File: HELP05.HF of Tape: Sources/Focal/s8

(Source file text) 

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*** THE EXPERIENCED PROGRAMMER MAY READ AND WRITE OS/8 COMPATIBLE DATA
FILES WITH MANY DEVICES.

FOS8 ASSUMES .FC AND .FD AS NAME EXTENSIONS FOR PROGRAM AND
DATA FILES RESPECTIVELY.  DATA FILES ARE SAVED IN STANDARD OS/8 ASCII
FORMAT AND ARE EDIT AND TECO COMPATIBLE.
FOS8 USES THE .FA EXTENSION FOR VIRTUAL ARRAY FILES, THE
NUMBERS ARE STORED IN THESE FILES IN 4-WORD FLOATING POINT.

THE TERMINAL (TTY:) IS FOS8'S NORMAL INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICE.
THE 'OPEN INPUT' COMMAND PERMITS SELECTING ANOTHER DEVICE FOR INPUT
'OPEN OUTPUT' DOES THE SAME FOR OUTPUT.  BE SURE TO CLOSE ONE OUTPUT
FILE BEFORE OPENING ANOTHER.

',ECHO' ADDED TO THE INPUT COMMANDS ECHOES THE INPUT DATA ON THE OUTPUT
DEVICE.  WHEN ADDED TO OUTPUT COMMANDS, IT CAUSES THE OUTPUT TO BE ECHOED
ON THE TERMINAL.

'OUTPUT CLOSE' EMPTIES THE OUTPUT BUFFER ONTO THE DEVICE AND SAVES THE
FILE IF THE DEVICE IS FILE STRUCTURED (DISK OR MAGNETIC TAPE).

THE 'OPEN INPUT TTY:,ECHO' COMMAND WILL RESTORE THE TERMINAL AS THE
INPUT DEVICE WITH ECHO.  AFTER AN ERROR OCCURS OR 'CTRL/O,P' IS STRUCK,
THE TERMINAL IS RESTORED AS BOTH INPUT AND OUTPUT DEVICE.
AT THE SAME TIME ALL OUTPUT FILES ARE CLOSED TO PREVENT
A LOSS OF INFORMATION.

READING AND WRITING CAN BE RESUMED WITH PREVIOUSLY OPENED NON-TTY:
DEVICES THROUGH 'OPEN INPUT "' AND 'OPEN OUTPUT "' COMMANDS.

NOTE:  WHEN WRITING FOCAL DATA FILES, IT IS NECESSARY TO INCLUDE A
SPACE, COMMA, CARRIAGE RETURN OR OTHER DELIMITER PRECEDING ANY MINUS
SIGNS, OTHERWISE THE NUMBER WILL APPEAR POSITIVE WHEN 'ASKED'.  A
DELIMITER WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY 'TYPED' IF NOT SPECIFICALLY
DELETED WITH  ' TYPE %\X  ' .



OPEN INPUT BLEEP       (SWITCHES INPUT TO 'BLEEP.FD' FILE ON DSK:)
O I DTA4:RED           (OPENS 'RED.FD' FILE ON DECTAPE DRIVE #4)
O I TABLE,ECHO         (WILL ECHO ON OUTPUT DEVICE WHILE READING 'TABLE.FD'
                         FROM THE DSK:)
OPEN INPUT TTY:,ECHO   (RESTORES TERMINAL TO NORMAL FUNCTION)
O I TTY:,E             (ABBREVIATION)

 * * * CTRL/Z IS THE END-OF-DATA-FILE CHARACTER.  ATTEMPTS TO READ PAST IT
        WILL OUTPUT AN ?EF ERROR AND SWITCH INPUT TO THE TERMINAL.  * * * 

*OPEN INPUT [DEVICE:][FILE NAME][,ECHO]    (PREPARES TO READ A FILE)




OPEN OUTPUT DK         (OPENS 'DK.FD' TO BE WRITTEN ON THE DSK:)
O O DTA7: ZZ[17]       (OPENS 'ZZ.FD' FILE TO BE WRITTEN ON DECTAPE)
		       (LENGTH.LE.17 BLOCKS)
O O DOPE,ECHO          (ECHOES ON TTY: WHILE WRITING 'DOPE.FD' ON DSK:)
                       (BE SURE TO GIVE AN 'OUTPUT CLOSE' WHEN DONE)

 * * * OPEN OUTPUT FILES WILL BE CLOSED IF THE COMMANDS 'LIBRARY
        SAVE' OR 'LIBRARY DELETE' ARE GIVEN OR IF 'LIBRARY GOSUB'
        IS GIVEN BY A VERSION OF A PROGRAM THAT HAS NOT BEEN SAVED.  * * * 

 * * * FAILURE TO INSERT A DELIMITER BETWEEN NEGATIVE NUMBERS 'TYPED'
        TO A FILE WILL RESULT IN THEIR BEING READ AS POSITIVE.
        FEATURES '4,5' OR 'YES' OF THE INITIAL DIALOGUE PROVIDE
        AUTOMATIC SPACING. * * * 

*OPEN OUTPUT [DEVICE:][FILE NAME][,ECHO]    (PREPARES TO WRITE A FILE)




OPEN INPUT "           (RESUMES 'ASKING' FOR DATA FROM A PREVIOUSLY
                         OPENED INPUT FILE AFTER USING TTY:
                         INPUT WITH AN 'OPEN INPUT TTY:,ECHO')
O I "                  (ABBREVIATION)
O I ",E                (SAME PLUS ECHO)

*OPEN INPUT "[,ECHO]     (RESUMES INPUT FROM NON-TTY:)




OPEN OUTPUT "          (RESUMES 'TYPING' ON PREVIOUSLY OPENED
                         OUTPUT DEVICE AFTER USING TTY:)
O O "                  (ABBREVIATION)
O O ",ECHO             (SAME PLUS ECHO)

*OPEN RESTORE OUTPUT[,ECHO]    (RESUMES OUTPUT TO NON-TTY:)




*OUTPUT CLOSE          (ENDS FILE WRITING AND SAVES OUTPUT FILE IF DEVICE
                         IS FILE STRUCTURED (DISK OR MAGNETIC TAPE).)
* * * ALSO ALL BREAKS ^O,^P,^C CLOSE OPEN FILES.

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