Media Share 13/mediashare_13.zip/mediashare_13/ZIPPED/GRAFX/ALLY30.ZIP/WHATSNEW.DOC

Text File | 1994-03-24 | 14KB | 221 lines

       WHATSNEW.DOC File, REVISION HISTORY of ALLY - A Lisp Analyzer (TM)
          Copyright 1990, 1994 Steve Waskow, Wasco Technical Software

    Version 3.0 (24 March 1994):
    ----------------------------
     1. Registered versions of ALLY now comes with bonus protected-mode
        versions of the Analyzer and Checker and a DPMI interface, capable
        of addressing up to 16 MB of extended memory on any 286 or higher.
        ALLY allows selection of either real or protected-mode operation.
     2. ALLY is now capable of switching to and operating in any Super VGA
        or EGA extended text mode set by the user, such as 132 columns x 50
        rows. Extended text mode documentation for over 50 different video
        cards is included.  ALLY allows users to specify whether the DOS
        shell and user-attached programs should operate in extended modes,
        and whether ALLY should use extended modes when run from AutoCAD.
     3. ALLY now reliably handles any form of direct or indirect recursion,
        at any function level - even seemingly endless indirect loops.
     4. The Analyzer is now better equipped to handle quoted symbols, mapcar
        argument functions, dynamic free variables and function summaries.
     5. ALLY now recognizes any text within ;| ... |; as an inline comment
        (as introduced in AutoCAD R12).  These may appear anywhere in a line
        of code (except in quoted strings) and may span multiple lines.
     6. The Analyzer report now includes an optional statistical section.
        This section summarizes the amount of code and comments processed,
        functions and symbols found, and includes several other measures of
        the complexity of the code such as the ratio of code to comments,
        the average symbol length and number of statements per line.
     7. File hierarchy line numbers and lambda functions can be excluded.
     8. ALLY now offers call leveling, which allows users to specify the
        maximum breadth of the function call hierarchy tree.  Branches
        beyond the specified level are marked and cropped.
     9. Function summaries are now broken up into four separate categories:
        functions declared, functions used, symbols declared and symbols
        used.  Users may choose whether or not to report these summaries.
    10. One new reporting option allows user-defined functions and symbols
        to be listed in separate global and local sections, another option
        allows a separate listing for external and undefined functions.
    11. Local functions and symbols are now also identified by
        fully-qualified hierarchical names, based on their declared scope.
        The hierarchical names consist of the local symbol name prefixed by
        its parent function, which is prefixed by its parent function if it
        is local, and so on through the ancestry to its global origin.
    12. Extraneous report lines such as "decs (none)" have been eliminated,
        allowing brevity without forsaking clarity.
    13. Individual symbol comments can now be added to ALLY external symbol
        files, for printing in the Analyzer report.
    14. ALLY no longer includes form feed characters in reports directed to
        a file or editor by default, unless you choose a new option which
        includes all printer commands, including setup and reset strings.
    15. The Checker now has a movable line pointer which allows you to
        inspect or edit any line of code on screen.
    16. A Line Editor has been built in to the Checker, perfect for making
        minor changes such as correcting a parentheses or quote imbalance.
    17. New Checker Find and Next functions have been added to allow users
        to search for words and phrases while browsing.

    18. ALLY now operates under DR-DOS, and should function properly in any
        alternate operating system providing MS-DOS compatibility.
    19. Memory conflicts which sometimes appeared on MS-DOS systems using
        aggressive memory management schemes or third-party memory managers
        have now been eliminated.
    20. ALLY can now analyze complex AutoLISP programs those with a
        profusion of dynamic variables and indirect recursion in less than
        half the time as before.  Simple routines analyze up to 30% faster.
    21. ALLY is now "Windows aware", and releases its idle time to other
        Windows tasks which may be running.  PIF and ICO files included.
    22. Mouse support has been enhanced.   The Workbench file selection
        scroll bar now has a mouse dragable slider and auto-repeating mouse
        scroll arrows.  New Checker mouse scroll arrows allow users to
        continuously scroll through files.  The Checker line pointer can be
        mouse positioned, and all Checker commands can be mouse executed.
    23. Installation is now much more intelligent, with improved handling of
        installations into machines with multiple copies of AutoCAD.
    24. ALLY can now install into Kelvinated and Protected ACAD.LSP files,
        automatically and completely seamless.
    25. ALLY now installs just a single line of code in ACAD.LSP and
        ACAD.PGP files.
    26. ALLY's file selection can optionally start in the current directory.
    27. Added /IA (immediate analysis) and /IC (immediate check) parameters.

    Version 2.11b (3 June 1993) - Bug fix for occasional hang when analyzing
    recursive call loop made from a child function several generations deep.

    Version 2.11a (31 January 1993) - Bug fix for circular call loops
    (function A calls function B, function B calls function C, function C
    calls function A).

    Version 2.11 (13 December 1992) - Added new Swap option to Setup's
    Execution Option menu; Where should ALLY swap when executing
    subprocesses?  Users can choose EMS, XMS or Disk.  Corrected a bug which
    prevented the configured file sort order from being used.  Corrected the
    searching of AutoCAD's support path so that included files without a
    file extension are also located.  Made additional modifications to heap
    management in a further attempt to make stablize under AutoCAD R12 c2.

    Version 2.1 (29 November 1992) -  Added support for the new AutoCAD
    Release 12, including DCL related functions.  Action-expression strings
    inside of ACTION_TILE and NEW_DIALOG function calls are included in the
    Analyzer's analysis.  Dynamic scoping has been improved.  ALLY is now
    able to trace dynamic functions in unconventionally organized programs -
    even if function definitions are located outside the function where they
    are declared.  ALLY no longer gets lost in certain forms of deeply
    nested SET or SETQ statements.  Branches of COND statements that begin
    with an unquoted variable are no longer mistaken for function calls.
    ALLY's heap compression and pointer management have been modified to
    eliminate system hangups which occasionally occurred in certain
    environments.  AutoLISP programs smaller than 50 bytes no longer cause
    the ALLY Checker to generate a run time error. To prevent proliferation,
    the ALLY.SCR files generated by ALLY's automatic AutoLISP file loader
    are now confined to the ALLY directory.  The ALLYIN installation program
    now automatically locates all ACAD.LSP and ACAD.PGP files on hard disk.

    A global AutoLISP variable named ALLYD is now used to store the ALLY
    directory.  In addition to EMS memory, ALLY can now also use XMS memory
    for swap files if available.  A new line number alias symbol - the carat
    (^) - has been added.  If your editor supports opening a file at a
    specific line number, the AutoLISP file can be loaded with the cursor
    placed on the line being viewed at the bottom of the Checker screen.
    After, the file is reloaded and returned to the previous Checker
    position.  User Program definitions, Printer Setup and Printer Reset
    strings may now contain up to 254 characters.  The Checker now adds
    background characters to provide a visual aid for checking vertical
    alignment of matching parentheses pairs.  Include directives no longer
    require a filename extension, and ALLY will search AutoCAD's support
    path if the path is omitted.  External symbol files are now supported to
    eliminate warnings of UNSET and UNDEFINED symbols declared or
    initialized in ADS elsewhere.  Any symbol which *ERROR* is set to is now
    treated as a user defined function.  ALLY now recognizes FOREACH control
    variables as being local to the FOREACH statement.  Added ALLYWB.PIF.

    Version 2.0a (16 September 1992) - Eliminated registration codes, and
    added serial numbers to registered versions.

    Version 2.0 (24 November 1991) - Eliminated 64K file size limit.
    Multiple AutoLISP files may now be analyzed together to check program
    compatibility.  ALLY now fully follows AutoLISP's dynamic scoping and
    traces dynamic free variables to their parent functions.  A new report,
    the Function Call Hierarchy, graphically illustrates all function calls
    to show dynamic scope and dependencies of user defined functions.  The
    cross-reference of user defined functions now shows a summary of symbols
    declared and symbols used within each function.  Several new warnings
    are reported by the Analyzer, including undefined functions, symbols
    referenced but unset in scope, reserved symbols reset or redefined, and
    symbols declared but never used.  Each section of the Analyzer report
    can be turned on or off as desired.  The ALLYIN program can now install
    ALLY into any AutoCAD support directory, creating new directories if
    needed.  A new program, ALLY Checker, has been added to the ALLY.  The
    Checker is a specialized LISP file browser which colorizes parentheses,
    quoted strings and comments in a manner which makes it easy to spot
    omissions and errors.  The Workbench has a new clean look.  The
    configuration and setup options have been moved off the main screen into
    pop-up sub-menus.  Full mouse support has been added to the ALLY
    Workbench, Setup program, Analyzer, Checker and File selector.  Alt keys
    and mouse hot-spots now supplement the ALLY Workbench function key
    commands.  The Workbench point-and-shoot file selection window has been
    enhanced to display the name, size and date of the files, and the files
    may be sorted by any of these three properties.  A mouse driven scroll
    bar has been added with a slider block and up and down cursors.  New
    execution options have been added to set the source file read buffer
    size, choose a default file sort method, send both report and source to
    the editor and browser, pause the Analyzer, disable the mouse, use
    43-line EGA and 50-line VGA modes, and choose a parentheses color set
    for the Checker. Three new user program and shell command line symbols
    have been added;  ";" provides an alias for the LISP filename less path
    and extension, "*" provides an alias for the report filename, and "?"
    allows the command line to be edited at execution time.  User's can now
    define a default directory for ALLY to send Analyzer reports.

    Version 1.34 (6 June 1991) - Interim Beta test version for handling
    large files.  Never publicly released.

    Version 1.33 (24 March 1991) - Added /Tx option to ALLY! command line in
    ACAD.PGP, where x = tab expansion, in number of spaces, for ALLY's
    reports.  ALLY occasionally loaded a previously selected LISP file into
    AutoCAD, instead of its current selection - this has been corrected.

    Version 1.32 (5 Feb. 1991 - 13 March 1991) -  Revised the ALLY Analyzer
    to correctly analyze files which use escaped double-quotes (\"  -
    backslash double-quote) within literal strings to print a double quote
    mark.  No changes to the Workbench, other than the version notice.
    Minor changes to the ALLY documentation, revised price structure for
    site-licenses.  Replaced DOCFMT.EXE, ISPRINT.EXE, and PRINTDOC.BAT with
    the program PRINTDOC.EXE.  Added new ALLYIN.EXE install program.

    Version 1.31a (3 Jan. 1991) -  Fixed bug in [Esc] undo key and [F9]
    Shell function.  Uploaded fix to CompuServe ADESK forum Lib.9 on 3
    January, 1991.

    Version 1.31 (1 Jan. 1991) -  Added ability to execute the eight
    external programs from pop-up file selection window.  Added
    Tab/Shift-Tab support to the workbench data entry screen.  Added
    additional report format options: left, right, top and bottom margins,
    made hard form feeds optional.  Added device option to force monochrome
    colors, regardless of display type.  Added option to append reports to
    existing report files.  Updated user's manual, corrected references to
    AutoCAD 386's behavior with expanded memory and ACAD.PGP memory
    reserves.  Renamed AL.LSP to ALLY.LSP.  Added the option to add hard
    form feeds to the DOCFMT program.  Created ISPRINT.EXE to enhanced the
    PRINTDOC.BAT program to optionally use DOS's PRINT.COM for background
    document printing. Released on CompuServe, ADESK forum, Lib.9 on 1
    January, 1991.

    Version 1.3 (20 Dec. 1990) - Enhancement to beta test version.  Added
    hooks for eight additional external programs.  Added file name alias
    system.  Updated manual.

    Version 1.2 (11 Dec. 1990) - Pre-release beta test version.  Added
    ability to handle line lengths to 64K.  Added screen display routine for
    analyzer reports.  Added complete new user interface - hooks for text
    editor and file browser, pop-up file selection window, destination
    selection, printer setups, etc.  Drafted the ALLY User's Manual.

    Version 1.1 (Aug. 1990) - Added additional parameters to command line
    version of analyzer.  Original beta test version.  Early beta tests
    concluded more options and a user interface were desirable.

    Version 1.0 (Feb. 1990) - Command line version of analyzer.  Used for
    in-house development only.  No public release.