COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00016 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00003 00002	
C00007 00003	.SEC1 The Wire Service News System
C00009 00004	.SEC "The Hot Line Program--HOT"
C00010 00005	.SEC "The News Service Program--NS"
C00013 00006	.SEC Keyword Expressions
C00021 00007	.SEC Dates
C00026 00008	.SEC Command Lines and Switches
C00035 00009	.SEC Display Commands
C00047 00010	.SEC Output Files
C00053 00011	.SEC Command File Input
C00060 00012	
C00066 00013	.SEC Headline Stories
C00070 00014	.SEC Using NS
C00073 00015	.SEC Comments on the Format of News Service Stories
C00076 00016	.BACK
C00077 ENDMK
C⊗;

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C O N T E N T S
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.TURN ON "{" << this is left on for the whole manuscript >>
.TURN ON "%" FOR "#"
.TURN OFF "-"
.COUNT SPEC  << special features on last page(s) >>
.MYDATE←DAY&" "&MONTH[1 TO 3]&" "&YEAR;

.NOFILL
.TURN ON "←→"
STANFORD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY→{MYDATE}
OPERATING NOTE 72.1
.GROUP SKIP 9
←READING THE WIRE SERVICE NEWS
.GROUP SKIP 2
←By Martin Frost
.TURN OFF
.SKIP 5
.FILL

ABSTRACT:

News from a wire news service (the Associated Press) is stored on disk
and can be read selectively through the use of the program NS.  To read
the news using this program, the user types keyword expressions to specify the
stories of interest and gives display commands to have particular stories
presented.  The News Service (NS) system features the following:
treatment of all but the most common words as keywords; storage of the
news for a certain number of days (the user can specify which days' news
he wants to examine); and display news presentation for users of Stanford displays.

Another program, HOT, types out the news as it comes in over the wire.

.SKIP 4
The Associated Press news report is made available in these programs
for demonstration and research purposes only and caution must be exercised
to insure that the news is not published or broadcast or publicly displayed
or used for any commercial purpose.

.<<
..SKIP 4
.This work was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of
.the Secretary of Defense under contract SD-183.
.>>
.INSERT CONTENTS
.PORTION MAINPORTION
.SEC1 The Wire Service News System

We have a line from a wire news service (the Associated Press) over which we
get national and international news (no local news).  The line is
read by a program that takes incoming news stories and files them
away on the disk.  As each story is filed, it is categorized
by the words occurring in it.  To retrieve selected stories the user
types to the NS program (described below) a keyword expression indicating what
words or combinations of words the stories of interest
should (or should not) contain.

Individuals can access the news through two programs, NS and HOT.
This document describes the use of these programs for reading the news.
.SEC "The Hot Line Program--HOT"

The system program HOT provides the user a hot line to the news.
To use this hot line, type the monitor command: HOT.
The program should type back "...new Associated Press news..."
followed by the last several lines of news that have come in.  Thereafter
HOT will continue typing out the news as it comes in.

If the hot line is down (for instance for testing of the news system),
then HOT will tell you so and then stop.  There are times, usually
of only a few minutes duration, when no news is coming in; at such
times, HOT will of course type out nothing.
.SEC "The News Service Program--NS"

The system program NS allows quick access to stored news from
any given period of time.  This program is started by typing the
monitor command: NS.  The user can then select stories from the news
by typing in a keyword expression that indicates which words
or combinations of words a story must contain to be of interest.
The program will respond by telling the user how many stories
match the given expression, and following that, the user can
give display commands to have certain of those stories presented
to him.

As each story comes in over the AP wire, it is categorized by all
the words occurring in it except for a small class of very common words
(such as "the", "a", "and", etc.).  When a keyword expression is
entered by the user, it is compared against the categorization lists
to find all the stories that fit the expression.  The keywords used
in an expression can be any words (consisting of letters only)
except the few common words specifically excluded from categorizations.
If a common word is used in an expression by mistake, the program will
give a warning to that effect.

Presentation of news to users on Stanford displays is done by displaying
a screenful of text at a time.  News is presented on other terminals
by typing out a portion of a story at a time.

(In all expressions and commands typed to NS, no distinction is made
between upper-case letters and lower-case letters.)
.SEC Keyword Expressions

To retrieve stories using NS, you type in a KEYWORD
EXPRESSION, which may be either a single keyword or an expression
containing keywords and the operators +, -, and *.  Each keyword
represents the set of all the stories it occurs in.  And the operators
represent the set operations UNION%(+), INTERSECTION%(*), and SET
DIFFERENCE%(-), which are performed on the sets of stories which the
keywords represent.  Thus, if you want all stories that mention both
Nixon and Watergate, you should type the keyword expression
"NIXON%*%WATERGATE"; the expression "NIXON%+%WATERGATE"
represents all stories that mention either
Nixon or Watergate; and "NIXON%-%WATERGATE" represents
all stories that mention Nixon but not Watergate.
The precedence of operators is the normal one:  *
takes precedence over + and -, which have equal precedence.
Operators with equal precedence are evaluated from left to
right.  Parentheses may be used freely in keyword expressions.

.BEGIN GROUP;
To clarify all this a little, here are a few examples:

.TABS 34,38,69
.TURN ON "∞\←"
.TURN OFF "-"
←Keyword Expression\\←Meaning\

∞-\\∞-\-

.INDENT ,37
(NIXON-DEAN+FORD)*IMPEACH\\All stories that mention both
IMPEACH and either (1) NIXON and not DEAN or (2) FORD
(and possibly DEAN).

DEAN-NIXON-FORD-IMPEACH\\All stories that mention
DEAN but that mention none of NIXON, FORD and IMPEACH.

SAN*FRANCISCO+LOS*ANGELES-WAR\\All stories that mention either both
SAN and FRANCISCO but not WAR, or both LOS and ANGELES but not WAR.
.END

To facilitate finding specific stories, a special form is permitted to
be used as a keyword in keyword expressions.  This form is used to 
represent all those stories that have certain news service sequence numbers.
(For an explanation of sequence numbers, see the section at the end of this
writeup on COMMENTS ON THE FORMAT OF NEWS SERVICE STORIES.)  To represent
all stories with sequence numbers from N to M, use the form "#N:M".  This form
may occur anywhere a keyword may occur in an expression.  The form "#N:N"
represents all stories with sequence number N and may be abbreviated "#N".
Furthermore, the form "#0:99999" represents all stories and may be abbreviated
just "#".  In the form "#N:M", if N>M then this form represents all stories
with sequence numbers greater than or equal to N or less than or equal to M.
Below are some examples of this special form in use.


.BEGIN VERBATIM; GROUP;

		#2 + #202	     All stories with either of these
				     sequence numbers. (These are the
				     usual  sequence  numbers  of the
				     AP news digests.)
.APART; GROUP;

		#325:23		     All stories with sequence number
				     greater than or equal to 325  or
				     less than or equal to 23.

		#		     All stories.  Useful if you want
				     to peruse through the news.

		#321*BULLETIN	     Stories with sequence number 321
				     that contain the word BULLETIN.
.END

When you type a keyword expression, the program makes up a list of all
the stories that fit the expression.  This list is called your CURRENT
STORY LIST.  When you type the next keyword expression, a new current
story list is generated (unless no stories fit your new expression) and
your former current story list is saved as your PREVIOUS STORY LIST.
If you want to get back the previous story list, use the /EXCHAN switch
(see the section on COMMAND LINES AND SWITCHES) which exchanges your current
and previous story lists.  This feature is especially useful
if you are examining news from several days: The program only keeps one
day's categorization lists in core at a time and thus must read in one
large file for each day's news under consideration every time you enter
a new keyword expression.  Retrieving your previous story list is thus
much faster than reconstructing it through a keyword expression, especially
when news from several days is being considered.

Your current story list can be modified without typing
again the keywords you used to get it.  If a keyword expression
starts with +, -, or *, the missing (first) operand is taken to be
the last keyword expression you typed.
For example, if you have typed in "NIXON"
as your last keyword expression, you can type in "*VIETNAM" as your
next expression and you will get only stories that mention both NIXON
and VIETNAM.
NOTE:%This feature (starting a keyword expression with +, - or *)
is not yet implemented.
.SEC Dates

When started up, NS expects to reference only the news that has come in
today.  However, by using the date switches you can select what range of
dates is to be considered in constructing a story list from a keyword
expression.  The program keeps in core only one day's categorization
lists.  If you are reading news from only one day, NS will only once
have to read in the file containing that date's categorization lists.
But with two or more days in the date range, one or more data files
must be read in each time you type a keyword expression.

The date range can be set with the date switches (explained later).
The /FROM switch sets the beginning date of this range, the /TO
switch sets the ending date of the range, and the /ON and /DURING
switches set both the beginning and ending dates.  Each of these
switches requires a date to be typed after the switch.  This date
can take any of the following example forms:

.BEGIN NOFILL; TABS 16,45; TURN ON "\"; SKIP;
\MEANING AS\MEANING AS
DATE\BEGINNING DATE\ENDING DATE

TODAY\today\today
TOMORROW\tomorrow, if any news yet\same
SUNDAY\last Sunday before today\same
MONDAY\last Monday before today\same
 ...
SATURDAY\last Saturday before today\same

24-MAY-74\24 May 1974\same
74-MAY-24\24 May 1974\same
MAY-24-74\24 May 1974\same
MAY-24-1974\24 May 1974\same
 ...
MAY-24\24 May of current year\same
24-MAY\24 May of current year\same
MAY-74\1 May 1974\31 May 1974

MAY\1 May of current year\31 May of current year
24\24th day of current month\same
74\1 January 1974\31 December 1974
1974\1 January 1974\31 December 1974
.END

No spaces are allowed in the middle of a date.  Dashes are used to connect
parts of a date (month, day and year), which can be in any order.
Names of months and days of the week and the words "TODAY" and "TOMORROW"
may be abbreviated to three letters (or less if unambiguous).

Here are some date switches with dates and their effect on the date range.

.BEGIN PREFACE 0; SKIP; TABS 21; TURN ON "\"; INDENT 0,20;

/ON TODAY\Date range becomes today only.

/DURING MAY\Date range runs from 1 May to 31 May of current year.

/DURING 74\Date range runs from 1 Jan 1974 to 31 Dec 1974.

/FROM TUES/TO TOD\(This is two switches in same command.)  Date range
is from last Tuesday (a week ago if today is a Tuesday) to today.

/ON WED\Date range is last Wednesday only.

/ON 24-MAY\Date range is 24 May of current year.

/ON TOMORROW\Date range is tomorrow only.  After about 9pm new stories
are filed under the following day's date, and this one way to reference
that date.  This date range is illegal if it is not after 9pm Pacific Time.
.END
.SEC Command Lines and Switches

When NS is ready to accept a keyword expression, it will type out a
star (*) and wait for a command line to be typed by the user.  A command
line can contain either a keyword expression or some switches or both.
A switch is a slash (/) followed by the name of a switch, possibly
followed by an argument for the switch.  Switches are used for
setting the dates for which stories are to be retrieved, determining
the modes in which stories will be presented, and giving special
commands.  A command switch may appear only by itself on a command line.

Switches that set modes of presentation can be set temporarily or permanently.
Any mode switches that FOLLOW a keyword expression on a command line are
interpreted as temporary and are in effect only during evaluation of the
current keyword expression--after that the permanent switch values take
effect again.  Any switches that precede a keyword expression or that
occur on a command line without any keyword expression are made permanent.
To disable a mode switch, type a slash (/) followed by a minus sign (-)
followed by the name of the switch, e.g., "/-DPY".

The currently available switches are listed and explained below.
Switch names can be abbreviated to any extent that leaves them unambiguous.

.BEGIN TABS 11,19; PREFACE 0; INDENT 0,18; TURN ON "\";
.SKIP
TYPE\NAME\MEANING

.SKIP
Date Switches\Each of these switches must be followed by a date argument.
The argument format is explained above in the section on DATES.

\FROM\The argument following this switch specifies the beginning
date in the range of dates for which stories are to be retrieved.

\TO\The argument following this switch specifies the ending
date in the range of dates for which stories are to be retrieved.

\ON\The argument following this switch specifies the entire date range.
See the section on DATES.

\DURING\This switch is identical to the /ON switch.

.SKIP
Mode Switches\Each of these can occur either in a positive sense
(without a minus sign) or in a negative sense (with a minus sign).
A mode switch is temporary in effect only when occurring after a
keyword expression; other occurrences are permanent.
The initial modes in effect when NS starts up are:
/CHRONO%/SHOW%/DPY%/-HEADLI

\CHRONO\Construct story lists with the stories in chronological
order (oldest first).  /-CHRONO causes story lists to be
constructed in reverse chronological order.

\SHOW\Each time a keyword expression is typed, automatically enter
display level (unless no stories match expression).  When display
level is entered, the beginning of the first story of your current
story list is automatically presented.
In /-SHOW mode, when a keyword expression is typed, the program
merely types out the number of stories in the resultant story list.
To enter display level at any time, type a blank command line
(just CARRIAGE RETURN).  The display-level commands available
are described in the section below on DISPLAY COMMANDS.

\DPY\This switch is meaningful only when the program is running
on a Stanford display.  Such a display in /-DPY mode will be
treated like a non-display.

\HEADLI\For each story list constructed, a headline story is added
at the beginning of the list.  This headline story will contain
the first few lines of
each story in the list.  The positive sense of this switch takes
an optional argument consisting of an equals sign (=) followed
by a number specifying the requested number of headline-story lines
devoted to each real story.  This number should be between 1 and 8
inclusive.  If the argument is omitted or impossible to satisfy,
a suitable number will be chosen by the program.  See the section
below on HEADLINE STORIES.

.SKIP
Command Switches\Each of these may only appear by itself on a command line.

\INFILE\Take subsequent command lines from a given file.
The input file can be specified by
giving its name as an argument to this switch.  If no argument
appears, the file OPTION.TXT on your current (ALIAS) disk area
will be used.  See the section on COMMAND FILE INPUT for the format of
command lines in the input file.

\INPUT\Resume taking command lines from currently open command file.
The switch /-INPUT causes the program to resume reading command lines
from the user's terminal.  (/-INPUT is usually only meaningful when read from
a command file, and /INPUT is only meaningful when read from the terminal.)

\EXIT\Exit to monitor level.
If you then decide you did not really want to exit, typing the monitor
command CONTINUE will get you back into NS correctly.

\HELP\Present some information on the use of NS.

\SWITCH\Type out the names of all the switches.

\MODES\Type out the current values of the mode switches.

\DATES\Type out the current date range.  See the section on DATES.

\REVERS\Reverse the order of the current story list (changing the order
of only that list from chronological to reverse chronological or vice versa).

\COUNT\Type out the number of stories in the current story list.

\EXCHAN\Exchange the current story list and the previous story list.
Then type out the number in the new current story list.

\UPDATE\When next referencing today's news get a fresh version of the data
file containing the categorization lists.  This permits you to retrieve
stories that have come in since you started up NS (or since you last gave
this command).  This is not necessary if your date range includes more
dates than just today.
.END
.SEC Display Commands

Stories are presented to the user when the program is at display level.
Display level is entered automatically after a keyword expression is
typed if the program is in /SHOW mode.  The user can enter display level
explicitly by typing a blank command line (just Carriage Return).

The amount of a story that NS presents at one time is called a FRAME.

.BEGIN NARROW 8,8;

If you are running NS from a Stanford display, each frame is a
screenful of text (about 30 lines) and a single story can be made
up of from one to several frames, only one of which can be displayed
at a time.  Consecutive frames of a story overlap by half a screenful.

If you are running NS from some
other kind of terminal, each story consists of exactly two frames.
The first frame contains the first five lines of the story and the
second frame contains the remainder of the story.

.END

When display level is entered (on either kind of terminal), the first
frame of the first story in your current story list is presented (displayed
or typed out).  After NS has presented a frame of a story,
it will await a display command from you.  On Stanford displays each
display command is a single character, perhaps preceded by a numerical
argument.  On other terminals, a display command is a single character,
perhaps preceded by a numerical argument, and followed by a CARRIAGE RETURN.

Each story in your current story list is actually made up of one or
more news service stories which have been linked together by the NS system.
Each one of the news service stories is called one PART of the story from
your story list.  Display commands are oriented towards displaying either
another frame of the same part, another part of the same story or another
story in the main list.  Furthermore, for each display command that moves
you forward a frame, part or story, there is a command that moves you
backward a frame, part or story.  Thus there are six basic
display commands, each of which can be preceded with a numerical argument.
(NOTE:%Arguments are not yet implemented except for the story commands U and I.)

.BEGIN NARROW 4;INDENT 0,4; TABS 5; TURN ON "\";

U\Advance to the next story in the main story list.  If this command has
a numerical argument, advance that many stories in the main list.

I\Same as U but backup in main story list instead of advancing.

- - -

J\Advance to the next part of the current story.  If current part is
the last one, advance to first part of next story.  If this command
has a numerical argument, advance that many parts in the current story,
but not beyond the last part of this story.

K\Same as J but backup one or more parts instead of advancing.  If current
part is the first one, backup to the last part of the previous story.
With an argument, do not backup past first part of current story.

- - -

M\Advance to the next frame of the current part.  If current frame is
last one, advance to first frame of next part (or next story if no more parts).
With an argument, advance that many frames in current part without going
beyond the last frame of this part.

,\(comma) Same as M but backup one or more frames instead of advancing.
If current frame is first one of this part, backup to the last frame
of the previous part (or last frame of last part of previous story if
current part is first part of story).  With an argument, do not backup
beyond the first frame of the current part.

.END

On non-displays, typing a blank line as a display command advances to
the next frame exactly like the M command above.  On displays, no
carriage return is used with display commands.

On displays, typing one of the above six display commands with either
of both of the CONTROL and META keys down is the same as typing that
command with an argument of 99999.  This will advance (or backup) to the
last (first) frame, part or story depending on the command.

In addition to the above commands, there are several other commands,
including two which cause the program to leave display level.

.BEGIN NARROW 4;INDENT 0,4; TABS 5; TURN ON "\";

Q\Quit display level and return to command level.  NS will type out a
star (*) and expect a command line next (unless you currently have an
command file open and active, in which case NS will type an at-sign (@)
and read a command line from the input file).

E\Exit to the monitor.  On displays this command requires both of the
CONTROL and META keys and will return the display to its normal state.
(On displays an "E" typed without both CONTROL and META will be a no-op.)  
If you decide after exiting that you were not finished, type the monitor
command CONTINUE and you will be back to display level exactly where you
were before you exited.  On displays, CONTROL-META-E
will also exit and normalize the display when typed as a command line.

?\(question mark) This causes the program to present the user with
some helpful information about the various display commands.

V\This command is ignored except on displays, where it causes the
screen to be redrawn.

X\This command tells NS to read an extended command from the terminal.
The extended commands are listed below and may be abbreviated as much
as desired provided that they do not become ambiguous.  Each of these
commands should be ended with a carriage return.  Numerical arguments
to these commands must precede the "X".  On non-displays, the carriage
return following the display command X is omitted and the "X" is
followed by the extended command name and a carriage return,
for instance, "2%X%HEADLI<cr>" (the spaces shown in this example are optional).
On any terminal, if the extended command name is followed by an
activation character other than carriage return,
the extended command will be aborted.

.BEGIN NARROW 4,2; TABS 9; INDENT 0,8; TURN ON "\";

NAME\MEANING OF EXTENDED COMMAND

HEADLI\Present the headline story for the current story list, creating
that headline story if necessary.  If there is a numerical argument
(which should be between 1 and 8), try to allocate that many lines
per story in the headline story.  See the section below on HEADLINE STORIES.

DSTORY\Delete the current story from the current story list.  This is
particularly useful if the current story is not really of interest and
you are going to output the current story list to a file, the line
printer or the XGP.  If there is only one story left in the current story
list when you give this command, that story is not deleted and the
program leaves display level.

DPART\Delete the current part from the current story list.  This is
like DSTORY except that it does not delete other parts of the current
story.  NOTE:%The DPART extended command is not yet implemented.

.END << of X command table >>
.END << of display command table >>
.SEC Output Files

The command switch /OUTPUT causes all the stories (and parts)
in your current story list to be output to a given file.  To specify
the filename for such output, follow the /OUTPUT switch with a filename
argument (which can include extension and PPN, if desired).
If you do not include a filename argument, the file NS.NS on your current
(ALIAS) disk area will be used.  If you give a filename without an extension,
the extension ".NS" will be used.

If the output file already exists, then you will be asked whether you want
it replaced or extended with the new stories or whether you want to abort
the file output.  However, if you follow the output filename with one
of the switches "/REPLACE", "/EXTEND" and "/ABORT", then
if the output file already exists, the action specified by that switch
will be taken without your being asked.

In addition, if the output filename is followed by the switch "/SPOOL",
then the output file will be spooled on the line printer when the output
is done.  The switch "/XSPOOL" following the filename will cause the
output file to be spooled on the XGP.

Finally, the command switches /SPOOL and /XSPOOL are available
for spooling the stories in your current story list without saving
them in a file.  For these switches, the output is directed to a file
on your real (logged-in) disk area with a name like $NEWS0.NS, which
will be spooled and deleted.

NOTE: None of the command switches explained in this section (/OUTPUT,
/SPOOL and /XSPOOL) are currently implemented, but all will be available soon.
.SEC Command File Input

The command switch /INFILE causes NS to endeavor to read subsequent
command lines from a command file.  The name of the command file
should follow in /INFILE switch.  If no filename is included, the file
OPTION.TXT on your current (ALIAS) disk area will be read.  If no extension
is specified with an input filename, the extension ".TXT" will be used.
If no primary name is specified, the primary name "OPTION" will be used.
In PPN specifications, if no programmer name is given, that of your current
ALIAS will be used.  Thus to specify the OPTION.TXT file from a different
project under your current programmer name, type "[PRJ]", where PRJ is the
project name of the disk area you want.  Also, the right square bracket (])
closing the PPN is optional.  NS can handle most (if not all) text file
formats, including SOS and E/TV.

Now a word about how command files are interpreted.

The collection of command lines in a command file must be preceded
by "NS:" which must be the first thing on a line.  Different
command lines within the file should be separated with commas (,)
and the last command line followed by a semicolon (;).  Carriage returns,
linefeeds, formfeeds (page marks), spaces, tabs and nulls are all discarded
when read from a command line in a command file.  If a blank command line
is read from a command file, then exactly one command line will be read
from the terminal before going back to reading from the command file.

Every command line line read from a command file will be
typed out preceded by an at-sign (@) to indicate that it came from the file.

Here is a sample command file (OPTION.TXT):

.BEGIN VERBATIM; SKIP; GROUP;

LOGIN: WHO;
NS: AP*NEWS*DIGEST/-SHOW,  /OUTPUT DIGEST/REPLACE,  /-INPUT,
    /SHOW BULLETIN,,URGENT,(TRAIN+PLANE)*CRASH;
.END

This file contains seven command lines.  The first one ("AP*NEWS*
DIGEST/-SHOW") will find some stories but will not present any of those stories.
The second command line will cause the stories found in the first command
to be output to the file DIGEST.NS, replacing any old file of the same name.
The third command line ("/-INPUT/") will cause NS to discontinue reading commands
from the command file.  Commands will be read from the terminal until the user
types "/INPUT", which will cause NS to resume reading from the command file
where it left off.  Then "/SHOW BULLETIN" may display some stories, one command
line will be read from the terminal, and next "URGENT" may display some stories,
after which "(TRAIN+PLANE)*CRASH" will be evaluated and may display some stories.

.IF 0=1 THEN BEGIN
.
%If a keyword expression is preceded by a dollar sign ($),
APE will interpret that to mean that you wish to be notified
whenever a story comes in that fits the expression.  (You will
still be told how many stories currently fit the expression.)
Whenever such a story does come in, a message will be sent
which you will get the next time you log in or use the RCV
program.  The message will say something like this:
.BEGIN VERBATIM
	FOUND (VIETNAM*PEACE)
	IN STORY #321   1019pt 07-04
.END CONTINUE
where the time and date are those (pt=Pacific Time) that appear at the
beginning of the story.
Also, if you are logged in at the time the story comes in, the message
.BEGIN VERBATIM
	*** AP STORY FOUND ***
.END CONTINUE
will be typed out on your console.
Notification is on the basis of your logged in programmer name;
however, programmer names 'GUE' and 'SYS' cannot use automatic notification
because there are many people using each of these names.
Also, notification requests cannot contain search strings (unrecognized
keywords) although this will probably change in the not too distant future.
Every notification request will expire eventually.  The current
plan is to purge a request after it has existed for two months.
Whenever one of your requests expires, you will be sent a note like this:
.BEGIN VERBATIM
	YOUR REQUEST (VIETNAM*PEACE)
	EXPIRED BEFORE STORY #321   1019 07-04
.END
Automatic notification (AN) is intended to be used for two main purposes.
1)%If you are expecting an urgent story to come in at any moment, and you want
to be notified as soon as it comes in (assuming you are logged in), automatic
notification saves you the trouble of running APE every half hour to find out
if your story has come in.  2)%If you are expecting a story to come within
a couple of months, but you don't know exactly when, then AN saves you the
effort of running APE every day, if you wouldn't otherwise do so.

If you find you are being notified about the same kind of story several times
a day, and if the stories are not particularly urgent, then you will probably
find that the normal use of APE, possibly using a command file (see previous
section) will be more convenient.  Also, the more AN requests there are, the more
work the continually running special AP programs have to do.  However, you are
free to choose the method of using APE that best fits your purposes.

One final note on AN: When you get a hit from an AN request, the best way
to use APE to read the story is to type in the expression (possibly using a
command file) that got the hit.
Alternatively, you can type in the sequence number of the story found, but
this is liable to give you an extra story with the same sequence number.
You can combine these two methods and type something like (say) "#35*CHESS", if
CHESS was the AN request getting a hit on story #35.

.
%If you type in a keyword expression that consists solely of a dollar
sign ($), then all notification requests you have in will be typed out
with their expiration dates.

.
%If you enter the keyword expression "$$", then you will be permitted to
delete any of your notification requests.

.END << COMMENTED OUT SECTION >>
.SEC Headline Stories

Through use of either the /HEADLI switch or the XHEADLI display command,
a special headline story can be generated which will include the first
few lines of each story in your main story list.  Such a headline story
can allow you to choose which stories you want to read in more detail.

The headline story
is created in core by reading in the first few lines of each main story
and combining this text into the headline story.  The headline story
is not actually created until you ask to see it.  To create this story
requires NS to do about 5 disk operations (as counted in the wholine)
per real story in the list.  Thus if there are several hundred stories,
it will take NS several seconds to create this story.  However, once the
story is created, it is kept in core until you change story lists.  The
headline story is inserted at the front of the story list and is referred
to as story 0 in the list.

Text is packed into the headline story as tightly as possible with carriage
returns, linefeeds, and redundant spaces omitted.  The first line of each
entry in the headline story begins with the number of the particular story
within your main story list.  This is followed by the story's sequence number
and the day of the month the story is from.  Subsequent lines for the
same story's entry are indented.  The number of lines
of headline story devoted to each story in the list is always between 1 and 8
and is determined either by the user in an argument to the /HEADLI switch
or the XHEADLI display command or by the program if such an argument is
not given or is unreasonable.  When no argument is given, NS tries to fit
the headline story into about 30 lines of text.
If there are more than about 30 stories, one line is allocated
to each, and if there are more than about 140 stories, only the first 140
are included in the headline story.  This latter case is indicated by the
headline story ending with "...".

.SEC Using NS

To start NS, type the monitor command: NS.
This command starts NS with some temporary privileges that are needed
by the program.  Any monitor command that attempts to change your
core image or disk ALIAS will disable these privileges and prevent NS from
working.  Furthermore, to use NS you must be a local user at the AI Lab or have
the local-user privilege.  This is a restriction we must enforce "to
insure that the news is not published or broadcast or publicly displayed
or used for any commercial purpose."

To indicate that it is waiting for a command line to be typed in,
NS types out a carriage return and a star (*).
When at display level awaiting a display command from a Stanford
display, NS will typeout a space and a dot (.).  When awaiting a
display command from any other terminal, NS will type out either
a short row of dashes (-'s), a short row of stars (*'s) or a
space and a dot.  The space and dot are typed out if the last frame of story
typed out was the first frame of a part (that is, if there is more text
in the current part).  The space and dot will appear on the end of the
fifth line of the part.  The dashes or stars are typed out if
the last frame typed out was the end of a part; dashes indicate that
there is at least one more part to the current story and stars indicate
that there are no more parts to that story.
.SEC Comments on the Format of News Service Stories

Each story sent over the wire by the Associated Press (AP)
has a sequence number which comes at the beginning of the story and a
date and time that come at the end.  After the sequence number, we insert
the date and time (Pacific Time) we received the story.
The sequence numbers start over every day, with the first story
that comes after about midnight Eastern Time getting
number 001.  Some special stories (advance stories) are given sequence
numbers out of the normal order; these stories have numbers greater than 400.
The time at the end of each story is the approximate New
York time when the story was sent over the wire.

Every twelve hours (at about noon and midnight Eastern Time) there is a
news digest that summarizes the stories that are known to be coming
in over the next twelve hours.  The digest at midnight is usually
story number 002 and is called the PMs digest; the one at noon is
usually number 202 and is called the AMs digest.  No PMs digest is
sent for Sunday.
.if 1=0 then start
  The digests
are not categorized by the our AP programs;
to access them you must use one of the
two methods described in paragraph {SPEC SPEFORMS} under SPECIAL FEATURES.
.end
Stories that have been mentioned in the latest digest
bear the heading word "BJT" (for "budget").

There are many stories every day that are corrections or
additions to previous stories.  We try to link up each such follow-up
with the original and treat the resultant combination as one story.
We call each of the separately numbered news service stories a PART
of the total story.  Long stories are usually broken up
into smaller stories by the Associated Press; the partial stories are
called TAKES and each gets its own sequence number.  We sometimes
link together several takes just like additions and corrections.
.BACK