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ZJRUNOFF gZ$G9 Writing your own programs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are several languages available for you to write programs in. We
are able to offer the greatest help with Fortran, although we have little
experience with the new Fortran 77 compiler. If you have used Basic on your
home micro, you may care to use it here, although you may find it runs quicker.
Some help may be forthcoming with Pascal, Algol, Lisp and assembler (Macro 20),
and you are free to try any of the other languages which we have.
If you are using one of the complied/assembled languages, viz:-
Fortran,Algol,Pascal,Macro,Cobol,Sail
then to make them run, you use the EXECUTE command, with the name of the file
containing the code. If the filename has the standard extension for that
language, the extension may be omitted. Thus to run the fortran program in
MYPROG.FOR you would type :-
@EXECUTE MYPROG
Once the program is running correctly, you may wish to save it in a runnable
state. To do this you first load the program into the memory and then save it,
without having actually run the program, thus:-
@LOAD MYPROG
:
@SAVE
:
You will find that compiling you programs produces a file with the extension
.REL, and that after saving a runnable program, a .EXE file. The former is
redundant and may be deleted, the later is run by typing in its name.
If you are using one of the interpreted languages, viz:-
Basic,Lisp,APL
then the programs are run in the usual manner of that language. It should be
noted that you may save a runnable program from Basic with the BUILD command,
from within Basic itself.
Magnetic Tape
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Magnetic tape comes in a large number of formats, and several programs
are available to assist using them. We can read and write 9 track tape on the
Dec 20 at densities up to 1600 bits per inch and 7 track tape on the PDP 11.
The following programs are available on the Dec 20 :-
ANSI writes tapes conforming to the ANSI standard.
CHANGE reads and writes tapes from several manufacturers.
MTU reads and writes tapes in the IBM style.
11TAPE reads and writes 9 track PDP 11 tapes.
TP1900 reads ICL tapes written by the George operating systems.
DUMPER used for saving and retreiving files on the Dec 20.
Not the computer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A collection of information is stored under this heading. Please
investigate the sub-catagories for further information.
Data Extraction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you wish to extract a set of data from a larger set of data, there
are a few ways in which you may go about this.
FERRET is a program for extracting data from fixed format "card image" files.
XSEARCH is a program for seaching through text files for a text string or
combinations of text strings
PSTAT is the statistical program with sophisticated file manipulation
facilities.
Editors may be used in some circumstances for extracting data.
Data Entry
~~~~~~~~~~
If you wish to enter some data into the computer, you should first find
out if the data already exists on a computer some where, as it is most likely
that the information may be transfered to the Dec 20. If the data only exists
in written form then it will have to be typed in. Some systems on the computer
have their own method of data input, but there are generally applicable
programs available to you. You may arrange to have the data entry staff type in
your data, see the computer manager, Brian Morton.
VERF is the program used by the data entry staff in D.o.C.a.S.. It is very
convenient for fixed format data, and allows for checking by double
entry.
The editors may be used for inputting data, although this lacks the checking
facility of VERF.
Editors
~~~~~~~
There are several editors available to you. By default you will obtain
TV when using the EDIT command, although this is easy to change.
TV is intended as a screen editor. It has powerful facilities, although it
can be awkward to use. It is similar to TECO.
SED is a screen editor which is straight forward to use, while still having
many useful features. It uses the keypad and control keys for its
functions. To make it your default editor, put the following line into
your login.cmd file, or better, if you have one, your comand.cmd file:-
DECLARE /NOCONFIRM ENVIRONMENT SYS:SED
This allows you to use TV with the ORIGINAL EDIT command, if you like to
switch between the two !
SOS is intended to be used on printing terminals, although some people use
it if they are useing a dial-up line. To make it your default editor,
put the following line into your login.cmd file, or better, if you have
one, your comand.cmd file:-
DEFINE EDITOR: SYS:EDIT.EXE
Programs
~~~~~~~~
Programs may be run by typing their name. If you have your own programs,
in order for them to be run by this means, it is necessary for you to include
the following line in your LOGIN.CMD file:-
DEFINE SYS: SYS:,DSK:
The programs described here have been grouped by their function, see
the sub-categories for details.
Algol
~~~~~
There are two versions of Algol available.
The Algol 60 compiler is from Dec and seems to work quite well.
The Algol 68 compiler was obtained from another Dec 20 user, and appears to run.
It is a superset of a subset of the 68c subset of the 68 standard !
Runoff
~~~~~~
Runoff is a program for laying out your text file in a neet and
professional manner. It is necessary for you to insert commands into your text
file. You then run the program and give it the name of your file, and it will
produce a new file containing the smartened up version.
The commands are usually inserted into the file on their own lines and
commence with a dot thus :-
.autoparagraph
or
.ap
for short
You may for example start off thus:-
.title RUNOFF TEXT LAYOUT PROGRAM
.page size 60,80
.left margin 0
.right margin 70
.centre RUNOFF
.spacing 1
.subtitle Introduction
.autoparagraph
This program has been designed to facilitate laying out your text
files neatly.
Errors and spelling mistakes in your text source files may be
corrected easily with no thought to spacing. Runoff will arrange that
for you. ...
Debugging your program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The compiled languages provide means of stepping through your program
and examining what is going on, in order to discover errors. To invoke this
facility, instead of using the execute commandyou would type :-
@DEBUG MYPROG /COMPILE/DEBUG
You are forcing a compilation, as your program would not normally compile if
the .REL file was more recent than the source file, and telling it to include
the information needed for debugging. The debug command starts the debugger
running, when the compilation and linking are done.
The debuggers have names ending in DDT (Dynamic Debugging Technique !),
and their commands vary from language to language.
The interpreted languages have their own facilities for discovering
what is going on as they run.
Disc file manipulation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following programs are available for manipulating files :-
SORT A fast and powerful program for sorting files into an order, defined by
one or more "keys".
FILCOM Compare the contents of two files and display the differences.
REV Step through all or some of your files, and examine, modify or delete
them. This is most useful for reviewing the contents of your directory.
XSEARCH A fast program for seaching through a number of files, for a text
string, or combination of strings. Useful for locating a (lost) file.
LBR Compress similar files into a "library" and save space.
Languages
~~~~~~~~~
The following languages are available on the Dec 20 here.
FORTRAN The original scientific programming language. The latest version (77)
has some features for structured programming, and character manipulation.
BASIC Widely used on home computers.
ALGOL The original block structured programming language.
PASCAL Based on Algol, some improvements, some steps back.
APL A Programming Language from IBM, invert a matrix with one command.
LISP List processing, used in the expert system field, lots of brackets.
MACRO 20 The assembly language used on the Dec 20.
SAIL Stanford Artificial Inteligence Language. Block structured with better
input/output than Algol.
The further information about individual languages, tends to be how to
modify the operation of the compiler, rather than how to write in that
language. In general you would not run the specific compiler, but issue the
compile or execute command. The further help given, may be of some assistance,
if you are having problems, as well as some languages having detailed write-ups.
BASIC
~~~~~
The following commands are available:
BUIld - Compile program and save code on disk
BYE - Exits from BASIC and logs the user off the system
CATalog - List files in directory
DEBug - Compile and initialize (but do not run) program
DELete - Delete lines of the program
DO - Accept and execute lines from specified command file
GOOdbye - (Same as BYE.)
HELP - Type out this text
LISt - List lines of the program
LISTNH - Same as LIST but without header
LISNH - Same as LIST but without header
MODe DEF * - The program has GOTO's out of DEF *'s
MODe NODEF * - The opposite of MODE DEF * (default)
MONitor - Return to the EXEC (continue or reenter allowed)
NEW - SCRATCH program and get new program name
OLD - SCRATCH program and read in new one from disk
OLDLSA - Same as OLD for Line Sequenced Ascii files
QUIet - Turn off everything
QUIet HEAder - Turn off headers and trailers for LIST and RUN
QUIet CHEck - Turn off SYNTAX CHECKING
QUIet WARn - Silence compile time warnings
QUIet COMmand - Turn off echoing of command file input (default)
REName - Change name of current program
RESequence - Resequence line numbers in the program
RUN - Compile and run program
RUNNh - Same as RUN but without header
SAVe - Save copy of program on disk
SCRatch - Delete all lines of program
SCRatch ALL - Delete generated code (do not touch source program)
SCRatch IMMediate - Reset immediate mode (zero immediate mode variables)
SCRatch RESET - Reset immediate mode (do not touch variables)
STATus - Type out status of QUIET and MODE flags
STArt - Initialize and run program (don't compile)
SYStem - Return to the EXEC (continue or reenter allowed)
UNSave - Delete a disk file
VERbose - Turn on everything (default except for COMmand)
VERbose HEAder - Turn on headers and trailers for LIST and RUN
VERbose CHEck - Turn on SYNTAX CHECKING
VERbose WARn - Enable warning messages during compile
VERbose COMmand - Echo input from command file on user's terminal
Using subroutines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are a large number of subroutines available to you, form
different sources. These can save you a lot of work, and enable you to do
things, which you would otherwise be unable to do. To include any of these
routines into your program, when you are compiling it, you would type :-
@EXECUTE MYPROG,SYS:SUB/LIB
where MYPROG is the file containing your source program. These routines were
intended to be called from Fortran, but may be called from other languages.
The routines are classified as :-
CRC These were written locally and cover many fields, including maths,
statistics, graphics, text facilities for Fortran 66, and system
services.
NAG The Numerical Alogorithms Group provide very high quality routines for
statistics and mathematics.
GINO-F These are graph drawing routines for basic drawing.
GINO-GRAF routines are higher level routines for drawing complete graphs.
GINO-SURF routines display 3-dimensional surfaces.
NAG Graphics Supplement provides a transportable means of drawing graphs.
DASL The Data Approximation Subroutine Library is used for fitting equations
to data, when there is no prior knowledge of the form of the equation.
This requires a modified EXECUTE line, from that shown above.
TRAFFIC 20 provides for a form style of data entry to your program.
This requires a modified EXECUTE line, from that shown above.
Avoiding long repetative commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are several ways of avoiding repeatedly typing in the same string
of commands, or one very long command. The method to employ depends on what you
are trying to do.
BATCH If you run the same programs repeatedly, and always type in the same
information from the terminal, perhaps the data in a file changes, and
you are not in a hurry for the results, then you could run them in
batch.
TAKE If you frequently give the same set of commands, then you can put them
into a file, and give the TAKE command, naming the file.
@ If you have to type in a lot of arguments to a command, perhaps a long
list of file names to the COMPILE command, then you can put the list
into a file and type COMPILE @filename.
IND If you run the same programs repeatedly, but have to type in the
different information to the programs on each occasion, then IND can
substitute in the information to be given to the programs and commands.
PCL The Programmable Command Language enables you to invent new commands,
which may in practice run programs as well as giving commands. It can
be used to make programs more pleasant to run.
MIC The Macro Interpreted Commands facility has been somewhat superceded by
IND and PCL.
Taking command files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The TAKE command allows you to put a sequence of commands in a file,
and when you give the command, naming the file, those commands will be
executed. The extension for the filename is usually ".CMD". This feature is
somewhat limited in its application in that you cannot pass data to a program.
If, however, a program accepts data from the line which runs the program, then
this will work. Any output to the screen will still be displayed in the normal
way, and when the last command has been executed, a message will be output to
this effect. If you wish to stop this message, then you should include an
extra line containing the word "TAKE" at the end of the file.
indirect files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may complete a command by typing an "@" and giving the the name of
a file, which contains the remainder of the command. This file should only
contain complete items, i.e. not the second half of a file name!
This is most easily demonstrated with the EXECUTE command, where you
may have a large number of files, which you require to be put together to form
a program. While this command remembers the files you last requested, this only
lasts while you are logged in. When you come back after lunch, you will have to
type in the line again, unless you have put the list into a file in the same
form as if you had typed it in. The LOAD command shares the same remembered
list with the COMPILE and EXECUTE commands.
@EXECUTE MYPROG,VET001,VET002,VET003,SYS:TRFCOB %"SEG:LOW",SYS:SUB/LIB
becomes :-
@EXECUTE MYPROG,@T
where the file T.CMD contains :-
VET001,VET002,VET003,SYS:TRFCOB %"SEG:LOW",SYS:SUB/LIB
Directories
~~~~~~~~~~~
The following commands are useful for manipulating directories :-
DIRECTORY Lists the files contained in your directory.
EXPUNGE Frees the space taken up by deleted files.
CONNECT Makes a new directory your current directory.
ACCESS Gives you the privileges associated with a particular directory.
MOUNT Makes a disc drive other than PS: (or a magnetic tape)
available to you.
DISMOUNT Relinquishes the availability of a disk drive (or a mag. tape)
Manipulating Disc Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The commands associated with disc files have been separated into :-
those which provide information about files
those used in modifying and managing them
Information About Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commands which are useful for obtaining information about files are :-
DIRECTORY For listing the files in a directory.
TYPE Displays the contents of a file on your screen.
PRINT Prints a file on a printer.
EDIT Editing a file can be a good way of looking at the contents fo
a file.
FILCOM A program for comparing the contents of 2 files.
How to get help from the computer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following commands, programs and features are designed to enable
you to find out how to make use of the computer :-
HELP This command is used to give you a passage of text which
explains one particular topic.
BROWSE You are currently using this program, which acts as an index
into the helpful texts we have for you.
? This key is used when entering commands, to find out what is
expected next.
<ESCAPE> This key is used for completeing the part of the command you
are typing in.
INFORMATION This command is used to find out the current status of several
features of the computer.
Messages
~~~~~~~~
There are several ways of sending messages to other users of the
computer :-
TALK This command allows you to type messages directly onto someone
else's screen, if they allow it.
ADVISE allows you to type commands remotely into someone else's
terminal, if they allow it.
MS is a program for sending messages to other users, and for
reading and manipulating messages which other users
send you.
RDMAIL is an old program for reading messages.
MAIL is an old program for sending messages to other users.
Controlling Your Computer Environment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may modify the way your computer responds to your commands, to suit
your taste, and make things simpler and quicker. You may find the following
helpful:-
INFORMATION find out how things are currently set-up.
SET change the way something is set-up.
DEFAULTS several programs can make assumptions about what you mean if
you set-up defaults. See SET above.
EDITORS you may select from several editors, which one you wish to use
most of the time.
PUSH save the current environment, and start a fresh one.
POP return to the previous environment.
DEFINE defining logical names can make the access to a number of
directories simpler, and can save a lot of typing.
COMMAND-files commands can be read from files, setting things up for you.
Some of these files can be read automatically, e.g.
when you log in or connect to another directory.
INIT-files several programs can modify their mode of operation by reading
instructions from an initialisation file.
RESET clears the remains of the last program you ran, from the
current environment.
PCL The Programmable Command Language may be used to modify the way
commands work, or to invent new commands. Beginners may
wish to get someone else to set this up for them!
LOGOUT This is the last thing you want to do. Sets the null environment
Commands on the Dec 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The features listed under this heading, are those which you will
probably need to use, in association with any program which actually carries
out the task you wish to perform. You will almost certainly need to use some
commands to manipulate files in your directory.
You may obtain a list of the commands available to you by typing a "?"
when you have the Tops 20 prompt "@". It is often possible to work out what a
command does by using the escape key and the "?" key, letting the system
provide its own help for you. The commands will not do any thing until you have
typed the return key, so that if you are experimenting, and you do not like
what the command appears to do, you may safely delete the line, with no ill
effects.
Typing a control/W deletes the last word of a command, and control/U
deletes the entire line. Control/F is like the escape key, except that instead
of filling out as much of the command as it can, it only fills out the next
segment or "field". This can be useful with filenames, when you want to use the
same name as an exsisting file but require a different extension, the control/F
can be used to fill out the name part of the file, but not the extension.
Mathematical programs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following mathematical programs are available to you :-
SHILOP The Hewlet-Packard pocket calculator emulator (reverse Polish notation).
EVAL Performs single line calculations.
DERIV Performs algebraic differentiation.
ITA Designed for the interactive investigation of radioisotope tracer
studies, contains useful mathematic and graphical capabilities.
Batch
~~~~~
In order to run one or more programs in batch, it is necessary to put
everything that you would have typed at your terminal, into a file. The file
name would normally have the extension ".CTL" . You would then give the SUBMIT
command, with the name of the file. The output from the run goes to a file of
the same name as the control file, but with the extension ".LOG". If any line
of output starts with a question mark, then it is assumed that an error has
occured, and the run is terminated. Unless you append the switch /TIME: with
the run time in hours and minutes (01:00), to the SUBMIT command, then the job
will be allowed to run for 5 minutes, and will then be stopped.
The batch processor is capable of performing checks as things procede.
If you place a "@" in front of every command, and program name, and a "*" in
front of every line of data to be read by a program, then a check will be made
to ensure that things have not got out of step. It is possible to set up
sophisticated error recovery procedures, the manual, "Getting Started with
Batch", is most helpful.
When you batch job logs in, it does not take the commands in your
login.cmd file, but looks for batch.cmd instead. You should copy login.cmd to
batch.cmd, and edit it to remove things which display unnecessary things on the
screen.
Text manipulation on the Dec 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Dec 20 has not been set up as a word processor, although there
are some facilities for manipulating material of a textual nature.
EDITORS The editors are useful for creating text files, and for modifying them.
RUNOFF Runoff is a program for arranging the layout of your text file in a
professional style.
SPELL Spell is a program for checking the spelling of the contents of a file.
Programs for laboratory data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following programs are available for evaluating laboratory data:-
CRIA calculates the concentrations of unknown samples from a standard curve
obtained from radioimmunoassay.
OXALOG calculates the plasma clearance of a tracer, from the plasma
concentrations, following a single injection of the tracer.
URINE calculates the urinary clearance of a tracer, from measurements on the
plasma and urine, following a single injection of tracer.
ITA is designed for the interactive analysis of tracer studies, including
graph plotting facilities.
Managing Your Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commands which are useful in managing and manipulating your files are :-
APPEND Appends one or more files to the end of another
ARCHIVE Stores files on tape
COPY Copies one or more files to new, different files, possibly in a
different directory.
RENAME Changes the name of an existing file.
RETRIEVE Restores archived files from tape
CREATE Uses an editor to put text into a new file.
EDIT Starts the editor of your choice, for examining or modifying an
existing file.
DELETE Removes a file.
UNDELETE Recovers a deleted file, if not expunged.
EXPUNGE Liberates the space occupied by deleted files, irreversibly.
Amershm\/ Watford Barnet Cockfosters ||-------Ongar
\ \ | | /Epping
\ / | Stanmore \ | | /
West \/ | | Edgware\| | /
Ruislip \ | | \ | | ______ |
\ \ | | \ | | / Walthamstow | ______
---------<---0[5;7m-[m-----\\ \ | // Central |/ \
Uxb \ | | \\ \| // | =Hainault
\ | |Q.P. \\ | // | | __
\ | | \\ |\ // | ______/ _,-'
\ | >===,=====\===<-|-====T====\ --\ |/ _,-'
\| | | | |/| | \--|--\ / _,-'
_____X_____|___|_____|===|_|_____L________|__|__________/_,-'
Ealing | | | X___\_|____/| | |\ | /
Bdwy /| | | ,'/ `---\| / --|--<_>---|--/
/ >=====^===^==--|------|-----------/ | |
/ / / | | | |
/ / | \ |\_____________/ |
/ | \ |/Elephant ^
/Richmond | \ / &Castle / \New Cross
| XBrixton New Cross Gate
| /
Wimbledon /Morden
BROWSE
~~~~~~
This program allows you to browse through the documentation available
to you on the system. Topics are displayed on the screen, and you may move a
cursor around until you reach a topic you are interested in, when you may see
the information available by typing the I key. More detailed information, on
a more specific topic, is obtained by looking at the "offspring" of a topic, by
typing the right-arrow key. A specific topic may be located by its name.
Instructions to the program are in the form of a single key, with a guide at
the bottom of the screen as to what they are. Thus, typing the H key gets this
message. The commands available to you are :-
Exit Leave this program, and return to the @ prompt.
Help Display this message on the screen.
Information Display the information about this topic. This is terminated
(prematurely if you wish) by pressing the space bar.
Locate Search for a topic by name. A topic name containing the text
text will be found. i.e. "for" finds FORtran or inFORmation.
Next Find the next topic name containing the requested text, see
locate, above.
Print Print the information about this topic on the line printer.
Run Run the program associated with this topic, if available.
Top Go to the start of the topics.
up-arrow Move the "-->" up one topic
down-arrow Move the "-->" down one topic
left-arrow Show the super-categories of this topic
right-arrow Show the sub-categories of this topic
Editing in the help facility
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you are in editing mode, apart from obtaining information you may
also add, modify and delete information. Further commands are available to you.
There also exists the concept of the input node. This is the topic which you
last added,or modified, at this session. Extra links to this topic may be added
or deleted (Killed). Links are only deleted between the "-->" node and the
input node, where the latter is an immediate sub-category of the former. If it
is necessary to make a node the input node, type M for modify, but simply type
return when modifications are requested. The file names associated with a node
are entered in the form :- browse.hlp%*browse where browse.hlp is the text to
be displayed, and browse.exe is the file to run. If the info is stored in a lbr
style library then the form is file%module*file. The files may have a device,
and or a directory specified, and default to being on sys: in their absence.
The commands available to you are, (* indicating the editing commands) :-
(- indicating not available )
*Add Add a link to the input node as a sub-category of the
"-->" node.
*Create Create a new node as a sub-category of the "-->" node.
*Delete Delete the "-->" node, and those left without a super-category.
*Exit Leave this program, ** saving the modifications made in **
** a new version of the data file **
(-Generations) Specifies the depth of sub-catagories which may be displayed
on the screen, (1-4). (Appears to be of v. little use !!)
Help Display this message on the screen.
Information Display the information about this topic.
*Kill link Kill (delete) the link from the "-->" node to the input node,
as a sub-category.
Locate Search for a topic by name. A topic name containing the
requested text will be found.
*Modify Modify the name of the "-->" node or is associated files, and
make it the input node. The names do not have to be modified in
order to make it the input node.
Next Find the next topic name containing the requested text.
Print Print the information about this topic.
*Quit Exit from the program without creating a new data file.
Run Run the program associated with this topic, if available.
Top Go to the start of the topics.
*Update Create a new version of the data file.
*Wizard Enter editing mode.
*Xpunge Run the garbage collector.
*? Display the names of the files associated with a topic.
up-arrow Move the "-->" up one topic
down-arrow Move the "-->" down one topic
left-arrow Show the super-categories of this topic
right-arrow Show the sub-categories of this topic
How to use this help facility
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This program allows you to browse through the documentation available
to you on the system. Topics are displayed on the screen, and you may move a
cursor around using the arrow keys, until you reach a topic you are interested
in, when you may see the information available by typing the I key. More
detailed information, on a more specific topic, is obtained by looking at the
"offspring" of a topic, by typing the right-arrow key. A specific topic may be
located by its name.
Instructions to the program are in the form of a single key, with a
guide at the bottom of the screen as to what they are. Thus, typing the H key
gets this message.
You can use the NO SCROLL key on your terminal to stop and start
longer documents, as they start to scroll off your screen. If you find a long
document which you are not interested in, then it will stop being displayed as
soon as you press the space bar.
The commands available to you are :-
Exit Leave this program, and return to the @ prompt.
Help Display this message on the screen.
Information Display the information about this topic. This is terminated
(prematurely if you wish) by pressing the space bar.
Locate Search for a topic by name. A topic name CONTAINING the text
will be found. i.e. "for" finds FORtran or inFORmation.
Next Find the next topic name containing the requested text, see
locate, above.
Print Print the information about this topic on the line printer.
Run Run the program associated with this topic, if available.
Top Go to the start of the topics.
up-arrow Move the "-->" up one topic.
down-arrow Move the "-->" down one topic.
left-arrow Show the super-categories of this topic, if you get lost then
type T to get to the start of the topics.
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Runoff program
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*********** Also referred to as DIGITAL Standard Runoff or DSR ***********
Runoff is a program for laying out your text file in a neet and
professional manner. It is necessary for you to insert commands into your text
file. You then run the program and give it the name of your file, and it will
produce a new file containing the smartened up version.
The commands are usually inserted into the file on their own lines and
commence with a dot thus :-
.autoparagraph
or
.ap
for short
You may for example start off thus:-
.title RUNOFF TEXT LAYOUT PROGRAM
.page size 60,80
.left margin 0
.right margin 70
.centre RUNOFF
.spacing 1
.subtitle Introduction
.autoparagraph
This program has been designed to facilitate laying out your text
files neatly.
Errors and spelling mistakes in your text source files may be
corrected easily with no thought to spacing. Runoff will arrange that
for you. ...