To invoke a T system, one typically gives a command to the system
command processor, as appropriate to the operating system and installation.
For example, under Aegis, the following interaction might take place:
The interaction may look slightly different in the other implementations.
The above illustrates the startup sequence, which proceeds as follows:
The user invokes T with an appropriate command. |
The T system identifies itself by giving the processor and operating system under which it believes itself to be running, the major and minor system version numbers, and the system edit number. The version numbers identify which release of T is running. The edit number is useful to the system implementors and should be provided in any bug reports sent to them. |
T loads a patch file, if one exists. The patch file consists of forms which fix bugs in the current release of the system. |
T loads a user initialization file, if one exists. The user initialization file consists of any forms which the users wants to have evaluated when T starts up. The location in the file system where the initialization file is found is system-dependent, but is usually the file init.t in the user's home directory. |
T enters a read-eval-print loop. Read-eval-print loops are described in section 18.3. |