ftp.barnyard.co.uk/2015.02.ftp.barnyard.co.uk.tar/ftp.barnyard.co.uk/cpm/walnut-creek-CDROM/CPM/EDUCATIN/TTYPE3.LBR/TTYPE.DQC/TTYPE.DOC

Text File | 2000-06-30 | 19KB | 600 lines

                       TOUCHTYPE TUTOR
                 Version 2.0  16th April 1982
                   Direct Cursor Addressing




            Concept By: Tim Pearce   7 Bannerman St,
                                     Cremorne, N.S.W.

           Reworked By: R. Berthet   15/5 Cottonwood Cr.
                                     North Ryde, 2113.
                                     SYDNEY.
                                     (61-2)-88-1640


 This  document  is  entered into the public  domain  by  its
  author, Richard Berthet. Please do not remove this notice.


INTRODUCTION

TTYPE  (TOUCHTYPE TUTOR) is an application programme  designed
to  aid the user to quickly gain touch typing skills using the
computer keyboard and the computer, of course.



Some of the features are:

*    Lots of HELP, which you can expand.

*    Onscreen  representation of a 'QWERTY' keyboard  to  give
     visual feedback.

*    Graduated    exercises   with   prompts   (or   comments)
     throughout.


The  objective  of  this  document  is  to  assist  you,   the
programmer to get the programme up and running on your  system
as fast as possible,  whereupon,  it is fairly obvious what it
is supposed to do and how it is supposed to do it.

For the impatient, I propose to first discuss what to alter to
make  it  go  straightaway,   and for those who  may  wish  to
tinker,  I  will  launch into a discourse about the  programme
itself .

                      QUICK INSTALLATION


Hardware

This  version,  (2.0),  of TTYPE is written for Direct  Cursor
Addressing terminals,  so if yours isn't,  then you may either
do  a complete rewrite or wait for the  Non-Cursor  Addressing
version.

Software

Following  is  a  list of FILES that must accompany  the  main
programme. It is necessary to have SOME exercise files, A to J
are presently included.


TTYPE   .BAS             MBASIC Source Code

TTKEYBD .DAT             KEYBOARD Datafile
TTHELP0 .DAT             HELP File 0
TTHELP1 .DAT             HELP file 1
TTHELP2 .DAT             HELP file 2
TTHELP3 .DAT             HELP file 3
TTHELP4 .DAT             HELP file 4
TTHELP5 .DAT             HELP file 5

TTYPEXA .DAT             |
 through to              | Present EXERCISE Datafiles
TTYPEXJ .DAT             |

Before running,  the software will need to be altered to  suit
your terminal and computer. Here is a list of changes that may
need to be made to get you on the road:


1.   Refer to SECTION 1: 'ASCII CONTROL CODES' of Main Program

In  this  section you will find the function to DEFine  direct
cursor addressing-

?????     DEF FNCSRLD$(ROW,COLUMN) =
                        ESC$+"="+CHR$(ROW+31)+CHR$(COLUMN+31)


The constant '31' is the offset to correct the argument of the
function  from absolute ASCII values to ROW and COLUMN numbers
for a 24 line X 80 column screen. If yours is different insert
the  correct constant.  (A visual result of the  function  not
having  the  proper values as its argument will  be  "haywire"
printing on-screen.)

2.   Refer to SECTION 3: 'INITIALISING BLOCK' of Main Program.

You may need to change the following constants-

DATAPORT%   = 0            Decimal address of system dataport.

STATUSPORT% = DATAPORT%+1  Decimal  address   of   system
                           status port.

ESCTYPE%    = 127          ASCII  value of character  used  to
                           escape    to   command   level   of
                           programme.

ESCCHAR$  = "RUB"          String to print name of key for the
                           above character (ESCTYPE%).


Those few changes should at least make it look like it's going
to  run,  if  not you'll have to read the full description  to
ascertain where your problem is.

                    EXPLANATION OF THE FILES

TTYPE.BAS

TTYPE.BAS  is the MBASIC source code which contains  the  body
of the programme and its assorted subroutines. This is the one
that you will have to alter to suit your system.  (See  either
Quick Installation or Programme Guide.)


TTKEYBD.DAT

TTKEYBD.DAT    contains    the   data   for   the     onscreen
representation  of your terminals KEYBOARD.  It will  probably
require  alteration  of  some of the minor  keys  that  always
differ  between  terminals.  You will need the aid of  a  text
editor(i).  Following  is  what  the file looks  like  and  an
explanation of its format-


13,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0,-,^,\
!,,#,$,%,&,',(,),_,=,~,|
13,Q,W,E,R,T,Y,U,I,O,P,{,}," "
q,w,e,r,t,y,u,i,o,p,[,]," "
12,A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K,L,+,*,`
a,s,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,;,":",@
10,Z,X,C,V,B,N,M,<,>,?
z,x,c,v,b,n,m,",",.,/
1," "," "


Notice  that some of the characters are between double  quotes
(e.g.",")   this  is  because  MBASIC  interprets  the   comma
character  as  a separator of the data.  If you forget to  put
certain characters between quotes the READ statement gets "out
of step" and will eventually generate an error message.  (Read
the  MBASIC  manual  about the READ statement if you  are  not
sure.)


(i)  Avoid use of the WORDSTAR (R) word processor in  document
mode  on  DATAFILES.   It  has  the  nasty  habit  of  putting
'invisible'  control characters in where you don't want  them,
for  its own nefarious purposes.  The net effect is that these
control characters send the programme berserk!  (Bit 8 of  the
Carriage Return is set high.)

KEYBOARD DATAFILE FORMAT

n,D,D,D,D,D,D,D,D
N,N,N,N,N,N,N,N

WHERE:

     n       =         Number of keys in the row.

     D       =         Characters    DISPLAYED   as    the
                       keyboard.  (There  should be 'n' of
                       these.)

     N       =         NON-DISPLAY characters that corres-
                       pond  to  DISPLAY  characters  when
                       shifted.
                       i.e. You may choose to DISPLAY
                       upper-case   and  shift  to  lower-
                       case,which  will therefore  be  the
                       NON-DISPLAY characters.


TTYPEX? .DAT

Files of the genre TTYPEX? .DAT contain exercises and COMMENTs
and   are   called  by  the  main  programme  when   required.
(TTYPEXn.DAT where 'n' is a  letter)

*    Any single exercise line can be entered.

*    Any line to be repeated is preceded by  '|n' where 'n' is
     the number of repeats.

*    A  COMMENT is preceded by '!#' and there may be up to  80
     characters per line.  For the COMMENT to print  correctly
     there must 5 lines of COMMENT, even if you only want one.
     (See example following.)

*    A  PARAGRAPH is specified by '|pn,ll' on a line by itself
     where   'p'   indicates  to  the  program   this   is   a
     PARAGRAPH;'n'  is  the number of times to repeat  it  and
     'll' is a 2 digit specification of the number of lines in
     the PARAGRAPH.


EXAMPLE OF EXERCISE DATAFILE


!#Exercise A.
!#
!#        Left hand on the [A] [S] [D] [F] keys.
!#
!#        Right hand on the [J] [K] [L] [;] keys.
|3fff fff jjj jjj fff jjj ff jj ff jj f j
|3ddd ddd kkk kkk ddd kkk dd kk dd kk d k
!#
!#
!#        RETURN the carriage without looking up.
!#
!#
|3sss sss lll lll sss lll ss ll ss ll s l
|3aaa aaa ;;; ;;; aaa ;;; aa ;; aa ;; a ;
|2aaa ddd add add aaa lll all all add all
|3aaa sss kkk ask jjj aaa lll jal ask jal
|3ddd aaa aaa dad lll aaa ddd lad dad lad
|3a as ask asks asks; f fa fal fall falls
|3a al ala alas alas; f fl fla flas flask
|3a ad add adds adds; s sa sal sala salad
!#
!#
!#        GOAL: Finish next two lines in one minute.
!#
!#
|2a sad fad; a lass falls; dad asks a lad;


TTHELP? .DAT

Again  these are a family of files and contain the  HELP  text
(TTHELPn .DAT where 'n' is  a number, presently in the range 0
to  5).  They  are designed with one special character (#)  in
them  which,  when read by the programme halts  further  input
until  receipt of a carriage return (See SECTION 8  Subroutine
[4] for full explanation).

This is TTHELP5 .DAT -


    <RETURN> - Continues  with next line in the exercise.



    M - You've found this one!



    E - End the running of this program.



    Q - Quit to operating system.





Hit <RETURN> for more HELP.
#


    N - Start a NEW exercise.


    R - REPEAT last line, when you can't get it right!


    S - SKIP lines in this exercise.  You will be prompted for
        the  number  of  lines  to  SKIP.  Note  that  printed
        comments have already been skipped.


    W - Print the number of WORDS so far and the ERROR  count.
        Then the RESET option resets the ERROR COUNT to zero.


    L - Print  the  number  of  LINES read  from  the  current
        exercise  file.  Used  in  combination with  <S>  this
        command  tells  you roughly how many lines to Skip  to
        restart in the middle of an exercise.

HIT key for MENU selection.

                       PROGRAMME GUIDE


You've  heard of the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the  Galaxy,  well
this is the Programmer's Guide to Touch Typing. The Plot is to
take you section by boring section through the main programme.
Do not adjust your seat. We are in complete control. STANDBY !

(Oh,  by  the way,  the programme listing is liberally  dotted
with remarks, so these notes are a companion to them.)


SECTION 1  TERMINAL ATTRIBUTES

Contained herein are all the onscreen pretty bits,  originally
from a larger MBASIC utility called UTILSCRN.BAS,  written for
the   Lear Seigler ADM-31 terminal.  The remarks tell  all  (I
hope !).

Things to look out for:

     *  Check the ESCAPE sequences for your terminal and alter
        them to suit it.

     *  As mentioned earlier, FNCSRLD$(ROW,COLUMN) is the fun-
        ction  defining  direct cursor  addressing,  you  will
        probably have to change the offset for the origin.

     *  The string variables WRTPRTON$ and WRTPRTOFF$ are used
        to  switch the video between full and half  amplitude.
        If  your  terminal has an equivalent function use  it,
        it'll make it prettier.



SECTION 2  ALTERATIONS LOG

Just  a little bit of info to keep track of  the   programme's
metamorphosis.



SECTION 3  INITIALISING BLOCK

Ahhhhh  now we come to an important bit.  In amongst this  lot
the  numeric  and  string  constants  are  assigned  to  their
appropriate variables.

Things to look out for:

     *  DATAPORT% will probably be different in your machine.

     *  ESCTYPE%  sets  the ASCII value of a key to strike  to
        enter  COMMAND mode.  I chose a key which is not  used
        often and was readily available.

     *  ESCCHR$ assigns a string to print the name of the  key
        you have chosen.  (In my case it was "RUB".)

     *  DELAY% sets the length of a time delay. The use of the
        time  delay  is explained in the section dealing  with
        Subroutines.  As  a  guide I've used 25  when  running
        under  the  interpreter and  500  when  compiled.  The
        system  has a 6MHz clock.  (Don't forget to change  it
        when  compiling,  as I always do,  forget that is;  or
        some text will be just a figtree of your imagination.)

     *  Next  you'll  find a sub-headins  "SCREEN  ADDRESSES".
        These   and   their  associated   remarks   are   self
        explanatory.  You can fiddle with these to your hearts
        content  if  you  want to achieve a  different  screen
        layout.



SECTION 4  START OF ACTIVE CODE & INPUT MENU

This is the first bit of code that actually does something on-
screen.  Essentially, it presents menu questions to initialise
flags  and will print HELP if it is requested.  It  is  broken
into  4  sub-sections  which  are the  4  questions  that  the
programme seeks answers to.

SECTION 5  SET UP & CHECK EXERCISE FILE

My  first reaction upon reading this code was unprintable;  it
still is.  I haven't done much to it,  apart from annotations,
because  the flow is so tortuous that any changes cause it  to
bomb. Anyway, it works, even if it is messy !

The aim is to open the exercise file and perform the following
checks to each line as it is input:


     * If End Of File (EOF),  then go to menu.

     * If it is an EXERCISE, how many repeats ?

     * If it is a COMMENT, then go to COMMENT processor.

     * If  it is a PARAGRAPH,  then input additional lines  of
       the paragraph.

The  programme  loops back through this section at the end  of
each  exercise,  starting  below the line where  the  file  is
opened.

SECTION 6  KEYBOARD SCAN

You'll  notice that this is one large FOR  NEXT loop which  is
controlled  by  the  number of letters  in  each  exercise.  A
summary of the functions performed:

     *  Assign,  from  previously stored array,  an address of
        the  exercise  character,   that  corresponds  to  its
        position on the onscreen keyboard.

     *  Print and highlight the exercise character on the key-
        board.

     *  Wait  until  response to exercise character  is  typed
        from terminal keyboard.

     *  Print resultant input on ECHOROW or store it until end
        of exercise if ECHO OPTION is off.

     *  Check   for  ESCAPE  character  or  RETURN  and   take
        appropriate action.

     *  Check  input  character to see if  it  corresponds  to
        exercise  character,  if not increment ERRORCOUNT  and
        CHARCOUNT.

That is basically what occurs, minus a few embellishments.


SECTION 7  ESCAPE OR ALTER PROGRAMME FLOW

A  series  of IF THEN statements sort out suitable  action  in
response to the character input by the user,  after he/she has
read the MENU. If no match is made the MENU is presented again
until a match is made.

SECTION 8 SUBROUTINES

The subroutines are numbered; 1 to 9. I shall briefly describe
the essence what each does:


     1. CAPITAL.

     If the character falls within the range of the lower case
     alphabet it is converted to upper case.


     2. ERROR COUNT.

     Prints the number of errors in the number of words  typed
     so far.

     3. INSTRUCTION LINE ADDRESS.

     Adjusts the address for instructions to be printed on the
     screen  after the last instruction was printed.  Not used
     in this version.


     4. PRINT HELP.

     * Clears screen.

     * Opens  TTHELP?  .DAT,  which  is  checked  for  end  of
       file(EOF).

     * If  (EOF)  the program waits for any  character  to  be
       input,  on  character  input the file  is  closed,  the
       screen cleared and a return made to the main programme.

     * If  it is'nt (EOF) a line is input from the  file,  the
       left-most  character is checked for the page de-limiter
       (#).

     * If "#" is present the programme waits for a <CR> input,
       whereupon  the  screen is cleared and flow  returns  to
       check for end of file etc.

     * Otherwise  the  line is printed and  flow  returned  to
       check for end of line etc.


     5. PRINT KEYBOARD.

     The objective is to print on the screen, a representation
     of the terminals' keyboard.  The method may not appear to
     be too clear, but I shall  attempt a description;

     * The file TTKYBD.DAT is opened.

     * The  array,  ADDRESS%(X,Y) has its contents initialised
       to 1.

     * The  loop  JLOOP%  cycles through the 5  lines  in  the
       keyboard  data that contain the NUMber OF KEYS  in  the
       upper and lower case rows.

     * The  loop(s) ILOOP% cycle through unshifted  characters
       and  then  the shifted characters.  The first ILOOP  is
       essentially  th same as the second.  Inside this  first
       loop the programme reads a character converts it to  an
       integer and assigns it to an array.  The ROW and COLUMN
       addresses  are stored in ADDDRESS%(X,Y).  The character
       is  printed  at  its correct  position  and  an  intger
       representation   is  also  stored  in  DISPLAYCHAR%(X).
       COLUMN%  is  incremented by 4 or whatever  spacing  you
       wish.  Inside  the second ILOOP the same occurs  except
       with one  difference;


     The  programme tests for  certain ILOOP and JLOOP  values
     that should correspond to the position on the keyboard of
     the double quote character (").  This character cannot be
     put  in  a BASIC data statement.  It is assigned  to  the
     array by CHR$(34).


     6.SKIP LINES.

     * The  number of exercise lines to skip is input and  the
       loop inputs the required number from the  exercise file
       and end of file is tested for in each pass.


     7. COMMENT PRINT.

     When the COMMENT indicators are detected in the  exercise
     file the programme branches to here. The next 4 lines are
     input from the file and stored in COMMENT$(X),  these are
     then printed in the next loop.


     8. TIME DELAY.

     The two loops just give a predetermined time delay. I now
     have  a  more  sophisticated version that will  give  the
     number of seconds delay that you input to the subroutine,
     to be addded at a later date.


     9. PRINT HELP MENU.

     Prints a basic help for the input MENU.


SECTION 9  ERROR TRAPPING


These few lines are the minimum of error trapping,  a lot more
could be done.

If  the programme is on the "A" drive and can't find  a  file,
the  file  is  closed and "B:" appended to  the  filename  and
another attempt is made to open the file.  If it is not on the
B  drive  forget it !.  If the programme is on the B drive  it
does  not look for files on the A drive if they aren't on  the
B.


                           THE END





HINTS, HELP AND APOLOGIES


Well  that's a load of(sic) my mind.  Don't think that  you'll
turn into an ace typist overnight, I typed this blurb in using
the "Three Finger Technique".

Brickbats  and  boquets  may  be  addressed  to  the   author,
(preferably enclosed with $50 notes).

My sincerest apologies for any errors in the document,  but as
we all know documenting a programme is the PITS!!!!.


Now an idea from the programme originator, Mr Tim Pearce;

It  would  be easy to interface a real time clock  to  measure
typing  speed.  (e.g.  using a Godbout SYSTEM SUPPORT 1  BOARD
with a real time clock etc etc.)

Just a little something for you to work on...................
............................HAPPY TYPING


                                        Richard Berthet.