The Datafile PD-CD 3/PDCD_3.iso/languages/lisp/xlisp/xlsp21_src/ReadMe!

Text File | 1992-07-22 | 5.4 KB | 124 lines

The package contains:
=====================

either
        - the !Xlisp application
        - the lisp-files from the original distribution
        - a manual for Xlisp (only text version)

or
        - the complete source code for xlisp and the desktop frontend.

The distributions:
==================
  There are two distributions. With the binary distribution, you get the
readily built application, a bunch of lsp files, the Xlisp manual (text form
only), and some other documentation.
  The source distribution comes with full source code, an application skele-
ton, the lsp.init file, and my best wishes ;-)

The application:
================
Let me start out with the features so far:

        - provides fully-multitasking desktop frontend with a simple
          teminal emulation.
        - works CSD-independent.
        - suffixes 'lsp' and 'wsp' are translated to prefixes for the file-
          name.
        - get-internal-real-time, get-internal-run-time and time are sup-
          ported.

In fact, a full-feature XLisp 2.1d is supported except for the following:
  Not supported are filetable operations (that is truename and delete-file),
and grafix.

  To start XLisp, just double-click the Application. You will get a terminal
window in which you do normal XLisp operations. Note the following on ope-
ration:
        - pressing Escape will bring you to the top-level read/eval loop
          at any time.
        - selecting 'quit' from the menu or clicking the close icon will
          immediately quit XLisp, without any security check! I might add
          one in later versions.

  The terminal-emulation provides the following facilities:
        CHR 12  clears the terminal screen.
        CHR 8   does a backspace
        CHR 127 also does a backspace.
        CHR 9   moves the cursor up 1 line
        CHR 11  moves the cursor to the next char
        CHR 10  performs a CR/NL
        CHR 13  does a carriage return.
        CHR 30  homes the cursor
        CHR 31  moves the cursor. This one takes 2 parameters, x and y, both
                starting from 0, so the syntax is actually CHR(30)CHR(x)CHR(y)

  The CSD independence was implemented using two environment variables,
namely XLisp$WorkDir and XLisp$lspPath. Both are set in the !run file.
        - XLisp$lspPath is the path along which files are looked up for
          loading, whereas
        - XLisp$WorkDir is the working directory, to which all write oper-
          ations will go. !Xlisp will also try to load a file from this
          directory if it can not be found via XLisp$lspPath.
  XLisp$Workdir is evaluated every time a file operation is done, so you can
alter your working directory by setting the environmental variable to point
to the place you like. XLisp$lspPath is evaluated only once at startup.

The sources:
============
  The complete source code including the frontend is contained in the direc-
tory sources. The file ARCchanges contains the descriptions of some minor
changes I have made to source other than h.xlisp and c.arcstuf to get the
source compiled. The file c.arcstuf contains the entire desktop frontend and
system specific stuff for the ARC, and the system-specific section in
h.xlisp is enclosed in #ifdef ARM / #endif. Forget about the 'asm', 's' and
'makefiles' directory, you won't need them.

The manual:
===========
  ... is the file cldoc_txt in the directory named 'doc' of the binary
distribution. This is a text-only version. There is a postscript-version
of this available, it comes with the original XLISP-PLUS distribution.

The original distribution:
==========================
  You can obtain the original distribution from glia.biostr.washington.edu,
it should reside somewhere in /pub/xlisp, when I recall this correctly...

Rebuilding the application:
===========================
  To rebuild the application, you need the sources. If you have already got
the binary distribution, then place the sources directory in the same
directory where the !Xlisp application is.
  If you have only got the sources distribution, you will find a directory
called XLisp in the same place where the directory sources is. This is the
application skeleton. the makefile will take care of it. You need to create
the directories lsp and wks in the applications parent directory (od where-
ever you have set up XLisp$WorkDir to point to).
  Enter the sources directory, and edit the makefile to suit your configura-
tion. Then start amu with the target install. Now go and drink some coffee.
If everything goes OK, you should now have a new !Runimage within the !Xlisp
directory.

Comments & suggestions:
=======================
  I will not touch any other file than arcstuf.c and xlisp.h, as this port
is going to be a contribution for the next version of the official XLisp-PLUS
distribution. This does especially mean: I won't alter (add or remove) any
language facilities, nor can I add support for multiple sessions with one
interpreter. But I will alter some points with the frontend. I will:
        - add support for drop-and-drag of xlisp files to the window.
        - add support for setting Xlisp$WorkDir by dragging
Eventually I might add graphics support... a very big maybe for this one.
Well, if you have any comments/suggestions, you can reach me under my normal
Email Adresses, namely:

      [e-mail] (Gunnar Zoetl)  (home)
      [e-mail] (Gunnar Zoetl)      (also home, from august on...)
and   [e-mail]      (university)

And now: have fun!

Gunnar