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Introduction
This file is a very abbreviated version of the Thinker manual.
It is intended only to help in using the demo version of
Thinker. The Demo version of Thinker cannot save any changes
to files, does not import or export ASCII, nor does it print.
Creating a new file will write on your disk and will in fact
create a new Thinker document with a single statement
(The copyright notice). This version of Thinker will only
handle documents under 30,000 bytes in size.
******************************************************************
Thinker is available for $59 until March 31, 1989 and
$99 thereafter from:
Poor Person Software
3721 Starr King Circle
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(415)-493-7234
Source for Tinydraw is available on request at no charge.
*******************************************************************
Thinker can trace its heritage all the way back to Doug
Englebart's work at SRI's Augmentation Research Laboratory.
By combining elements of text processing, outline processing,
and hypertext, Thinker becomes an Idea Processor that embodies
the basics of Doug's ideas for augmenting the human intellect.
The future of Thinker includes links to sound files, WYSIWYG
print formatting, use of the Amiga Clipboard, and more.
What is HyperText?
Footnotes are a form of HyperText. Within the body of the
text is a directive to look somewhere else in the text for
more information. With footnotes the directive is a
footnote number while in HyperText the directive is in the
form of a character string that "names" another section of
the text. In order for HyperText to work the text is
divided into sections and each section has a label.
One often encounters this form of textual link when a phrase
like "See Chapter 2, section 1" appears in the text. This
type of link is good but can be carried further. Imagine
that each paragraph in a document had a label that described
the topic discussed in the paragraph. Now one could
encounter the phase "See the section <correct use of the
passive voice>" which would take you directly to the
paragraph on passive voice. However, where is that
paragraph? What Chapter? What Page?
When the document is online and being accessed via a
HyperText processor, one simply points the mouse at the
phase <correct use of the passive voice> and asks to see
that paragraph. Whether it is in chapter 10 or 2 is of no
concern to the reader, the HyperText processor will find it
and present it to the reader.
HyperText documents do not have to be read linearly like a
book. One can begin in the section with the most interest
and follow the links around the document to explore the
subject. The creator of the HyperText document had only to
attach descriptive labels to the various sections of the
document.
What is Hierarchical Text?
Hierarchical Text is an extension of outlines. Outlines are
the arrangement of topics in subordinate relationships.
Rain and snow are two examples of precipitation and they are
properly subtopics of precipitation in an outline of a paper
on weather.
If the idea of an outline is extended to an arrangement of
ideas in subordinate relationships it becomes Hierarchical
Text. Ideas are paragraphs or groups of paragraphs and a
paragraph on precipitation might have subordinate paragraphs
on the different kinds of precipitation that one might
expect to find.
How Thinker combines HyperText and Hierarchical Text
Thinker is a Hierarchical Text processor with HyperText. A
Thinker document is made up of a collection of paragraphs
(referred to as "statements" or "branches" in this manual)
arranged hierarchically and containing textual links to each
other. Each statement in a Thinker document can have a
label and can be referenced by a textual string (a link)
that "names" that label.
A statement that begins with "(" has a label, and the label
is the string of non-punctuation characters between the
first "(" and the closing ")" at the beginning of the
statement. A link in the text consists of the
non-punctuation characters between "<" and ">" characters
anywhere in the text. When the label is a single word, the
link to it can be expressed without the "<" and ">"
characters. Thus, each word in a Thinker document is a
potential HyperText link to statement somewhere in the
hierarchy of statements that make up the document.
To expand the flexibility of Thinker, a link may contain the
name of a Thinker document other than the one in which the
link is found. The document name is separated from the
label by a comma. Thus, <Thinker:example,link> is a link to
the section labeled "link" in the Thinker document called
"example" on the disk named "Thinker".
When a statement has subordinate statements it is called a
branch. Thinker allows the manipulation of a document by
moving, copying, and deleting statements and branches. When
a branch is moved, all the subordinate statements are moved
as well.
Display parameters control the format of the text on the
screen. Thinker can be instructed to display only the first
line of each statement and give the appearance of a simple
outline. By controlling the depth of the outline visible,
the user can actually "see" very large portions of the
document at one time. When the document is manipulated
while viewing it in outline form, all of the text that is
part of the document is moved when the visible portions are
moved.
What can Thinker "link" to?
A HyperText link can link to one of three things: 1) A
Thinker document, 2) An IFF picture file which can be
displayed in a new window (the picture is thus compressed in
size and colors) or a separate screen, or 3) any Workbench
application, in which case the application is launched in
its own window and runs as a separate task. If a project is
to be launched, there MUST be a project icon. If an
application is to be launched, it MUST have a Tool icon.
The ability to link to other Workbench applications makes
Thinker into a HyperMedia product. Drawings, sound
applications, database applications, word processing
applications are all possible links in a single Thinker
document.
How does one interact with Thinker?
All interaction with Thinker is via the Mouse and Menu
system of Intuition. There are no keyboard commands.
Gadgets are available for common commands and menus are
available for the complete command set. Requesters are used
extensively to provide a highly responsive user interface.
These requesters always appear directly under the mouse
cursor with the cursor positioned over the most common
choice.
Text on the screen is modified as in many word processors.
The cursor is positioned in front of text that is to be
modified and typing is always in "insert" mode. Text is
"selected" by sweeping the cursor over a block of text while
holding the left mouse button down. Selected text can be
"cut" from the statement and "pasted" elsewhere or simply
replaced by typing. Thinker has "search" and "replace"
functions to complete the editing capabilities.
Thinker will print a document or prepare a text file for
manipulation by a word processor or typesetting program.
Thinker can also import text prepared by a word processor
into a Thinker document.
Thinker appears deceptively simple by design. The fact that
labels and links are merely parts of the text eliminates
much of the complexity associated with large numbers of
obscure commands. However, one should not be fooled by the
appearance of simplicity. The combination of Hierarchical
text, Hypertext, and Word Processing functions makes Thinker
a powerful Idea processor. Take the time to learn Thinker
by working with the tutorial project (EXAMPLE) found on the
Thinker distribution disk.
NOTE: Thinker uses a lot of memory. Lack of memory on CP/M
and PC DOS systems is what limited Thinker on these machines
to a mere toy. One of the uses of memory is to cache blocks
of documents in memory to avoid disk access. Poor Person
Software recommends the use of a Floppy Accelerator such as
Facc II by ASDG. The cache available in Thinker requires a
good deal more memory than Facc II to be as effective in
reducing disk access. Do not attempt to use Thinker without
either enabling Thinker's read cache (see menus explained
under Options) or using a program like Facc II.
Definitions
The terms used in describing a Thinker document have other
meanings in other environments. In order to clarify the
following discussion of Thinker, the most common Thinker terms
are defined here.
Anchor
The statement that appears at the top of the window is
sometimes referred to as the anchor statement of the window.
The user navigates around in a document by changing the
anchor statement. The anchor statement is changed with Jump
commands.
Branch
A Branch is a statement with subordinate statements. When a
statement is inserted into a document, it may be inserted at
any level relative to the other statements in the document.
A branch is a statement at any level that has statements
below it. A branch may have a branch subordinate to it. A
Statement with no subordinate statements is sometimes
referred to as a Branch.
Clipping Level
Clipping level refers to the number of document levels that
are displayed in a window. A window with a clipping level
of 2 will show only the two highest level statements.
Clipping can be used to view a hierarchical document at
different levels of detail. The document can be manipulated
with clipping levels that exclude much of the document from
the screen. All of the invisible text is moved with the
visible text.
The clipping level can be chosen for the entire document or
for single branches. The Clip gadget at the top of the
screen or the Clip menu sets the clipping level that applies
to the document as a whole. "+" or "-" gadgets in front of
statements manipulate the clipping level applied to the
single branch.
Group
A group is a sequence of branches at the same level.
Jump
When the anchor statement of a window is changed, a
different portion of the document becomes visible in the
window. This is referred to as a jump. Jumps can be made
relative to a statement visible on the screen or relative to
a statement named in a link. It is also possible to jump to
picture files and Workbench applications.
Label
Any statement in a Thinker document may have a label. A
label is a name by which the statement is known and is like
a key in a file. Thinker recognizes a statement that begins
with "(" as its first character as being a labeled
statement. The label is all of the non-punctuation
characters between the initial "(" and a trailing ")".
Labels in a Thinker document must be unique. The case of
letters in a label is not significant and only the first 19
non-punctuation characters are significant.
Level
Statements are arranged in a hierarchy. The most important
statements are at level 1. Level 2 statements are
subordinate to level 1 statements as in an outline. Thinker
does not limit the number of levels in a document but the
display on the screen will be less than satisfactory for
more than about 30 levels.
Link
A "link" is the appearance of a label in the text. A link
is either a single word or a string of characters delimited
by "<" and ">". A link consists of two parts. Part one is
optional and names a project, Thinker document or file.
Part two is separated from part one with a "," and names a
branch. Picture file links consist of only the file name
and the comma as in <Thinker:art/mirage,>. Links may by
typed into requester strings as the address of statements
when certain operations invite the user to designate a
statement. Links typed into requesters do not have the
surrounding "<" and ">" characters. Links can be activated
by putting the cursor over the link in the text and double
clicking the left mouse button or by using the Jump Link
command.
Links may designate labeled statements in the same or
different Thinker document, IFF picture files, or any
Workbench application such as a music player, paint package,
or CAD application. Use the Project name or Tool name in
the project portion of a link followed by a comma to specify
a link to an application.
Mark
Thinker sometimes invites the user to designate a statement
as the target of an operation such as "delete" or "move".
The user may elect to mark the statement on the screen or
type in a link that designates the statement. A statement
is marked by moving the Pointing Cursor (a hand) such that
the hand points to the statement and pressing the left mouse
button.
Origin
The first statement in a document is referred to as the
origin statement. The origin statement may be moved or
deleted in which case some other statement becomes the
origin statement.
Statement
A statement is a block of text. Statements are like
paragraphs in many word processing programs. Thinker does
"word-wrap" within a single statement but not across
statements. Text selection (by sweeping the cursor over
text with the left mouse button held down) is limited to
text within a single statement. Statements may contain up
to 2000 characters of text including standard and extended
characters from the Amiga keyboard. The <ESC> and carriage
return characters are also allowed.
View Specifications
The appearance of the text in the window is controlled by
three parameters that together are called the view
specifications. These parameters are "Clipping level",
"Spacing", "Number of Lines" and are each explained in the
Options Menu section.
Window
Only a small portion of a Thinker document can be displayed
on the screen at any time. Thinker uses Intuition windows
to view portions of a document. Up to 8 windows may be open
at any time. Each window may display a portion of a
different document or different portions of the same
document.
Getting Started
Running from the CLI
The command THINKER [PROJECT-NAME] is used to start Thinker
from the CLI. If a project-name is specified, the Thinker
window is automatically positioned at the origin of the
document. If the project name specified does not exist or
is not a Thinker document or IFF picture file or if no
project-name is specified then the Thinker window is blank
and the Jump Link command or Create New command must be used
to open a Thinker document.
Running from the Workbench
Double clicking the Thinker Icon will initiate Thinker with
no active Thinker document (a blank window). The Jump Link
command or Create New command must be used to open a Thinker
document. If a document Icon is double clicked then Thinker
is started with the window positioned at the origin of the
document.
Thinker terminates when the last window is closed.
Thinker Documents
Thinker documents are not always meant to be read linearly.
While this manual was created using Thinker, many uses of
Thinker take more advantage of the Hypertext and Hierarchical
text features. A skilled Thinker user creates documents with
a definite flavor. These documents do not always read well
when flattened and printed on paper and are meant to be read
online.
Outline nature of Thinker documents
If a Thinker document is viewed with a clipping level of 1,
only the first level statements (often these statements are
topic names or section headers) will be shown. It is rare
but not impossible to have blocks of text at this level. An
executive summary is presented with the clipping level set
at 2. As the clipping level is increased, more and more
details are revealed. If Thinker is used to design a
program one would expect to find code fragments or pseudo
code at the deepest levels of the document.
Hypertext features
Information is only presented once. A reader should be able
to start reading a Thinker document at the topic of most
interest. All references to terms that require a definition
in the context of the document should always have a link to
the section of the document where the term is defined. The
fact the Thinker will treat any word as a link means that a
Glossary section could define all terms and contain links to
the sections that provide further clarification.
When a new term is encountered, the reader double clicks on
the word to open a window over the Glossary section defining
that term. If there is more information available then the
Glossary entry will contain a link to the section of the
document where the term is introduced and described in
detail. Double clicking on the link can move the Glossary
window to the detailed information.
These links make Thinker ideal for online help where the
reader can go directly to the section of interest and still
be able to locate quickly all the pertinent information.
Planning a book
One possible use of Thinker involves coordinating all the
details of a novel. One technique that might be of value is
to have several major sections of a Thinker document for
various aspects of the planning process. One section would
have a labeled branch for each character in the book. Other
sections would describe historical events of interests and
descriptions of each location. Each of these sections would
have labeled statements for each detail.
The section of the document that describes the story line
(plot) of the book would contain links to the sections
containing detailed information. The plot can be reviewed
without having to wade through details that might confuse
the issues. As needed, each reference in the plot to
details about characters, scenes, events, etc could be
checked by jumping to the section of the document where this
information is found. Multiple windows help organize the
thought process.
Organizing picture files
Since links may be to IFF picture files, one use of Thinker
might be to build a catalog of picture files. Each section
of the document would have a first level statement with a
label indicating the type of pictures indexed. The
subordinate statements would contain descriptions of the
picture and a link to the picture file. Pictures are
located by jumping to the section of the document with the
descriptions for the correct type of picture and then double
clicking on the link to the correct picture.
Thinker documents as databases
Labeled statements in Thinker documents are much like
indexed records in a database. There is a great deal of
flexibility above the typical database, however. Records
are not a fixed format. Records can contain a variable
number of pointers to other records. Records can be part of
a document meant to be read.
Using Thinker to write is like writing inside a database as
references can be checked with the click of a mouse button.
Using Thinker is like having a completely free form database
with references to applications, pictures, and documents.
Thinker as a desktop organizer
A desktop document can be used as an alternative to the
Workbench. Within the document are labeled statements
covering various working task areas such as Letter Writing,
Programming, Finance, etc. Subordinate to these statements
are labeled statements for each task in that area. These
statements describe the task and may include sentences
describing the progress of the task. Finally, there are
links within the statements that name the Project or Tool
used to work on the task. A description of a program might
contain the name of the source for the program so that you
can link directly to the source and work on it within your
favorite editor. Other statements can link to other
Projects and Tools, any of which can be launched in
multitasking mode.
Viewing a Document
A linear document is usually viewed by scrolling a window over
the document. A Thinker document is viewed by navigating
around the document using the view specifications to control
what is displayed on the screen. There are three view
specifications that control the display.
Clipping Level
The depth of the hierarchy that is displayed is determined
by the Clipping level. A clipping level of 1 will show
only the first level of the hierarchy (the major topics)
and as the clipping level is increased more details are
shown.
When the choice of clipping level causes statements to be
hidden from view, a "+" character appears in front of the
branch that has hidden subordinate statements. Selecting
the statement "+" gadget will cause Thinker to display the
first level of hidden statements. The clipping level is
increased by one for the selected branch only.
When subordinate statements are displayed as a result of
selecting the statement "+" gadget, the "+" gadget is
changed into a "-" gadget. Selecting the statement "-"
gadget will cause Thinker to hide the subordinate
statements.
If you want to find a particular area of the document and
you don't know the label that names it, you can begin with
a clipping level of 1. Use the statement "+" gadgets to
selectively increase the clipping level in the area of
interest.
Number of lines shown in each statement
The document can be viewed as an outline by setting the
display to show only the first line of each statement.
This setting often speeds the search for a particular
section significantly as more of the document is shown on
the screen at one time.
Spacing between statements
Once the correct section of the document has been located,
the spacing is adjusted for either maximum screen content
(0 lines between statements) or ease of reading (1 or more
lines between statements).
One views a non-linear Thinker document by moving the window
to particular places in the document with the Jump command.
Jumping can be done relative to a statement or via a link.
For each of the Jump commands listed below it is necessary to
establish the statement relative to which the Jump takes
place. Most Jump commands require that the designated
statement be Marked by moving the Marking Pointer over the
statement and pressing the left mouse button. For some Jumps
the label of the statement may be typed into the requester or
marked on the screen instead. For Jumps that allow the
designation of a labeled statement, a requester appears with
two choices.
Mark
If you select Mark by moving the pointer over the word
Mark and pressing the left mouse button, the pointer will
change into a hand. Move the hand so that the finger
points to the portion of the text on the screen that
represents the name of the designated statement (a link).
This can either be any word in the text or a string
between the "<" and ">" characters. Mark the link by
pressing the left mouse button.
String Gadget
If there is no string on the screen that represents the
link to the designated statement and you know its label
name, you can simply type the label name into the string
gadget. The string gadget is already active so you do not
need to move the mouse or press any buttons. Do not type
the "<" or ">" that delimit a link in the text. The
<carriage return> key signals the completion of typing.
The following Jump commands are available either through the
Command Menu, Jump sub-menu or by selecting the Jump gadget at
the top of the screen. In all cases the result of the Jump is
to make the designated statement the anchor of the current
window, the anchor of some other open window, or open a new
window with the designated statement as its anchor.
Mark
Some statement on the screen is chosen by moving the
marking pointer over the statement and pressing the left
mouse button.
Link
The designated statement is not on the screen and either
its label is known or a link to the statement is on the
screen. The label of the statement can be typed into the
string gadget, the marking pointer can be moved over a
link to the statement on the screen and selected with the
left mouse button or a file requester can be brought up to
scan for Thinker documents or workbench applications. See
the section titled File Requester Explained for an
explanation of how to use this requester.
There is a short cut to doing a Jump Link. Any time the
left mouse button is "double clicked" an implicit Jump
Link (Mark) command is executed with the link being the
character string under the cursor. If the cursor is
between "<" and ">" characters, then the delimited string
is used as the link. If no "<" and ">" characters appear
on the line then the word under the cursor is used as the
link. These are the same rules for locating the link on
the line when Mark is selected on a Jump Link command.
Return
The last 6 of 16 possible previous locations in the
document are summarized in a requester. Select the
designated statement from the selection list in the
requester with the mouse. The first portion of the string
shown in the requester is part of the project name
(between "<" and ">").
Forward
This is a Jump to the last statement on the screen. Jump
Forward can be used repeatedly to scroll forward in a
Thinker document.
Up
Once the statement has been marked with the Marking
Pointer, the window is moved to the statement of which the
marked statement is subordinate.
Down
This Jump is like Jump Up except that the window is moved
to the next statement one level deeper in the hierarchy.
This is more likely to be useful if the resultant Jump is
to a level deeper than the current clipping level (toward
more details).
Preceding
The Jump is to the statement that precedes the marked
statement at the same level. Note that if the marked
statement is the first statement in a group that is
subordinate to some statement, the Jump does not complete
as there is no statement preceding the marked one at the
same level.
Succeeding
The Jump is to the statement that follows the marked
statement at the same level. If the statement marked is
the last statement of a group subordinate to some
statement, the Jump does not complete as there is no
statement following at the same level.
Next
The Jump is to the statement that follows the designated
statement regardless of level. Jump Next is a scroll
forward.
Back
The Jump is to the statement that precedes the designated
statement regardless of the level. Jump Back is like a
scroll backward one statement.
Origin
The Jump is to the origin statement of the document.
Editing
Text within a statement is edited much like text in a standard
word processor. Of course any editor is a bit fascist and
Thinker is no exception.
The cursor is positioned by using the mouse or cursor keys.
The cursor keys move the cursor within a statement, between
statements, and will cause statement scrolling forward or
back. When the mouse is used to position the cursor, the left
mouse button is used to mark the place in the text.
Subsequent typing inserts characters at the cursor location.
"Backspace" deletes a character to the left of the cursor and
moves the cursor to the left. "Delete" deletes a character to
the right of the cursor and does not move the cursor.
All printable keyboard characters are allowed in text
(including alternate characters). In addition the <ESC>
character and <CR> character are allowed. The <ESC> character
is useful for imbedding printer commands in text. The <CR>
(carriage return) character is used in formatting tables as a
single statement rather than as a group of statements. The
<CR> character is visible as "~" and causes the cursor to move
to the next line of the statement in the first column of the
statement. A <New Line> character is put into the text.
A block of text may be selected by holding down the left mouse
button while moving the cursor over the text on the screen.
Only text that is totally within a single statement can be
selected in this fashion. Once selected, the text can be
"Cut" from the statement and "Pasted" at some other location.
Selected text is replaced by any typed characters and the
selected text is forever lost.
Undo is supported with the "Discard Modifications" menu
selection. All modifications including structural changes are
deleted. The user may select "undo points" by using the
"Apply Modifications" menu selection. In fact no changes are
recorded until Apply Modifications is selected. There is a
reminder warning presented if the user attempts to leave
Thinker without Applying Modifications. The requester gives
the opportunity to Apply or Discard the modifications.
Search and Replace operations are selected from the Edit menu.
(manipulating the structureManipulating the Structure
Statements in a Thinker document may be moved within the
hierarchy, moved to another document, copied to other places
in the same document, or copied to other documents or deleted.
The movement, copying, or deletion of statements does not
require that the entire structure to be moved, copied or
deleted be visible on the screen as parts of the structure may
be obscured by the selection of viewing specifications.
It is the ability to manipulate whole structures of the
document that make the hierarchical text such a powerful tool.
The viewing specifications can be set to view the document in
its outline form (set the number of lines for each displayed
statement to 1) and the entire document can be restructured.
Move and Copy and Delete options are available for individual
statements, branches, and groups of statements or branches.
In all cases a sequence of requesters walks the user through
the operation. Some of these requesters have a "Prev" or
"Previous" gadget which will recall the previously typed
string gadget.
New statements can be Inserted into the document at any level.
A double click of the menu button shortcuts the insert
process.
Insert
Selecting the Insert gadget (or menu selection Insert
Mark) presents the Marking Pointer. A new statement will
be inserted after the statement marked. A confirmation
requester allows the user to select the level relative to
the marked statement. Remember that Up and Down refer to
the physical subordination of statements as viewed on the
screen.
Double clicking the right mouse button with the cursor
over a statement is eqivalent to selecting Insert and
marking a statement.
Menu selections Insert After, Insert Down, and Insert Up
insert a statement relative to the statement with the
active typing cursor without the confirmation requester or
any mouse action.
Delete
The user is presented with a requester to select either a
Branch or Group delete. Once the choice has been made,
the user is walked through the selection process. Each
time that a statement is to be designated the user is
given the choice of Marking the statement with the Marking
Pointer or typing in the label name of the statement. The
designated statement or group need not be visible on the
screen nor even in the same document that is visible on
the screen.
However, if the Mark option is used for both the beginning
and end of a group, both ends of the group must be in the
same window.
Copy
The user is presented with a requester to select
Statement, Branch, or Group copy. Once selected, the user
is walked through the selection process.
Copy Group is like Delete Group in that both the begin and
end statements must be marked in the same window, however,
either the end or beginning may be specified by typing the
label in the string gadget.
The destination of the copy may be marked in the same or
another Thinker window. The destination of the copy may
also be in another project that is not visible (as in
delete.)
There are some restrictions on the destination of a copy.
A Branch or Group may not be copied to a place within the
Branch or Group as this copy would never complete.
Move
Move is almost like Copy. In fact Move may be thought of
as a Copy followed by a Delete.
A Tutorial Example
The first part of the tutorial will walk the user through the
process of building a Thinker document. The second part of
the tutorial makes use of an existing Thinker document called
"example".
The Thinker document "Example" is a tutorial that leads the
user through a short example of using Thinker to view and
manipulate a document. Duplicate the EXAMPLE document using
the "Duplicate" option of the "Workbench" menu before trying
the tutorial. If you want to recover the original EXAMPLE
document you can discard the EXAMPLE icon and "Rename" the
"copy of example" icon.
Start the first part of the tutorial by double clicking on the
Thinker icon. This will start the Thinker program and bring
up a window with the basic gadgets and menus but will have no
document displayed. At this point we might jump into some
existing document or create a new document. One would jump
into an existing document with the Jump Link command and
create a new document with the Create New menu selection (in
the Project menu).
As an example of jumping into an existing document, there is a
section in the "example" project that explains the format of a
link. The label on this section is "link". To jump to that
section, begin by selecting the Jump Link command (either from
the menu bar or by selecting the "Jump" gadget at the top of
the window and then selecting the "Link" gadget in the Jump
Requester.) Next, type in the string "example,link" (without
the " marks) followed by typing the "RETURN" key. Finally,
select the "This Window" gadget in the Jump Confirmation
Requester.
Typing the string "example," (note the comma but no label
typed after the comma) would jump to the beginning (origin) of
the document "example".
Whether or not you take the diversion suggested by the
previous paragraphs, you create a new Thinker document by
selecting the "Create New" menu option from the "Project"
menu. Do so now. Note that a requester pops up inviting you
to enter a project name. The first part of the requester is
filled in with the name of the current Drawer. Since you
double clicked the Thinker icon directly, this Drawer name
will be the Drawer in which the Thinker program was found.
The Requester is already activated so simply type in the name
of your new project. In this example we use the name
"tutorial". If you entered the name "example" you will be
greeted by a requester asking if you want to replace the
"example" project that already exists. You should respond by
selecting the CANCEL gadget and begin again typing the name
"tutorial".
After some disk activity the window will display the new
document (note the change in the window title) and the
document will contain a single statement (a Copyright notice).
The first thing to do is to replace the Copyright notice with
the first statement of our new document. You might try using
the Delete (Branch) command but you will find that you cannot
delete the only branch in a document.
Move the pointer over the Copyright notice and observe that
while the pointer is within the statement it is shaped like a
cursor. Move the cursor shape to the very beginning of the
statement and press the left mouse button. While holding down
the left mouse button, move the cursor to the end of the
statement. Notice that the selected text becomes highlighted
as you move the cursor. When you have the entire statement
selected, release the left mouse button. Type in the string
"What I did last Summer" (do not type the RETURN key). Notice
that the selected text is removed and replaced with the typed
string.
Now we are going to add some statements. This initial
document will look a great deal like an outline. Remember
that any statement you type could be as long as 2000
characters and fill the entire window. In order to keep this
first example short, we will only type a few words in each
statement.
Select the "Insert" gadget at the top of the window. Note
that the pointer changes into a hand with a pointing finger.
Move the hand so that the finger points at the first
statement. Press the left mouse button and notice that an
Insert Confirmation Requester pops up with the pointer
pointing to the word "After". If you wanted this new
statement to be directly after the first statement, you would
simply press the left mouse button again. Instead, move the
pointer over the word "Down" in the requester and press the
left mouse button. Notice that the text insert cursor appears
on the screen just below the first statement and indented by
two characters. Type the string "(school)Went to Summer touch
typing classes.".
Select the Insert gadget again and move the hand to point to
the statement you just typed. Press the left mouse button
twice (the first time selects the statement and the second
time selects the word "After" in the confirmation requester.)
Type the string "(beach)Went to the beach with Bob and met his
little girl Lauren." (Who is Bob?) Bob is someone that
attended the same typing class so you will want to put any
information about Bob in statements that are subordinate to
the statement labeled "school". Position the pointer over the
first statement (the one labeled "school") and double click
the right mouse button. The Insert Confirmation Requester
should pop up and you should select the "Down" gadget. Type
the string "(bob)Met Bob, a computer science student who
wanted to learn typing skills."
Move the pointer back to the last statement "(beach)Went...."
and position the cursor over the word "Bob" and double click
the left mouse button. Notice that the Jump Confirmation
Requester pops up with the pointer positioned over the words
"This Window". Move the pointer over the word "New Window"
and press the left mouse button. Notice that the new window
opens with the statement "(bob)Met Bob,..." as the anchor of
the window. This is an example of a hypertext link. "Bob" is
the label on the statement "(bob)Met..." and the double click
of the left mouse button with the cursor over the word "Bob"
was a Jump Link command. The same effect could be caused by
selecting the "Jump Link" command from the "Commands" menu, or
by selecting the Jump (Link) gadget at the top of the window
and typing the characters "bob" followed by RETURN.
Who is Lauren? Position the cursor right after the word
"Lauren" and press the left mouse button once. The text input
cursor should appear between the "n" and the ".". Type the
string " (See <mirage,>)". This is a link to a
picture file. Note that the comma must be present to indicate
that the link is to some other file and not the document shown
in the window ("tutorial").
You have just added a hypertext link to an IFF picture file.
This link had to be surrounded by "<" and ">" because it
contained punctuation characters (":" and ","). Move the
cursor between the "<" and the ">" and double click the left
mouse button. When the Picture Confirmation Requester pops up
select the "Full Screen" gadget. After a pause, a picture of
Lauren appears (From the NewTek "Digi Paint" package.) Typing
any character or pressing the left mouse button will remove
the picture and return the Thinker screen. Repeat the
selection of the picture link and select the "New Window"
gadget. This time an approximation of the same picture will
be drawn in a new workbench window that you may move around on
the screen. This approximate picture is drawn with the 4
colors available on your workbench. The window has an
invisible close gadget in the upper left corner that will
close the window when selected.
If you want to save the changes you have made to this new
project, select the "Apply Modifications" menu selection from
the "Project" menu. "Discard Modifications" will restore the
project to its initial state (with the Copyright notice).
This completes the first part of the tutorial. The second
part of the tutorial uses an existing document called
"example". You can begin by closing the Thinker window
(select the close gadget in the upper left corner) and
starting all over again by double clicking on the EXAMPLE
icon, or by doing a Jump Link to "example," (don't forget the
comma). In either case you should read the next paragraph
before going on with the second part of the tutorial.
Start the second part of the tutorial by double clicking on
the EXAMPLE icon or by selecting the icon and use the "Open"
option of the "Workbench" menu. Read carefully and follow the
instructions. It is helpful if you read ahead a little before
executing the instructions. The tutorial is not very long or
complicated but is intended solely to give the reader a little
familiarity with the behavior of Thinker and build a little
confidence for the first time user of Thinker.
Not So Obvious Features
Most of the operation of Thinker can be discovered by
exploring the menus and selecting the gadgets. There are,
unfortunately, some behaviors that are not manifest by this
exploration. There are also some curious restrictions. Poor
Person Software tries hard to produce software that is useful
and complete but without all the frills that would make it
expensive.
Restrictions
When the Mark option is used for both the beginning and end
of a group, both ends of the group must be in the same
window.
Only 19 characters of a label are significant.
Features
Undo
Once modifications have been applied to a Thinker document
they cannot be "undone". However, Thinker will accumulate
all the updates to a document in its memory (the Update
pool) until Apply Modifications is selected in the Project
Menu. The user should learn to schedule updates to allow
for backout of recent errors.
Remembering Local Clip adjustments
When the clipping level for a branch is adjusted using the
"+" gadgets in front of statements, this action is
recorded in a small in-memory data base. This database
has room for 32 selections of "+" gadgets in each project.
If the 33rd entry is made into this database, the oldest
entry is purged.
Power Tools
Double clicking the right mouse button with the pointer
positioned over a statement will cause Thinker to put up
a "power tool" requester. The left side of the requester
is an "Insert" confirmation requester and the pointer is
positioned over the "After" selection. Selecting "After"
causes Thinker to insert a statement after the one under
the pointer.
The right side of the requester allows selection of the
"Copy", "Move", "Jump", and "Delete" tools. Selecting one
of these gadgets is equivalent to selecting the corresponding
gadget at the top of the window.
Duplicate Labels
Thinker does not allow duplicate labels. When a label is
encountered that is a duplicate of an already existing
label, the label is changed to a null label. When this
happens, a statement may end up beginning with "()" which
is the result of eliminating the duplicate label.
