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WEEKLY
An Academic Calendar Program
Donald E. Barth
9 July 1983
WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program
------ -- -------- -------- -------
The WEEKLY program constructs a calendar of the events which
are scheduled for the coming weeks. This calendar can be
printed at 12 characters per inch on 15 inch wide paper.
The width of each line in the calendar is 157 characters.
The events which appear in the calendar are described by
files which which are created using an ordinary text editor.
Some of these files describe the events which take place on
a particular day of the week, such as on every Monday, for
several weeks. Other files describe events which take place
only once. The calendar includes 1 column for each of the
weekdays Monday through Friday, and a single column for the
weekend. Weekend events are labeled as to whether they are
held both days or only on Saturday or only on Sunday. The
calendar includes the starting time, the ending time
although this is not required, and a short description of
each event. All of the events which start at the same time
appear on the same line. A line is ruled across the
calendar at the start of each new hour. The first line in
each description of an event which occurs only on a single
date is darkened to draw attention to the event.
The WEEKLY program is written entirely in FORTRAN, but is
system dependent both in the construction of the names of
the files which it reads and in the use of 5 characters per
computer word to store the calendar for a single week while
this is being accumulated. The distributed version is for
the DECsystem10 and DECsystem20. However, the conversion to
other systems should be relatively easy. The program reads
the event descriptions using a multiple of an A1 format so
that the interpretation of the line can be done in a system
independent manner. To save space, if the line contains the
text of a description of the event, a FORTRAN ENCODE
statement is used to pack 5 characters per computer word.
The packed text is stored in a large array which is
addressed by date and line. After all of the files which
describe the events for a single date have been read, the
information for that date is sorted by starting and ending
times. The calendar for the week is written into the output
file after the information for all 6 columns has been
accumulated.
The WEEKLY program reads many files, some with predefined
names and others with names chosen by the user. The
WEEKLY.TOP file contains the text of one or more lines to be
written across the top of each weekly calendar. The
WEEKLY.DAY file specifies the names of other files which
describe the events which occur on the same day of the week
for several weeks. The names of the files which describe
repeating events should be chosen so as to have meaning to
the person who maintains them. Events which occur only once
are specified in files which have names of the form
DDMMM.YY, where DD is the 2 digit day of the month, MMM is
2 WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program
the 3 letter month abbreviation, and YY is the right 2
digits of the year.
The WEEKLY.DAY File, Establishing a Repeating Schedule
--- ------ --- ---- ------------ - --------- --------
Schedules of events which are repeated on a weekly basis are
specified by the file named WEEKLY.DAY. This file can
specify several different schedules to be applied during
various parts of the year. Each schedule is defined by
several lines which state the range of dates during which
the schedule is to be active and the names of the files
which for each day of the week describe the events and the
times during the day when these are held. The first of the
lines which defines the schedule must start with either of
the words REGULAR or SPECIAL and this must be followed
directly by a colon. A list of the dates and/or of the
ranges of dates when this schedule is to be used must appear
to the right of the colon.
There can be only one regular schedule for a particular
date, but any number of special schedules. If more than one
schedule beginning with the word REGULAR is specified in the
WEEKLY.DAY file for a particular date, then only the first
of these is used for that date. All schedules beginning
with the word SPECIAL for a particular date are used
regardless of whether there are schedules for the same date
which begin with the word REGULAR. The lines which define a
single schedule extend up to but do not include the next
line which starts with either of the words REGULAR or
SPECIAL followed directly by a colon.
Spaces can follow the colon after the word REGULAR or
SPECIAL, and can also appear between the dates. Dates can
be specified in almost any customary manner, but must
include numeric day of month, month name or number and
either all 4 digits of the year or the right 2 digits of the
year. Single dates or ranges of dates can be separated
either by commas, by the words AND or OR, or merely by
spaces. The words AND and OR are considered to be
equivalent. Dates which are to be the starting and ending
dates in ranges of dates can be separated either by the
words TO or THROUGH. Both TO and THROUGH imply the range of
dates including the stated starting and ending dates. Month
names are the only words which can be abbreviated in these
files, but THRU is accepted as an alternate spelling of
THROUGH.
The following date specifications are typical of those which
are allowed.
WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program 3
OCTOBER 20 83 OCTOBER-20-83
OCTOBER 20, 83 OCTOBER/20/83
20 OCTOBER 83 20-OCT-83 10-20-83
20 OCTOBER,83 20/OCT/83 10/20/83
Each of the lines which follows that beginning with the word
REGULAR or SPECIAL specifies a particular day of the week
and the name of the file which specifies the events for that
day. Like the words REGULAR and SPECIAL, the day name
cannot be abbreviated and must be followed immediately by a
colon. The word WEEKDAY followed by a colon can be used to
specify all of the days Monday through Friday, the word
WEEKEND can be used to specify both of the days Saturday and
Sunday, and the word ALL can be used to specify all days of
the week. It is not necessary that a particular day of the
week be specified, if it is not specified, then there are
merely no events which are specified for that day by the
current schedule. The file name which follows the colon
must be formed of 6 or fewer alphabetic letters A through Z
and/or digits. A file name extension or file type
consisting of a period and 3 or fewer alphabetic letters
and/or digits can follow, but is not necessary.
For example, if a particular class schedule applies during
most of the weeks in a semester, but different schedules
apply during midterm examination week and during final
examination week, then the examination schedules would be
established before the schedule for the rest of the
semester. As long as the midterm week and final week do not
overlap, either can be specified first. Such a schedule
could be defined by the following lines in the WEEKLY.DAY
file. The text appearing to the right of the exclamation
points is taken as a comment and is otherwise ignored.
Regular: 25/Oct/82 through 10/29/82 !midterm week
Monday: monmid.fal
Tuesday: tuemid.fal
Wednesday: wedmid.fal
Thursday: thumid.fal
Friday: frimid.fal
Regular: 15 December 82 thru December/17/82 !final week
Wednesday:wedfin.fal
Thursday:thufin.fal
Friday:frifin.fal
Regular:7-Sep-82 to December 17, 82 !entire fall semester
Monday: mon.fal
Tuesday: tue.fal
Wednesday: wed.fal
Thursday: thu.fal
Friday: fri.fal
Saturday: sat.fal
4 WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program
The Event Description Files
--- ----- ----------- -----
The files which describe the events which are to appear in
the calendar all have a similar format. In addition to
those which are named directly by the WEEKLY.DAY file, there
can be a separate file for each day describing the events
taking place on that day. This separate file has a name
constructed of the 2 digit day number, then the first 3
letters of the month name, followed by a period and the
right 2 digits of the year number. For example, the file
named 21NOV.82 would describe the events occurring on the
twenty-first of November 1982.
Each event description must start with a line which
specifies the starting time, or the starting and ending time
separated by a minus sign. Times must be expressed as the
hour followed immediately by a colon and the minutes. Both
the colon and minutes are required. A number which appears
at the start of a line is taken to be part of the event
description rather than a time if the colon and minutes are
missing. Hours can be stated either in the 12 hour system
or the 24 hour system. If the time does not bear either an
AM or a PM suffix, then
00:00 is the start of the day
00:01 through 11:59 is before noon
12:00 is noon
12:01 through 23:59 is after noon
24:00 is the end of the day
If the 12 hour system is used, then an AM suffix is required
for times before 1:00am and a PM suffix is required for
times of 1:00pm or later. The AM suffix is not required in
the 12 hour system for times between 1:00am and noon. If
either the AM or PM is used as a suffix, then it must
directly follow the minutes without an intervening space.
The AM or PM can appear in either upper case (capital
letters) or lower case (small letters), but a period must
not appear between the letters. Noon should be represented
either without a suffix or as 12:00m, where the m stands for
the latin word meridies, since 12:00am represents the start
of the day or 12 hours before noon, and 12:00pm represents
the end of the day or 12 hours after noon.
The event descriptions in a particular file can appear in
any order and need not be sorted by starting time. The
program will sort the entries by both starting and ending
times. The program allows a special notice to appear at the
top of the schedule for a particular date. Such a special
notice must appear at the start of one of the files which
describe the events for that day or date, without any
preceding timestamp, since once a timestamp is found in a
file, it applies to all of the following lines until the
next timestamp is encountered.
WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program 5
If a date or a range of dates is specified to the right of
the time or time range, then these dates are the dates when
the event is not held. This is really only useful in the
files specified by the WEEKLY.DAY file to state exceptions
to the repeating schedule. The rules for the construction
of the dates and/or ranges of dates are identical to those
stated earlier for the WEEKLY.DAY file.
All of the entries in these files have a form similar to
that shown below. The text appearing to the right of the
exclamation points is taken as a comment and is otherwise
ignored.
10:00am-11:45am 12 Nov 82 !date when event is not held
First line of description !comment
Second line
.
.
Final line
The first line of the description can be at most 25
characters long. The subsequent lines should be limited to
23 characters each, because these lines will be indented 2
spaces to the right in the calendar. Long lines are not
split or wrapped around, instead the excess characters are
discarded. There can be at most 500 lines of descriptive
text, excluding timestamps, in the column for any particular
date.
An Example of a Calendar Produced by the WEEKLY Program
-- ------- -- - -------- -------- -- --- ------ -------
A set of typical files and the results which are produced by
this program when these files are processed are shown below.
Since the calendar which is produced is much wider than this
document, only the right edge of calendar is shown. The
week chosen in the example is the week containing
Thanksgiving Day in 1982. The WEEKLY.DAY file specifies 2
regular schedules, one for Thanksgiving itself, and another
for the rest of the year. Since only 1 regular schedule can
be used for any particular date, the file which specifies
the schedule for Thursday is not used on Thanksgiving Day.
CONTENTS OF THE WEEKLY.DAY FILE
Regular:November 25, 82 !no classes on Thanksgiving day
Regular:1-Jan-82 to 31-Dec-82
Thursday:thu.sch
Friday:FRI.sch
Saturday:Sat.sch
Sunday:Sun.sch
Weekend:end.sch
6 WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program
CONTENTS OF FILE THU.SCH CONTENTS OF FILE FRI.SCH
8:30-9:00 9:15
Early birds breakfast Eastern European Finance
Cafeteria, east end Room C19
9:00 9:00-11:00
Plant Biology Advanced Basket weaving
Room A16 John Smith House
8:30-9:00
Early birds breakfast
Cafeteria, east end
9:00
General anatomy
Room B56
CONTENTS OF FILE SAT.SCH CONTENTS OF FILE SUN.SCH
8:00-12:00 10:00
Saturday morning cartoons Nondenominational service
Memorial Union Lounge Old Chapel
(bring snacks)
9:15
Organic Chemistry
Advanced Lab
until dusk
CONTENTS OF FILE END.SCH
10:45-12:45
Late birds brunch
Cafeteria, west end
CONTENTS OF FILE 25NOV.82 CONTENTS OF FILE 26NOV.82
Thanksgiving recess today 12:00
no classes are to be held Dean's Lunch
Guest speaker:
Jim Smith
CONTENTS OF FILE 27NOV.82 CONTENTS OF FILE 28NOV.82
9:00 9:00
Head of Charles Raft Race Choir Practice
Anything that floats
9:00
Big Tag Sale, 55 Main St
Vendors wanted
The dialog between the user and the program when the files
listed above were processed is listed below. The The
responses typed by the user appear to the right of the
question marks.
WEEKLY, an Academic Calendar Program 7
Starting date (a Monday)? November 22, 1982
Mon 22-Nov-1982
Show how many weeks? 1
Name of output file? test.out
Answer 0 if on Decwriter, 1 if on Diablo
Will calendar be printed on Decwriter or Diablo? 0
Mon 22-Nov-1982, Lines: 0
Tue 23-Nov-1982, Lines: 0
Wed 24-Nov-1982, Lines: 0
Thu 25-Nov-1982, Lines: 2
Fri 26-Nov-1982, Lines: 11
S/S 28-Nov-1982, Lines: 15
The right edge of the resulting calendar is shown below.
All columns to the left of the Thursday column were empty.
Only the notice about classes being cancelled for
Thanksgiving appeared in the Thursday column.
Friday Saturday
26-Nov-82 and Sunday
-------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
s today| |8:00-12:00 m Saturday |
be held| |Saturday morning cartoons|
| | Memorial Union Lounge |
| | (bring snacks) |
|8:30-9:00 am | |
|Early birds breakfast | |
| Cafeteria, east end | |
-------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|9:00 am |9:00 am Saturday |
|General anatomy |Head of Charles Raft Race|
| Room B56 | Anything that floats |
|9:00-11:00 am |Big Tag Sale, 55 Main St |
|Advanced Basket weaving | Vendors wanted |
| John Smith House |9:00 am Sunday |
| |Choir Practice |
|9:15 am |9:15 am Saturday |
|Eastern European Finance |Organic Chemistry |
| Room C19 | Advanced Lab |
| | until dusk |
-------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
| |10:00 am Sunday |
| |Nondenominational service|
| | Old Chapel |
| |10:45-12:45 pm Both days|
| |Late birds brunch |
| | Cafeteria, west end |
-------+-------------------------+-------------------------+
|12:00 m | |
|Dean's Lunch | |
| Guest speaker: | |
| Jim Smith | |
-------+-------------------------+-------------------------+