Programming Tool Box/SIMS_2.iso/bp_6_93/bonus/winer/readme.txt

Text File | 1994-09-04 | 5KB | 94 lines

README: Notes on this disk version of "BASIC Techniques and Utilities"

ENTIRE CONTENTS OF THIS TEXT AND SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT (C) 1994 ETHAN WINER

This is a disk version of "PC Magazine BASIC Techniques and Utilities",
which was originally published by Ziff-Davis Press in Emeryville, CA.
When Ziff-Davis Press decided it was no longer profitable for them to
continue printing it, they returned the rights to me.  This disk version
of my book is provided free as a service to the programming community.
You are welcome to use any of the code fragments or complete programs in
any way you see fit for no charge, including for commercial applications.
However, the author retains all copyrights for the text and the programs.
You may share this book and the accompanying programs with others, but
only if you distribute the entire WINER.ZIP file as it was originally
uploaded by me to CompuServe.

While I should not have to belabor the obvious: All of this software and
the accompanying text are provided "as is", with no warranty expressed or
implied.  The author is not liable for any damages whatsoever, including
incidental or consequential.  Use this information at your own risk.  If
you wipe out your hard disk or CMOS memory, I am not responsible!

Although this book is provided at no charge, I hope I will be allowed one
small commercial plug:  If you find this information useful and would
like to learn more about BASIC and assembly language programming, please
considering purchasing QuickPak Professional and/or P.D.Q. from Crescent
Software.  A brief advertisement for Crescent describing their products
for DOS BASIC is in the CRESCENT.AD file.

The text is divided into individual chapter files rather than one huge
file, to make it easier to locate information in each chapter.  The text
you see here is what I sent to the publisher, and does not include any
editing for style they applied.  You may print this book by copying the
chapter files to a printer from a DOS prompt using the COPY command:

    COPY CHAP*.TXT LPT1.

Or you may view it using any ASCII file browsing program such as Vern
Buerg's LIST utility.  Where appropriate, the CHR$(12) hard page feeds were
retained before and after long program listings, to aid print formatting.
these will appear as the universal Female symbol when viewed with LIST.

There was no easy way to create a page index for a book supplied as text
files, but the included TEXTFIND utility will help you locate information
in the text.  TEXTFIND accepts a file specification and search string, and
then searches all files that match that specification for the string.  So
to determine which CHAP*.TXT files mention, say, DEF SEG, you would start
TEXTFIND like this:

  TEXTFIND CHAP*.TXT

and then enter "DEF SEG" (without the quotes) at the prompt.  Note that
TEXTFIND searches without regard to capitalization in either the search
string or the file's text, so entering "def seg" would also work.  I have
also included a version of this program called FT.EXE (find text), which
is essentially the same program but compiled with Crescent's P.D.Q. add-on
library.  If you look at the size of this program (4956 bytes) and compare
that with what you get after compiling and linking TEXTFIND with VB/DOS
(46698 bytes), you can see the enormous improvement that P.D.Q. offers.

In some cases, figures from the printed book could not be included.  In
the printed book Chapter 6 contains a picture of a floppy disk showing how
the sectors and clusters are organized.  And in Chapter 4 there are some
figures of CodeView display screens that were originally created as .GIF
file graphics-mode screen shots.  I have tried to recreate as many of the
other figures as possible with standard and extended ASCII characters.  If
your printer does not support extended characters (those with ASCII values
greater than 127), figures that contain lines and boxes may print as rows
of italicized letters and numbers.

You will notice a few comments here and there that were added to this disk
version of my book only, and they are enclosed in square brackets: []  Some
of these comments relate to VB/DOS, which was not covered in the original
printed version.  Others were added as I read the book one last time before
uploading it, to clarify or enhance the information herein.  But since I do
not use VB/DOS on a regular basis, I can't guarantee that all of the VB/DOS
differences and features are documented completely.  In most cases, however,
the information about BASIC PDS applies equally to VB/DOS.

Also notice how the individual sections within each chapter are delineated.
Most printed books identify the different levels of section headings with
different fonts and type styles.  For example, major section headings are
often printed in bold capitalized text; smaller, less-bold fonts are used
for the lower section levels.  This disk version of my book uses uppercase
"underlined" text for major section headings, plain uppercase for the next
lower level, and mixed case for the lowest heading levels.

I will happily provide support for this book and answer questions as time
permits in sections 13 and 14 of the MSBASIC forum on CompuServe.  My CIS
account number is 72241,63.  I prefer to answer questions there rather than
through EMAIL, because public messages let others benefit from the answers.

--Ethan Winer