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DOCUMENTATION FOR ADDER COPYRIGHT TACHYON INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED JULY 1991. TACHYON INC 726 E 3800 N. PROVO, UT 84604 LICENSE AGREEMENT Since this is a demo program you can send this program to just about everyone you know. If you really like ADDER then send it to your best friends and customers. If you really hate this program then send it to your enemies, competitors or your mother in law. We aim to please so whatever happens ADDER should prove useful. However the Demo program and the full up adder are not the same beast. Whereas this can be legally thrown around at will, the registered version of ADDEr is protected by the copyright laws and may not be distributed. DISCLAIMER This program is good for nothing. In fact, we have barely heard of it. We don't certify that it will do anything or be good for any particular purpose. We don't know why you bought it, but we are sure it wasn't because of representations of ours. We will not be responsible if you lose money, lose time, lose your mind or lose anything as a consequence of using the program. If you know what warranties of merchantability are, it doesn't matter. We don't warranty anything, anyway; regardless of what happens, the only thing you can get from us is the money you paid for the program. We do acknowledge that there may be local laws that make all or part of this disclaimer nothing more than hot air. You may want to check on that. But, we doubt if you will. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 OPERATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP AND PAGE DOWN. . . . . . . . . . 10 LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 HELP MENU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 AUTODECIMAL MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 AUTOLABEL MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 AUTOSUBTOTAL MODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 COMMA MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 CLEAR ENTRIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 DELETE ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 DELETE FILE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ESCAPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 GO TO AN ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 INSERT ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 LABEL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 PERCENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 PRINT TAPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 RETRIEVE TAPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 SAVE TAPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SUBTOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 ADVANCED FEATURES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 BATCH COMPARE AND HOT COMPARE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 CLEAR TO ZERO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 RETRIEVE FROM LABELED VALUE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 PREFACE ADDER was conceived in a fit of spleen when the author discovered that he had to do his taxes. He then vowed to buy an adding machine so that the many and varied machinations necessary for the government to extract its exorbitant sums could be forever preserved for posterity. During the search, it occurred to our intrepid designer that he was the proud possessor of several of the most powerful adding machines ever created by man - computers. It only made sense then to acquire an adding machine program rather than an adding machine. It should have been more capable and cheaper than the standard adding machine. Alas, our hero searched in vain for the correct program. There were several calculators available but they didn't have the ability to store and retrieve tapes nor any of the editing that any reasonable adding machine program should provide. Only one program looked at all promising and that one was bundled with a bunch of unneeded stuff. Somewhat frustrated and grasping at any opportunity to avoid the dreaded tax task, our designer threw together a simple four function adding machine program with which his taxes were conjured and paid just under the wire. However, given that our designer was blessed with a measure of the entrepreneurial spirit, he was seized by the conclusion that thousands of inventors before him must have thought - "Gee, if I need this there must be others who need it too". Brilliant! With this thought firmly planted in his mind, our newly energized programmer turned his efforts to the creation of the ultimate adding machine. The result has now come into your hands as ADDER. ADDER is the first cut. As with all such slices, many more versions and capabilities are yet to come. Indeed, some ideas were left out simply to arrive at some reasonable point at which to ship the program. To be fair, our hero was also getting some pressure from his better half to make some money off this project on which he had been spending all his time. So, here it is. Since innovation always encourages duplication, we have no doubt that at some point competition will raise its All-American head and attempt to capture some of our market. If we can stay ahead, so that the bad guys are always playing catch-up, we can maintain what early lead we have been able to achieve. For that reason (pure self interest), we want to hear from you. Tell us what you like. Tell us what you don't like (please be nice; we are sensitive). Tell us what other features you would like to see. We will collect the best suggestions (or the most frequently requested) and create ADDER II or III or whatever. I apologize ahead of time for the informal, somewhat whimsical and rambling style that you will find in this manual. I find it hard to take things seriously. I have also read too many dull manuals to add another one, of my own making, to the world's collection. Who knows, if it's not too dull maybe you'll even read it. Thanks, need to be added here to Judy Binkley for her editing and final proof reading. I hope you will be pleased with our efforts. If you're not, we hope you won't ask for your money back. But, if you do, what the heck; life is too short to worry about money. Right? I know. I know. I don't believe that either.INSTALLATION All you have to do to install ADDER is copy the contents of the disk into the directory where you want it. Some variation of copy a:*.* C:\DOS should work just fine. However, as with most simple things in life, there is a gotcha. The files from this disk should be placed in a directory that is on the PATH list of your computer. Here is where things could get tricky. The path variable is set up in the DOS environment. If you want to see what PATH is set to, all you have to do is type SET at the DOS prompt. But, that doesn't help you change it. All that does is show you what is in the DOS path. If your computer is set up in any reasonable way, most of your DOS commands will be in a single directory and that directory will be in the DOS path. That is a good place to put the files from your ADDER disk. I heartily recommend that. If you absolutely must create a new directory for your ADDER files, then that directory must be added to the PATH list. For information on how to accomplish that, your best bet is either to look it up in your DOS manual (perish the thought), or call your local computer type (the guy who sold you the thing) and ask him/her how to add a directory to your PATH. Yes, the answer is a bit tricky or I would have explained here. But, any savvy computer gal or guy should be able to walk you though it with minimum difficulty. OPERATION ADDER is designed to be easy to use. Of course, what will seem easy to your local computer freak, may be totally incomprehensible to a normal human being. We hope that anyone who has ever used an adding machine will be able to run and use ADDER with little or no training. To run ADDER, type "ADDER" at the DOS command line. Pretty easy, huh? If ADDER comes back with some message like "The system message library file SyS$sys.dat could not be opened", that means that the support files that ADDER needs (they should be on your distribution diskette) have not been placed in the DOS path. ADDER tries to hunt them down as soon as he comes up and if he doesn't find them, he barfs up a message and refuses to run. You need to install these files in some directory that is in the DOS path. If this error occurs, go back to the installation section of this manual, do not pass GO and do not collect $200. Assuming that ADDER comes up, the only thing you really need to remember is that if you ever end up in a situation where you do not want to be, press the Escape key. Well, not every situation. Escape won't do much for a bad marriage. You need either communication, sensitivity, counseling or a good lawyer for that. But, in almost any situation in which ADDER can get you, Escape should back you out of whatever you are doing to some more normal state. There are 5 available mathematical operations. + = add - = subtract * = multiply / = divide ^ = power of There is also an operation modifier % = Percent ADDER works the same way an adding machines does. For you formal buffs that means postfix. For those of you who just want it to work right, postfix means that the operation (+,-,*,/,^) applies to the number of the entry on which the operation is found. If that didn't make any sense a few examples should clear things up. The sequence: 1 + 2 - 3 * 1 - 4 / 5 ^ would sum to -1 or (+1-2*3-1/4^5). In other words, when you enter a number, ADDER still doesn't know what to do with it until you put in some kind of operation (+ - / * ^). There is no precedence (you know * and / done before + and -) to the operators. The operations are executed from top to bottom. There is one more thing you should know. To input a negative number, you need to enter the "-" (minus sign) right at the beginning of the number. After the first number is entered, ADDER will assume that a minus sign means the operation of subtraction and not the sign, minus. OK, now it gets a bit tricky. ADDER does a number of snazzy things (we call them functions, but then we're techie types) that you will never have seen on an adding machine before. Let me give you a couple of words of advice on how to learn about these functions. In fact, this method will well work with most any program. Open the manual to a given function. Read the section, then try it. There is a concept called the engineering mentality. The engineering mentality means simply that one has the curiosity to play with something until certain truths about the object, program, concept or whatever start falling out. If you will sit down with ADDER and start playing around with the various functions, whatever mystery that might exist will quickly vanish and the program will begin to seem like an old friend. Don't worry about screwing something up. It is possible, but very unlikely. In any case, the possibility of a short term loss is overcome by the long term gain of learning the system. You will see the term "Hot Key" mentioned in this manual. "Hot Key" simply refers to the quick way of getting to a function. You can always get to the functions from the Help Menu. But the "Hot Keys" start the function by pressing only a single key. For example, if you want to label an entry, you could press "L". Computers and computer programs are just like cookbooks. There are certain ways to accomplish (make) things. If you don't know the recipe, you can't get there from here. But, once you learn the system, it seems simple and straightforward. Above all, don't be afraid of it. Try it out. If it doesn't seem to work the first time, then try different things until it does what you want. UP ARROW, DOWN ARROW, PAGE UP AND PAGE DOWN The up and down arrows move you up and down the tape window. The up and down arrows also move you up and down any menu you happen to pop up. Page up and page down will also move you up and down tapes or menus. Page up and down simply take bigger leaps. LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS The left and right arrows move you from the right tape window to the left one and vice versa. In other words, if you want to move to the right tape window, you press the right arrow. So, if you are in the left tape window and press right arrow you will move to the right tape window. If you are in the right tape window and press the left arrow, you will move to the left tape window . However, if you are already in the left tape window and you press the left arrow nothing will happen. Conversely, if you are already in the right tape window and you press the right arrow nothing will happen. HELP MENU HOT KEYS: F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9 These function keys all do the same thing. They select the Help Menu. The help menu lists all of the functions that are available in ADDER. If you are like me you hate to memorize anything. When you memorize a command or name (I'm still terrible with names) it's mainly because of repetition. Because of this and because some of the function keys from the keyboard don't seem to relate to the function, I devised this combination of a help and executable menu. When you press one of the listed function keys the help menu will pop up. This menu will always pop up on the side away from where you are working. That's so you can see what you were working on. The Help Menu will show you all of the functions as well as their hot keys. If you want to execute a function from the Help Menu, you point and shoot. To do this you only need to press one of the function keys F2-F9. Once you have brought up the Help Menu you use the up and down arrows to indicate which function you want to execute. When you have highlighted the function, you simply press the Enter key. The selected function will execute as if you had pressed the hot key. AUTODECIMAL MODE HOT KEY: A Autodecimal mode means that ADDER will assume that all entries have the specified number of decimal places after the decimal point. If the selected number of decimal places is two, then two of the entered digits will be considered as being to the right of the decimal point. This mode is entered by pressing the "A" key on the keyboard and then selecting the mode from the menu. Autodecimal mode can also be selected from the Help Menu. This mode is a toggle. That means that when you select it the first time it will turn Autodecimal mode on. When you select it the second time it will turn the mode off, third time on, fourth time off, etc. When Autodecimal mode is first turned on ADDER will ask how many digits. ADDER is asking for the number of digits to the right of the decimal point. I can tell by reading this over that it isn't making a ton of sense, so let's try an example. If you had selected Autodecimal mode and selected 2 as the number of digits, your next input would look like something like this: .0 If the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6 were entered the display would progressively look thusly: 0.01 0.12 01.23 012.34 0123.45 01234.56 In other words, with Autodecimal Mode on, ADDER assumes that the number that you are entering will have two decimal places in it. This feature is useful when one is entering dollar values. By turning on Autodecimal mode, one can dispense with entering the decimal point since every number will be assumed to have one. AUTOLABEL MODE HOT KEY: A This mode is entered by pressing the "A" key on the keyboard and then selecting the mode from the menu. You can also select Autolabel on the Help Menu. This mode is a toggle. That means that when you select it the first time it will turn Autolabel mode on. When you select it the second time it will turn the mode off, third time on and fourth time off etc. This one is easy. So easy in fact that I'm not really going to explain it here. Not really. The only thing that this mode does is to force a label for every entry. You might want to use this when you are entering a series of checks and you wish to indicate the check number on every entry. If you want to learn more about what this will do, consult the Label function. AUTOSUBTOTAL MODE HOT KEY: A This mode is entered by pressing the "A" key on the keyboard and then selecting the mode from the menu. You can also get there from the Help Menu. This mode is a toggle. That means that when you select it the first time it will turn Autosubtotal mode on. When you select it the second time it will turn the mode off, third time on and fourth time off, etc. This is kind of a fun mode. When Autosubtotal mode is on, a subtotal is automatically shown after every entry. This is a useful feature for balancing a checkbook. Since most people enter a subtotal after every check or deposit, Autosubtotal will do it without any extra effort. If you are not sure how Subtotal functions, you can look it up under Subtotal. COMMA MODE HOT KEY: , You can toggle in and out of Comma mode by pressing the "," key. The Help menu gets you there, too. I put this in out of spite and because I couldn't admit that I was wrong. While I was working on ADDER I took every opportunity to show what I was doing to the uninitiated. In other words, I showed ADDER to folks who had little experience with a computer to make sure that everything was kept simple. There was no one more uninitiated than my wife. She refuses to lay a finger on a computer. She is convinced that computers are a male chauvinistic plot to give husbands an excuse to ignore their wives. Her first comment on seeing my creation was to say: "There aren't any commas in the numbers. I can't tell what the numbers are." My finest creation was shot down in flames. Since the programming language in which I wrote ADDER does not automatically allow such trivialities, I had to create an algorithm to stick in commas. I couldn't admit that everyone would want commas, so I stuck in a way to take the commas out. Hence, Comma mode will turn the commas off and on in the number presentation. I justified myself on this one by deciding that there may be some scientific type or maybe just somebody crazy, like my Aunt Nita, out there who has something against commas. If someone likes this toggle please let me know. At least then I can tell my wife that I told her so. CLEAR ENTRIES HOT KEY: C This function is initiated by pressing a 'C' or by selecting Clear Entries from the Help menu. This function clears out all of the entries from the tape. Clear Entries function should be done very carefully since it will wipe out whatever you were doing. Since there could be a minor catastrophe if this were accidentally selected, Clear Entries requires a confirmation. When Clear Entries is selected ADDER will ask: Clear out the entries NO YES If you select YES then all of the entries will be cleared out. If you select NO then nothing will change. DELETE ENTRY HOT KEY: D, DEL This one is nice and easy. You initiate Delete Entry by another intuitive command, "D". But, this one has a twist. Since most computer keyboards have a "DEL" key, it seemed only appropriate to include the "DEL" key in the Delete command. Not wanting to be branded inappropriate (along with my other brands), it is indeed possible to Delete an entry by pressing the "DEL" key as well as the "D" key. Then, just to put the frosting on the cake, you can also get there from the HELP menu. Guess what? The Delete Entry command deletes an entry. Delete Entry is the grim reaper of ADDER, in that nothing is safe from it. Anything you can enter, you can delete. So, if you want to delete a subtotal, go for it. If a Clear to Zero incurs your displeasure, Delete will solve the problem. Oh yeah, Delete does not leave an empty space, it pushes everything else up. DELETE FILE HOT KEY: K The "K" that is used to initiate this function stands for Kill file. Really! When you press "K" or initiate the function through the Help Menu, ADDER will ask you what directory you want. Once you tell ADDER the directory, ADDER will present you with a list of the tape files that are in that directory. Then again, it is a matter of point and shoot. Move the highlighting up or down with the up and down arrows until you have highlighted the file that you want and then press Enter. That file will be deleted (killed) from the disk. If you get into this function by mistake and decide you really didn't want to kill any files, just press the all pervasive Escape key to get out. ESCAPE HOT KEY: ESC Everyone should have an Escape key. This key is the "Help Mr. Wizard" of ADDER. If you get somewhere that you don't want to be and you want to back up and cancel the function, press the "ESC" key. Think how useful this would be in real life. If you screwed up in life, you could just hit your escape button and back up to before the place that you screwed up and begin again. Of course, some of us would have to back up for years (at least that's what my wife tells me), so I suppose even the Escape key has its limitations. I have tried to program the Escape key so that it would work everywhere and in a predictable fashion. If you find a place where it doesn't work, or the way it works is counterintuitive (I love that word), please, drop us a card or letter with your suggestion. GO TO AN ENTRY HOT KEY: G "G" is for Go to. That's pretty simple. So is the function. You can go to any entry by pressing the "G" key or by selecting the function from the omniscient Help Menu. You will then be prompted by ADDER for the entry number where you want to go. You type in the entry number and, zappo, you're there. That means that the selected entry number is now highlighted and can be modified. If you select an entry number that is larger than the largest entry number, then ADDER takes you to the end of the tape and leaves you there. I envisioned this to work in conjunction with the Batch compare function. The Batch compare tells you which entries were wrong. By using the Go To function you can go straight to the entries that were wrong (or at least different). INSERT ENTRY HOT KEY: I, INS While Delete Entry serves as the bad guy of ADDER, Insert Entry is the good guy. By pressing (what else) "I" you can place a completely unused empty space above the entry that is highlighted. This function has the same twist as Delete in that there is an INS key on the keyboard. It was only poetically proper that INS should be allowed to Insert also, so it does. Need I mention that the Help Menu will also do this? The space created by Insert can be filled by whatever your heart desires (within the capabilities of ADDER at least). LABEL HOT KEY: L Label is an interesting feature. If you have used one of the more expensive adding machines, you may already be familiar with it. Using this feature you can place some human readable symbols to identify what might otherwise be simple numbers. On the other hand, you may also be able to entangle the entire area with indecipherable acronyms, false leads and abbreviations. Whether to conceal or clarify, the Label function should prove a convenient tool. One may initiate the Label function by using the Help menu or by pressing the "L" key on the keyboard. Once in the label function you may enter any combination of 8 (Don't get grouchy; there has to be a limit somewhere) letters, numbers or whatever. All letters will be converted to capitals. This is for the convenience of the Memory Recall feature which you can read about under the advanced (that is, unnecessary, but fun) features of ADDER. To terminate the label function just press the Enter key. If you decide that you made a mistake and don't want a label after all, just press the Escape key and the label will not be saved. If you have a label on an entry already and you would like to change it, simply move to the entry with the undesired label, press "L" and you can edit the label that you put on the entry. In this way you can also eliminate the label if you are so inclined. You move to the entry with the label, press "L" and then you can press ESCAPE and the label will disappear or (if you like long ways to do things) you can backspace until there is no more label and then press ENTER. Once in the all controlling Label function however, all of our other functions take the day off. This means that if you are busily entering a label and then you decide you'd really like to do a Subtotal, forget it. Label will assume that the "=" key was meant to be a symbol in the label. The same will be true of " A,G,H " or any other hot key that is normally a function. The bottom line is if you want to execute any of the functions you must get out of the LABEL function with either an ESCAPE or an ENTER key. The reason for this is simple. If the functions were still active you could never enter the label "ASSETS". If the functions were still active, as soon as you pressed the "A" ADDER would presume that you wanted to initiate or terminate one of the automatic modes and would put that menu on the screen. The same is true of the "S". If the functions were active "S" would initiate the function to save the tape. So there really is a reason for this madness. Label is useful for such things as check numbers, labeling Subtotals (like assets) or whatever. Yes, I know you are limited to 8 characters so you can't write a book or anything. If you want to use Label a lot, you may want to come up with a uniform set of abbreviations, so that anyone who retrieves your tape will have some idea of what is going on.PERCENT HOT KEY: % The percent key is a toggle. The first time it is used it will turn the percent function on and a percent sign will appear beside the number. The second time it is used on a particular entry the percent key will be turned off. The percent key does percents. Pretty tricky? It isn't quite as simple as it looks, however. The percent key works differently depending on which operation you are using. With + and -, the percent key works differently than with * and /. Percent has no effect on ^ (power). With * and /, all the percent key does is divide its number value by 100. e.g. 50 + 50% * would equal 25 (or 50 * .50 = 25). This is the equivalent of saying what is 50 percent of 50. e.g. 50 + 50% / would equal 100 (or 50 / .50 = 100). This is the equivalent of 50 divided by 50%. With + and -, ADDER will take the percentage of the subtotal to that point and either add or subtract depending on which you choose. e.g. 50 + 50% + would equal 75 or ( or 50 + (50% of 50) = 75). This is the equivalent to the sum of 50 plus 50 percent of itself. e.g. 50 + 50% - would equal 25 or ( or 50 - (50% of 50) = 25). This is the equivalent to the sum of 50 minus 50 percent of itself. Remember that the + or - percent takes the percentage of the subtotal to that point and not just the previous entry. e.g. 50 + 50 + 50% + would equal 150 (or + 50 + 50 + (50 % of 100) = 150. You might want to play with this a bit before you feel like you have your feet down. PRINT TAPE HOT KEY: P You can print a tape by simply pressing "P" on the keyboard, or through the ubiquitous Help menu. After pressing the "P" command, the computer will ask you what you want to name the tape. We figure every tape should have a name when it is immortalized to hard copy. If you really want an unnamed tape, just press Enter at the name prompt without typing in a name. Then the tape will not have a name, or more precisely the tape name will be blank. All of the entries will print anyway (sorry there's no way to turn that off). ADDER will assume that you have a printer that handles 8 1/2 X 11 paper (that's all I have) and will print double columns of entries. The entries will be numbered for easy reference and the pages are numbered also with the tape name appearing on each page. For you techie types who may want to play games with the printing, the printing is directed to \LPT1. We figured most folks wouldn't want to mess with which printer so we tried to simplify it. If this turns out to be a problem, let us know. It is important to note that the only tape that will print (at least at press time) is the tape in the window that is active. Yeah, I know that didn't make a lot of sense. Functionally what it means is that if you want to print a tape that is stored on the disk you will have to retrieve it into one of the tape windows and then print it. RETRIEVE TAPE HOT KEY: R Well, saving tapes isn't worth a hoot if you can't retrieve the puppies. The hot key for retrieving tapes is (hold on to your hat) "R". What a surprise! As you already know the Help menu can get you there too. After pressing the "R" key, ADDER will want to know what directory you want. ADDER will assume the current directory and will put that on the editing line. But, as we say in law, the current directory is a rebuttable presumption. Our valued ADDER user can rebut that presumption by pressing backspace to wipe out parts of the line or by adding to it or by some combination of the two. Press Enter when you are done and ADDER will search for all of the tape files that are in that directory and display them for your selection. If, at this late date you don't know what a directory is, then shame on you. You need to learn what a directory is. While you're at it take a couple of law courses. You can then move the highlighting to the tape you want to retrieve and press Enter. The tape will be retrieved into whichever tape (left or right) that you were in at the time. If there is already something in that directory, then ADDER will ask if you want to insert the tape file into the tape or simply overwrite what is already there. If you insert the tape file from disk, ADDER will put the contents of the tape file that is on the disk exactly where the cursor is. An inset would look like this: 1 + 2 + -> 3 + <- highlighting is here 5 + 6 + If you want to retrieved a tape file from the disk which contains: 7 + 8 + 9 + and you answer INSERT to the question of INSERT OR OVERWRITE then the resulting tape would look like this: 1 + 2 + -> 7 + < - highlighting is here 8 + 9 + 3 + 5 + 6 + CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION When a tape is retrieved, and overwrite is selected, ADDER will completely overwrite anything that was already on screen. Remember our friendly Escape key will bail out of this function with no damage done. SAVE TAPE HOT KEY: S We struggled long and hard for the right key for this one before someone suggested "S". You can also get there from the Help menu. Are you getting tired of hearing that? This is some serious extra capability that you can't get with any run of the mill, generic, turn of the century style, adding machine. If you want to save your tapes for posterity, later comparison, modification, in case the IRS audits you or just for the heck of it, you can now save these tapes painlessly on your computer disk drive. Yessiree, step right up ladies and gentlemen, because when you press "S", the machine will ask for the name of the file you want to put it in. Once that piece of information has been entered, ADDER will check to see if such a file already exists. If not, then ADDER will create the file and write the information. If there already is a file by that name, then ADDER will ask if you want to overwrite that file. If you answer "YES", then ADDER will go ahead and write over the top the file. If you answer "NO" then ADDER will forget the whole thing. We just wanted to make sure you didn't crunch something important by mistake. SUBTOTAL HOT KEY: = A Subtotal is entered by selecting Subtotal from the Help Menu or by pressing an equals "=" sign. A Subtotal does what you would expect. It takes the value at the particular point in the tape where the subtotal is placed. Unless a subtotal is requested at an entry that is empty (has no operation), a subtotal request will always do an insert before it does the subtotal so you don't have to worry about overwriting a entry. Lets look at an example or two. If your tape looked like this: 1 + 2 + 4 + <- highlighted here 5 + 12 SUB 6 + 7 + and you requested a SubTotal. You would end up with this: 1 + 2 + 3 SUB 4 + 5 + 12 SUB 6 + 7 + A Subtotal will change when the values above the subtotal are changed or another is inserted. For example if a value is added above the subtotal entries: 11 - <- added entry 1 + 2 + -8 SUB 4 + 5 + 1 SUB 6 + 7 + The Subtotals will also change to reflect the new entry. ADVANCED FEATURES Once upon a time, when I was taking a semi-difficult math class in college I read a phrase in the math book that I have always remembered. It read: "Now we are going to make a radical generalization." It was at that point that the whole world turned into a vector, good old 3 space disappeared into n space and my brain turned rapidly to tapioca pudding. I don't even like tapioca pudding. I've always wanted to write this in a book so here it comes: "Now we are going to make a radical generalization". Another lifetime goal achieved!! Actually, these are just some fun things that may or may not prove useful to you. The first two are pretty straight forward, but will really help the folks that run two tapes of things and then compare the results. These two are Batch and Hot Compare. The next two make for some really interesting possibilities. These two are Clear to Zero and Retrieve From Labeled Value. If you are reading this manual cover to cover (has anyone ever done that?) you can feel free to stop now. Pause! Pause! OK, if you're going to read on try to think of ADDER as a programming system more than just an adding machine and let's press on. BATCH COMPARE AND HOT COMPARE BATCH COMPARE HOT KEY: B HOT COMPARE HOT KEY : H I was going to call the Hot compare Real Time compare but Hot compare is a good short description and "H" was not yet used as a hot key, while "R" was. So, I figured what the heck. "B" is straight forward for Batch compare and, of course, these functions are available through the Help Menu. That's how I generally get there when I use them. These functions compare two tapes against each other to determine if they are identical. From way back in my accounts receivable days, I recall running two tapes of entries and hoping they would come out identically. If they didn't then I had to compare entry by entry to discover which entry was different. As you have probably guessed by now, the two compare functions will do that for you. These are somewhat dumb compare functions, in that they will expect the entries to be identical and in the identical positions. In other words, if you input: 1 + 2 + 3 + for one tape and 1 + 3 + 2 + for the next, ADDER will flag entry numbers 2 and 3 as different even though the net effect is the same. The compare functions also compare the operators. In other words: 2 + and 2 - will be flagged as different. It also means that Sub Totals will be checked as well as Percents and Clear To Zero. So when the compare functions want the tapes to be identical they really must be identical. The compare functions however, don't give a hoot about labels. BATCH COMPARE For those of you who are old timers in the data processing world you might recognize a "batch" process as something that is done by a giant blue machine which is served by squadrons of attendants while you wait until the monster spits up the output. That is sort of how this compare operates. To use the Batch Compare you should first input all of the entries in both copies of the tape that you want to compare and store them on the disk. You then select the Batch Compare function which will ask you for the names of the two tapes you want to compare. The Batch Compare will pull in both copies of the tape and compare them entry by entry for differences. When the computer has completed the compare, ADDER will put up a display indicating that the tapes were identical or, if they weren't, which entries were different. You can use the up and down arrow keys to move through the display of which entries were different. HOT COMPARE When Hot Compare is engaged each entry you input into the ADDER will be compared against a tape that was previously stored to the disk. The truth is that when Hot Compare is on, even if you are just moving through the tape on the screen, each of the entries will be compared against the selected tape on the disk. Hot Compare means you don't have to wait to discover if an entry that was just input is different from the corresponding entry of another tape. If it is different, the computer will beep at you and show you what the value is on the stored tape as the entry is scanned or entered. Keep in mind also that Hot Compare is a toggle. That means to turn it off you have to select the function again. So if you are in the middle of a Hot Compare and you decide that you are finished, you would press "H" again and the Hot Compare will end. There is one other way to get out of Hot Compare and that is to select the other tape (you remember there are always two tapes visible). So if you press the arrow key to switch to the other tape, Hot Compare will end. A fun way to play with this feature is to create a tape and then save it to disk. Then, turn Hot Compare on with the comparison tape being the one you just saved to disk. Naturally all of the entries will be equal. Not being happy with symmetry, you then change a few entries to see how ADDER reacts. ADDER will tell you that the entries were different and what the entry was on the disk. CLEAR TO ZERO HOT KEY: Z Clear to Zero is initiated by pressing a "Z" or by selecting it from the Help menu. Clear to Zero is like the invention of the wheel. It is simple, but allows all kinds of flexibility. Clear to Zero will first do a subtotal and then it will enter Clear to Zero in the next line. This function effectively ends the tape at this point. You can insert values above it or delete them or change the values and the tape value will change. But, nothing will change below the Clear to Zero. But, you can start an entirely new tape below the Clear to Zero which is independent of the one above it. I can tell by rereading the above paragraph that this explanation isn't entirely clear. The best way to figure it out is to try it out on ADDER. But, if you are a manual freak and you want to put me through some more work then here is an example: 1 + 2 - 5 + 8 * 10 + 42 SUB Clear to Zero 9 - 5 + 12 + 8 SUB So you see that essentially you have two separate tapes. One before the Clear to Zero and one after. If we then change some entry on the upper tape: 1 + 2 - 5 + 8 * 20 + <- we changed this entry 52 SUB < - this changed Clear to Zero 9 - 5 + 12 + 8 SUB <- this didn't The upper subtotal (tape) will change but the lower doesn't. In other words, we really have two independent tapes that can be separately modified. RETRIEVE FROM LABELED VALUE HOT KEY: M Now, we have the feature that makes Clear to Zero really work. OK, we have a weird key to initiate this one. It is "M". There is actually some history here. I had thought to make this a memory function. But, after thinking about it, it seemed silly to create a separate (and hidden) class of memory (as on calculators and such) when ADDER has multiple slots for memory already, which are visible. So, if there is a value that you really want to save or call back at some future time just put a label on it. Then when you want it back, type "M" on the keyboard and ADDER will ask you what labeled item you want to retrieve. If you haven't already guessed, this creates some intriguing possibilities. For example, if you have a bunch of constants that you want to maintain, and call them back periodically, you can do the following: PI 3.1415 + PLANKS 6.23232 + (Sorry, this isn't the actual value) C 365,000 + 365,009.37382 SUB ** Clear To Zero ** 4 + 2 ^ A = πr2 M PI 3.1415 * 50.264 SUB ** Clear To Zero ** M C 365,000 + 2 ^ E = mc2 2.26 * 301,088,500,000 SUB Pretty neat huh, and all done with an adding machine. For those of us who have to work in the more mundane world of dollars and cents. We have the balance sheet. What? You say. A balance sheet from an adding machine?. Well of course! I did say that these were advanced features. Here is a simple balance sheet: 12 + 10 + 30 + 23.21 + 19.95 + CASH 95.16SUB ** Clear To Zero ** 12.23 + 12 + 10 + 30 + RCVABLE 64.23SUB ** Clear To Zero ** 23.21 + 19.95 + 23.43 + 19.54 + 12.71 + COST S 98.84SUB ** Clear To Zero ** M CASH 95.16 + M COST S 98.84 - ASSET1 23.21 + ASSET2 11.22 + ASSET4 22.22 + 52.97SUB ** Clear To Zero ** L1 1,231 + L2 123 + L3 1,231 + L4 13,123 + L5 131 + 15,839SUB ** Clear To Zero ** CAPITAL 2,424 + R EARN 34,234 + NET PFT 23,424 + 60,082SUB Remember, Adder not only saves the numbers involved in a calculation, it also saves the calculation method. I figure things out for a living and I hate to figure something out more than once. With ADDER, you can figure it out once and store it away. The next time you have to calculate it you can retrieve your method from the disk and replace the numbers you used previously with the new numbers. Presto, change-O, ADDER has calculated the new answer. What does that mean? It means that if you calculate something (a balance sheet for example) using ADDER and save it away, then all you have to do to recalculate that something (next month's balance sheet) is to retrieve that something ( the balance sheet) that you had saved away before and plug in the new numbers. The calculation method is already there. When I was doing accounting for a cemetery (no; I wasn't counting the dead people), I wrote a program to calculate deferred sales. With ADDER this same program could have been done in about 1/10th the time. Remember that ADDER will function as a mathematical (or more precisely arithmetic) programming system in that the algorithm for an ADDER calculation is saved as well as the numbers themselves. If you then retrieve the previous calculation and change the numbers, then the entire calculation is redone.