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The Software Construction Co.
Presents ...
On This Day (tm)
Version 1.5
May 1993
_______
____|__ | (tm)
--| | |-------------------
| ____|__ | Association of
| | |_| Shareware
|__| o | Professionals
-----| | | --------------------
|___|___| MEMBER
The Software Construction Co.
P.O. Box 160
North Billerica, MA 01862
CIS: 70313,3615
GEnie: W.GEISER
Internet: softcons@world.std.com
(C) Copyright 1990-1993 The Software Construction Co., All Rights Reserved.
1. Introduction 1
2. Command Line 2
3. Databases 4
4. Database format 7
5. Date specifiers 8
6. Notes about calendars 11
7. User Supported Software 13
8. Bug Reports 16
9. Known Problems/Limitations 17
Appendices 18
A. Bibliography 18
B. Program History 19
On This Day Version 1.5
1. Introduction
Have you ever been curious about events that happened on this
day in history? On This Day is a collection of databases and
a printing interface which will generate a list of items of
note concerning today. The databases sent to registered
users contain more than 15,000 entries (see section 7 for
more information about registration).
Some of the types of information which may be displayed are:
- Astronomical events.
- Birthdays of famous people.
- Historical events.
- National observations.
- Religious holidays and events.
In addition, a personal database may be created to contain
events important to each specific user. Events such as
birthdays of relatives and friends may be appropriate for
this file.
To clarify, the question this software is intending to answer
is:
What historical events, religious holidays, etc. happened on
a particular date?
It is not intended to answer questions like:
What date is Easter next year?
When was John Wayne born?
1
On This Day Version 1.5
2. Command Line
To run On This Day, use the following command line (note that
[]s enclose optional arguments):
OTD [-b] [-e] [-p] [-r] [-d <date>]
[-m <day-number>|all]
where:
-b prints famous birthdays
-d allows you to specify a date other
than today's date. Date may be ANY
form specified in section 5, below.
Some may not make sense in actual use
(e.g. R(*) would only print stuff on
Thursdays.) Note also that only items
that occurred before the date
specified will be printed.
-e prints today's events
-p prints today's personal events
-r prints today's religious events
-m indicates when to print monthly events
(<day-number> indicates the day each
month. all indicates to print every
day.) (default: 1) For example, the
command: 'otd -m 3' will print
today's events and if today is the
third day of the month, it will also
print any existing monthly events. For
more information on monthly events,
see section 5.
Again, we must emphasize that it is NOT necessary to input
ANY arguments to the OTD command. Simply typing "OTD"
(without the quotes, of course) will get you all the output
in the format that we believe most users want. If you want
to alter the output in any way, use the options as described
above.
Running OTD with none of the -b, -e, -p, or -r options is
the same as running with all the options. If any of these
options are specified, only those categories will be
displayed.
2
On This Day Version 1.5
DOS hints:
Q: How can I print the output of OTD?
A: Append '> PRN:' to your command line (e.g. OTD > PRN:
will send today's information to the printer).
Q: It all goes by so quickly ... How do I get it to slow
down so I can read it all?
A: Append '| MORE' to your command line (e.g. OTD | MORE
will run OTD, displaying the results one screen at a
time). For more information on the MORE filter, see
your DOS manual.
3
On This Day Version 1.5
3. Databases
On This Day reads it's data from a subset of the following
databases:
BIRTHDAY.JAN EVENTS.JAN
BIRTHDAY.FEB EVENTS.FEB
BIRTHDAY.MAR EVENTS.MAR
BIRTHDAY.APR EVENTS.APR
BIRTHDAY.MAY EVENTS.MAY
BIRTHDAY.JUN EVENTS.JUN
BIRTHDAY.JUL EVENTS.JUL
BIRTHDAY.AUG EVENTS.AUG
BIRTHDAY.SEP EVENTS.SEP
BIRTHDAY.OCT EVENTS.OCT
BIRTHDAY.NOV EVENTS.NOV
BIRTHDAY.DEC EVENTS.DEC
RELIGION EVENTS.OTH
PERSONAL
Files in the current directory by these names will be used
first. If they do not exist there, the environment variable
OTDDIR will be searched. It has the same syntax as the PATH
environment variable. That is, you could place all the
BIRTHDAY databases in one subdirectory and all EVENTS
databases in another specifying all these subdirectories in
the OTDDIR environment variable. For example:
SET OTDDIR=C:\OTD\BDAY;C:\OTD\EVT
Or, you might want to place some of the databases on a disk
in each of two floppy drives on a floppy-only system. In
this case, you might want to use the following setting to
enable OTD to search both places for data:
SET OTDDIR=A:\;B:\
Typically, however, this facility will be used so that the
OTD command may be invoked from anywhere on your disk and it
will find the appropriate data files in one directory. For
example:
SET OTDDIR=C:\OTD
If the -d option has not been specified, the current date
from the system clock is used it to determine the extension
to use in the BIRTHDAY and EVENTS files.
If you set the TZ environment variable, OTD will use that
value when printing times for astronomical events. The
4
On This Day Version 1.5
syntax of the TZ environment variable is:
SET TZ=zzz[+/-]d[d][lll]
zzz is a three character field representing the name of the
current time zone (e.g. EST, PST).
[+/-]d[d] is an optionally signed number of one or more
digits. It is the local time zone's difference from GMT in
hours. Negative numbers adjust westward from GMT. (e.g.
5=EST, +8=PST, and -1=continental Europe).
lll is an optional three-character field that represents the
local time zone daylight savings time (e.g. EDT, PDT). Don't
include this field if your time zone does not have daylight
savings time.
If the TZ environment variable isn't present or is not of the
above form, a default value of EST5EDT will be used.
If birthday information was requested, BIRTHDAY.<mon> will be
read. If events were requested, EVENTS.<mon> and EVENTS.OTH
will be read. EVENTS.OTH is used for those events which
might be in different months in different years. If
religious events were requested, RELIGION will be read. If
personal events were requested, PERSONAL will be read.
The entries will be printed as they are encountered in each
database. If you want entries printed in a specific order,
they must be in that order in the database.
OTD is distributed with all the above databases with the
exception of PERSONAL. Note, however, that much larger and
more extensive databases will be sent to you should you
register your copy (see section 7 for more information about
this and other advantages of registration).
Some of the databases distributed with the program may be
compressed. This helps save disk space upon installation.
OTD determines dynamically whether a database is compressed
or not and reads it appropriately. The compression and
decompression programs are distributed with the evaluation
version.
You may, of course, replace any of our compressed databases
with your own in order to try out some of the features of the
event specification language. Or, you may try out
interesting features in your PERSONAL database without
touching any of our databases. The program itself is not
crippled in any way. You have the ability to test all
functionality it is capable of performing.
5
On This Day Version 1.5
Note that the information contained in the databases
distributed with the program has been taken from a great many
sources since sometime in 1985 or so. We do not guarantee
their accuracy. You may also find duplicate entries which
are not indicated in the database. We would appreciate
hearing about these as we do try to weed out the duplicates
when and if we can find another source to collaborate one of
the dates.
We are always interested in new dates. If possible, please
try to give us supporting evidence of a new date. We do not
want the databases to get any less reliable than they already
are. In fact we want them to improve in reliability over
time. We do, however, reserve the right not to add any date
to the database.
6
On This Day Version 1.5
4. Database format
A line in the database file may be in one of the following
forms:
#:<stuff>
This line is ignored by OTD. It is merely
used to add commentary to the file.
<relative date specifier>:<stuff>
Should today match the relative date
specifier, print the stuff to the standard
output device. See section 5 for more
detailed information about date specifiers.
<blanks>:<stuff>
This type of line indicates a continuation of
the line preceding for use when one line won't
hold enough text.
7
On This Day Version 1.5
5. Date specifiers
Date specifiers may have one of the following forms:
Absolute Dates -
<month-number>
If this month (in the specified calendar)
matches <month-number> and the -m option
specifies today as the print day, print the
item.
<month-number>/<day>
If this month (in the specified calendar)
matches <month-number> and this day matches
<day>, print the item.
<month-number>/<day>/<year>
If this month (in the specified calendar)
matches <month-number> and this day matches
<day>, print the item with "In <year>,"
prepended.
Relative dates -
<alternate calendar><absolute date>
This form directs OTD to use the specified
calendar to evaluate <absolute date>. Valid
<alternate calendar>s are:
G or <none> Gregorian
H Hebrew
HF Hebrew Fast Day
(will be moved to following
day if it is Saturday)
I Islamic
J Julian
See section 6 for short descriptions of these
calendars.
<absolute date>+<days>
Add <days> to the date specified in <absolute
date>. For example, 1/3+37 is the same as
2/9.
8
On This Day Version 1.5
<absolute date>-<days>
Subtract <days> from the date specified in
<absolute date>. For example, 1/3-21 is the
same as 12/13.
<wkday>(<month>/<day>)
This specifies the first <wkday> occurring on
or before the date specified by <month> and
<day>. Valid values for <wkday> are:
M Monday
T Tuesday
W Wednesday
R thuRsday
F Friday
S Saturday
U sUnday
For example, W(8/14) specifies the second
Wednesday occurring in the month of August.
<wkday>(*)
This denotes every day that happens to fall on
the specified <wkday>. Valid values for
<wkday> are:
M Monday
T Tuesday
W Wednesday
R thuRsday
F Friday
S Saturday
U sUnday
For example, M(*) specifies every Monday.
E
This denotes the Christian holiday Easter.
E+<days>
This denotes a date <days> days following the
Christian holiday Easter. This format is
necessary to specify all the Christian
holidays as many are based upon Easter's date.
9
On This Day Version 1.5
E-<days>
This denotes a date <days> days before the
Christian holiday Easter. This format is
necessary to specify all the Christian
holidays as many are based upon Easter's date.
*
This denotes every day.
10
On This Day Version 1.5
6. Notes about calendars
Gregorian calendar
This calendar is the one in use currently by much of
the world (including the United States). It was
designed by a commission assembled by Pope Gregory
XIII in the sixteenth century. It is based on the
revolution of the earth about the sun.
The months and corresponding numbers that are legal
for this calendar are:
January 1
February 2
March 3
April 4
May 5
June 6
July 7
August 8
September 9
October 10
November 11
December 12
Hebrew calendar
This calendar was placed in operation in the mid-
fourth century by Hillel II. It is based on the
moon's revolution about the earth. However, it has
solar corrections built in.
The months and corresponding numbers that are legal
for this calendar are:
Nisan 1
Iyyar 2
Sivan 3
Tammuz 4
Av 5
Elul 6
Tishri 7
Heshvan 8
Kislev 9
Teveth 10
Shevat 11
Adar 12
Adar II 13 {Note Adar is Adar I in years when
there is an Adar II}
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On This Day Version 1.5
Certain holidays (fast days) must be moved to the
following day (Sunday) if they fall on a Saturday.
The HF calendar specifier allows you to indicate a
Hebrew date is one of these "special" holidays.
Note that one holiday (Ta'anit Esther) occurs on the
preceding Thursday when Purim is on a Sunday. There
is no way, currently, to specify this relationship.
Islamic calendar
This calendar is based upon the moon revolving around
the earth. There are no dates in this calendar before
Friday, July 16, 622 (Julian)
Much of the Islamic world does not agree with
calculations to determine this calendar at all. They
only rely on proclamation of the new moon by the
authorities at al-Azhar in Cairo to define the
calendar. Consequently, the dates computed here may
differ by a day or two from those observed by much of
the Islamic population of the world.
The months and corresponding numbers that are legal
for this calendar are:
Muharram 1
Safar 2
Rabi I 3
Rabi II 4
Jumada I 5
Jumada II 6
Rajab 7
Sha'ban 8
Ramadan 9
Shawwal 10
Dhu al-Qada 11
Dhu al-Hijjah 12
Julian calendar
This calendar was instituted in 45 BC by Julius
Caesar. It, too, is based on the revolution of the
earth about the sun.
The months for the Julian calendar are the same as
those used for the Gregorian calendar. See above for
more information on the proper month numbers to use
when constructing dates.
12
On This Day Version 1.5
7. User Supported Software
This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that
the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to
resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by
contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The
ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with
an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for
members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545
Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message
via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE
Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software
before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and
continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual
programs differ on details -- some request registration while
others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With
registration, you get anything from the simple right to
continue using the software to an updated program with
printed manual.
Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial
software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a
few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors
are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors,
and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases,
there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference
is in the method of distribution. The author specifically
grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either
to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some
authors require written permission before a commercial disk
vendor may copy their Shareware.
Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software.
You should find software that suits your needs and
pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The
Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you
can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low,
prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back
guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for
it.
DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
Users of On This Day must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"On This Day is supplied as is. The author disclaims all
warranties, expressed or implied, including, without
limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness
13
On This Day Version 1.5
for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for
damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the
use of On This Day."
On This Day is a "shareware program" and is provided at no
charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it
with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or
as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported"
software is to provide personal computer users with quality
software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive
for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you
find this program useful and find that you are using On This
Day and continue to use On This Day after a reasonable trial
period, you must make a registration payment of $25.00 (US
funds) to The Software Construction Co. Massachusetts
residents should include $1.25 sales tax. The registration
fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any
one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An
example is that this software may be used by any number of
people and may be freely moved from one computer to another,
so long as there is no possibility of it being used in two
locations simultaneously. Just as a book cannot be read by
two different persons at the same time.
Commercial users of On This Day must register and pay for
their copies of On This Day within 30 days of first use or
their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be
made by contacting The Software Construction Co.
Anyone distributing On This Day for any kind of remuneration
must first contact The Software Construction Co. via one of
the means below for authorization. This authorization will
be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the
(ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware
distributors, and such distributors may begin offering On
This Day immediately (However The Software Construction Co.
must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-
to-date with the latest version of On This Day).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of On This Day along to
your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to
register their copy if they find that they can use it. All
registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of
On This Day.
If you have received this software through one of the so
called "Shareware Houses" (companies whose business is
selling disks containing other author's software), please
note that none of the money you have paid so far has (or
will) make its way to the author. You have simply paid for
the duplication and distribution costs.
14
On This Day Version 1.5
Registration benefits include:
- Notification of any updates.
- The latest version of the software.
- A much more extensive collection of data.
- Several other utilities which make the
maintenance of the databases much easier.
- A database of interesting and humorous quotations
and a program to select and print them out.
Although we encourage copying and sharing of On This Day to
distribute our product, we must insist that you NOT share the
utilities, compression/decompression programs, and larger
databases you will receive upon registration. We retain full
copyrights to these files. It is an infringement of
copyright law to distribute copies of these files.
Please see the read.me file for information on creating a
shareable copy of On This Day.
Please contact us at:
The Software Construction Co.
P.O. Box 160
North Billerica, MA 01862
Alternatively, you may contact us on CompuServe at 70313,3615
or on GEnie at W.GEISER or on the Internet at
softcons@world.std.com
Other ways of registering (besides directly through us) can
be found on the registration form, REGISTER.DOC.
If you do not use this software, we'd also like to know why.
We'd like to know how we can make this product better.
Please let us know what we could have done to make it useful
or interesting to you.
For $5 to cover the cost of the diskette(s) and shipping
(refunded when you register), we will supply you with the
latest edition of the software. Please specify if you'd like
5.25" or 3.5" diskettes.
We would sincerely like to thank you for giving this, the
fruits of our labor, a trial. We hope it proves useful to
you.
15
On This Day Version 1.5
8. Bug Reports
Should you discover a bug in this code, please let us know
using one of the mechanisms listed in section 7. We regret
that we can't provide phone support at this time (maybe in
the future). Provide us with as much of a description of the
problem as you can, as well as your name and address. If you
would prefer being contacted by phone, by all means, add your
phone number and the hours you will be available at that
number.
What do you get for your trouble? We will send a copy of the
fixed program to the first registered user to report the
problem and will strive to answer all others with a letter.
16
On This Day Version 1.5
9. Known Problems/Limitations
a. The Jewish holiday Ta'anit Esther occurs on the
preceding Thursday when Purim falls on Sunday. There
is no way, currently, to indicate this relationship.
We are not sure that this functionality will ever be
included as this relationship is extraordinarily rare.
17
On This Day Version 1.5
A. Bibliography
Special thanks to John Peyton, a friend who helped get me
thinking along the right path several times.
Following is a list (no doubt partial) of items I found
helpful when learning how to calculate the various calendars,
astronomical events, etc. that are contained in the software:
Astronomical Formulae for Calculators by Jean Meeus, 1982,
Willmann-Bell, Inc.
Calendrical Calculations by Edward M. Reingold and Nachum
Dershowitz, 1989, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign.
Practical Astronomy With Your Calculator by Peter Duffett-
Smith, 3rd edition 1988, Cambridge University Press.
18
On This Day Version 1.5
B. Program History
Version 1.0 - April 1990.
Version 1.1 - July 1991.
- Phases of the moon added.
- Lunar eclipses added.
- Compression for databases.
- Serial numbers to track distribution better.
- TZ environment variable controls times for
astronomical events.
- A few minor bug fixes.
- CompuServe support offered.
- New installation utility.
Version 1.2 - October 1992.
- Registrations accepted by PsL and BUDGETWARE.
- GEnie support offered.
Version 1.3 - October 1992.
- Database update.
Version 1.4 - January 1993.
- Database update.
- Minor bugfixes.
- Quotation database added as registration incentive.
Version 1.5 - May 1993.
- Database update.
19
- A -
absolute dates <see dates, absolute>
address, CompuServe 15
address, US Mail 15
agreement 13
alternate date specification 2
ASP Ombudsman 13
Assoc. of Shareware Prof. 13
astronomical events <see events, astronomical>
- B -
birthdays 1, 2, 5
bugs 16
- C -
calendar, Gregorian 8, 11
calendar, Hebrew 8, 11
calendar, Islamic 8, 12
calendar, Julian 8, 12
calendars 11
command line 2
command line options 2
comments 7
compression 5
continuation lines 7
- D -
database format 7
databases 4
date specifiers 8
dates, absolute 8
dates, relative 8
decompression 5
disclaimer 13
- E -
Easter 9
events 2, 5
events, astronomical 1
events, historical 1
events, monthly 2
events, personal 2, 5
events, religious 1, 2, 5
- G -
Gregorian calendar <see calendar, Gregorian>
- H -
Hebrew calendar <see calendar, Hebrew>
Hillel II 11
historical events <see events, historical>
- I -
introduction 1
Islamic calendar <see calendar, Islamic>
- J -
Julian calendar <see calendar, Julian>
Julius Caesar 12
- L -
limitations 17
- M -
monthly events <see events, monthly>
- N -
national observances 1
- O -
options, command line <see command line options>
OTDDIR environment variable 4
- P -
PATH environment variable 4
personal events <see events, personal>
Pope Gregory XIII 11
problems 16
problems, known 17
- R -
registration information 5
relative dates <see dates, relative>
religious events <see events, religious>
religious holidays <see events, religious>
reporting bugs 16
- S -
shareware 13
- T -
time zone <see TZ environment variable>
TZ environment variable 4
- U -
user supported software <see shareware>
- Misc -
-m option 8
The Software Construction Co.
P.O. Box 160
North Billerica, MA 01862
CIS: 70313,3615
GEnie: W.GEISER
Internet: softcons@world.std.com
Name: ________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Phone: ________________________________________________________
Where did you get your copy of On This Day (version 1.5)?
The Software Construction Co. _____ BBS _____
Friend _____ Shareware Dealer _____
If you checked BBS or Shareware Dealer above please tell us which
one:
_________________________________________________________________
What format media would you like? 5.25" _____ 3.5" _____
Comments or suggestions: ________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
On This Day can be ordered from the following sources in addition
to directly from The Software Construction Co.:
Public (software) Library BUDGETWARE
P.O. Box 35705 P.O. Box 496
Houston, TX 77235-5705 Newtown NSW 2042
USA AUSTRALIA
(800) 2424-PsL or (713) 524-6394 (02) 519-4233
(713) 524-6398 FAX (02) 516-4236 FAX
CIS email: 71355,470
Note: These sources are for orders only! ALL other correspondence
should be directed to The Software Construction Co.