connections that the FTP thinks it has
open. Sometimes it's wrong. If you get an indication from
FTP that a command is illegal because the DATA connection already
exists, do this command. It will go away when hacks in FTP
have been cured.
3) QUOT sends the rest of the line directly over the net, so you
can use it to execute other peoples commands which are either
nonstandard or just unsupported here. This won't do any good
if our end has to be involved in the operation, but it is good
to do things like STAT (status), and HELP at CMU.
See FTP.DCS[UP,DOC] for "complete" information about our FTP,
and NIC document 10596 for complete FTP protocol description.
*26 Nov 1972 MLISP2 DAV
A new version of MLISP2 has been put on the system. An old version
exists and will be around for one week. The main motivation for
the changes was to fix several serious bugs,
and to clean the language up prior to publishing a manual.
Changes:
(1) Variable names can no longer be literals (e.g. IF, FOR, ...).
(2) <IDEXP>, <ADDEDEXPR> have been subsumed by <EXPRESSION>.
(3) SPECIAL variables now must be declared at translation (PARSE)
time. To facilitate this, a new production has been added,
having the form: SPECIAL <identifier_list>
It is strongly suggested that all SPECIAL variables be
declared at the top of the program using this production.
(4) ?# in the syntax (to inhibit scanning) should now be just #.
It no longer takes up a syntax position.
(5) Setting variables in backtracking contexts is now done with
real LISP numbers (formerly machine representation).
A function CONTEXT() gets the current backtracking
context. X{CONTEXT()/10 + 3} ← etc. is now legal.
(6) THE FOLLOWING CHANGE IS TEMPORARY; WILL BE FIXED IN A DAY OR 2:
(*) Prefixes are more restricted in use; the syntax is
<PREFIX> <SIMPEX> as always, but IF, FOR, CASE, etc.
are no longer <SIMPEX>'s but are now full <EXPRESSION>'s.
Thus RETURN IF ..., PRINT CASE ..., etc. no longer work;
use RETURN(IF ..., PRINT(CASE ..., etc.
(7) The syntax of SELECT has been changed. Use SUCCESSOR instead
of NEXT, and FINALLY instead of IN WHICH CASE.
E.g. SELECT CAR(L) FROM L:'(A B C) SUCCESSOR CDR(L)
UNLESS NULL(L) FINALLY FAILURE()
(8) MLISP2.PRI now prints as it goes along, instead of at the end.
*3 Dec 1972 SAIL RHT
A new SAIL system will be put up at 2359 Thursday, 7 Dec 1972
This system will include
(1) Leap revisions by JRL. This means that any programs
that use LEAP should be recompiled.
(2) User required initializations will take place as
the first executable statement of the main
program (after outer block arrays have been
initialized). Programs that are loaded
with any .REL files which have user initializations
should have their main programs recompiled.
(3) Hooks into the user interrupt system have been provided.
Those interested should see Russ Taylor.
(4) A new kind of declaration has been provided:
CLEANUP proc1,proc2,proc3;
Where proc1, etc. are names of (parameterless)
procedures. The effect of a CLEANUP declaration
is to cause the named procedures to be called
whenever the block in which it occurs is exited,
whether by falling through the end, doing a go_to,
or by any other means. These procedures will be
called before any local arrays, sets, or lists are
released. The calls will take place in the order
specified. Thus:
BEGIN
INTEGER I;
PROCEDURE FOO;I←1;
BEGIN
INTEGER ARRAY X[0:I];
PROCEDURE BAZ;OUTSTR(CVS(X[I]);
CLEANUP FOO,BAZ;
:
COMMENT NOW WHEN THIS BLOCK IS EXITED, X[1] WILL
BE PRINTED OUT;
:
END;
END;
(5) various minor modifications to the process stuff.
The new segment is SAISG5.SEG, the libraries are LIBSA5.REL
& HLBSA5.REL.
The old compiler will be SAIL.D07[1,3]
*12 Dec 72 AP NEWS (APE) ME
There is now a full search feature in APE. If you type in a word
that is not in the keyword dictionary, APE will tell you so and ask
you if you wish a "Full search?". If you type Y, the news file will
be searched for the specified keyword. If you type ?, a (complete)
summary of this feature will be typed out (try it!). If you type
anything else, no search will be done. You may interrupt a search in
progress by typing any character. (That means you may not type ahead
during a search.)
Note: Every word not in the dictionary causes a separate search to
take place and will require you to say Y to "Full search?".
Special note: Normally the whole news file is searched, taking 8 to
10 seconds, but if a non-keyword is the second part of an
intersection (eg, NIXON * JJ), then only the necessary stories are
searched.
*12 DEC 72 PUB TES
PUBMAC.DFS[1,3] has been edited to correct an error in INDEX creation.
The old version is PUBMAC.OLD[1,3] for a few weeks.
The PUB manual has been deleted from the disk. The abstract remains
on PUB.TES[S,DOC]. Bound copies are in the SAILON file drawer.
In January, a new-SAIL PUB should be up with several obscure but
annoying bugs removed. Major restrictions and bugs now known:
SEND INDEX ⊂ ... ⊃ must be all on one line
See {PAGE X} must be followed by a non-word-break
such as ) , ; ] .
but definitely not a SPACE
NARROW, WIDEN, VARIABLE only work within a block -- not at top-level.
TURN OFF "}" inside blocks doesn't always work right (just for "}")
↓_abc_abc_abc_↓ seems not to work right in FILL mode someplaces.
Footnotes hack a lot, esp. if the page fills up during one.