╞AKE FILES ARE GENUINE FILES. ╘HEY ARE A BIT UNCONVENTIONAL, BUT USEFUL IN SIMPLE APPLICATIONS. ╔F YOU DON'T NEED DATA SORTED OR SEARCHED, IF YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP A QUICK AND DIRTY LIST OF THINGS, ─┴╘┴ LINES OR PROGRAM LINES ARE THE BEST FILES.
╘HEY SAVE QUICKLY. ┘OU DON'T HAVE TO BOTHER ╧╨┼╬ING AND ├╠╧╙┼ING THE FILES, YOU JUST DO NOTHING. ┴ND DOING NOTHING HAS GOT TO BE THE GREATEST WAY TO FILE INFORMATION.
╫E EXPLOIT A WEAKNESS OF THE SYSTEM: AS YOU KNOW WHEN A LINE OF PROGRAM IS TYPED WRONGLY, THE COMPUTER DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT IT AT FIRST. ╔T ONLY TELLS YOU ABOUT ERRORS AT ╥╒╬ TIME ... ╙┘╬╘┴╪ ┼╥╥╧╥ ╔╬ 100 - RIGHT?
╫EAKNESS? ╬OPE! ╘HAT IS THE GREATEST ASSET OF THESE COMPUTERS. ╫HOLE LANGUAGES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED AROUND THIS FEATURE.
╙O ONTO OUR FILING SCHEME. ╘RY THIS:
Ç*FP8
100 "╘HIS IS MY INFORMATION FILE"
110 "╬OTE THE QUOTES. ┘OU CANNOT SHIFT LETTERS,
120 "IF YOU DON'T QUOTE THEM.
130 :
140 "╫E CAN USE COLONS TO SPLIT PARAGRAPHS,
150 "WHICH MEANS THAT WE NOW HAVE A POOR-MAN'S WORDPROCESSOR
160 "IN ADDITION TO HAVING A FILE."
170 :
Ç*FP7
180 "┴ FILE COULD ALSO BE WITHOUT QUOTES, LIKE THIS:
190 :
200 :BUT NOTHING CAN BE SHIFTED IF YOU HAVEN'T QUOTED IT.
210 :ALSO, IF YOU HAVEN'T QUOTED IT, YOU CANNOT PUT
220 :NUMBERS AS THE FIRST ENTRY ON A LINE.
Ç*FP6
╞INALLY, A DATA FILE COULD LOOK LIKE THIS:
250 ─┴╘┴ NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE
260 :
270 OR
280 :
290 ─┴╘┴ "┴ LETTER TO THE ╨RESIDENT"
╘HE POINT IS THAT YOU CAN FILE THINGS AWAY IN FAKE FILES, AS NORMAL ┬ASIC PROGRAMS (PROGRAMS ARE FILES!). ┘OU SIMPLY ╙┴╓┼ THEM. ╘HE COMPUTER DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU SAVE SO LONG AS IT HAS LINE NUMBERS. ╫HEN YOU ╠╧┴─ IT BACK INTO THE COMPUTER, SUCH FILES WON'T ╥╒╬ TOO WELL (─┴╘┴ LINES WILL), BUT THEN YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO ╥╒╬ THEM. ╔F THERE IS ANY CHANCE THAT YOU MAY NEED TO "PROCESS" THE INFORMATION, BY ALL MENS PUT THEM IN ─┴╘┴ LINES. ╘HEY WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ╥┼┴─ING WHEN NEEDED.
╔N ALL CASES, WHEN YOU PRINT THINGS OUT, A PAIR OF SCISSORS CAN SNIP THE LINE NUMBERS AND YOU'VE GOT A LINE-LESS LISTING. ╔T MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW THAT TWO CHARTS IN THE BACK OF THIS BOOK STARTED OUT AS SEQUENTIAL DISK FILES, BUT THEN, AFTER A BIT OF CONVERTING BECAME PROGRAM FILES SO THAT THE PROCESS OF ANOTATING THE DATA WAS CONSIDERABLY SIMPLIFIED AND FAIRLY ERROR-PROOF.
╔F YOU DON'T HAVE SCISSORS, THIS LITTLE TRICK CAN LIST YOUR FILE WITHOUT ANY LINE NUMBERS: ╨╧╦┼Çú22,35:╠╔╙╘. ╫HEN YOU ARE ALL DONE, ALLOW THE COMPUTER TO PRINT THE LINE NUMBERS BY CODING:Çú╨╧╦┼Çú22,25. ╔F A PRINTER IS A DESTINATION FOR THE FILE, THE USUAL SEQUENCE APPLIES:
