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- EXPAND.BAS
- Version 1.0
- by Ronald J. Pero and Alan Solof
- March 22, 1989
-
- WHAT IS EXPAND?
- EXPAND is a word processing utility that expands abbreviations into full
- words or phrases, as assigned by you, saving you time while typing a document.
-
- HOW DO I USE EXPAND?
- First type your document, but instead of typing long, repeatedly used
- words or phrases, type one, two, or three letter abbreviations (keywords) in
- their places. Save your file and close it.
- Then prepare your list of keywords. Simply list, in a separate word
- processing document, your chosen keywords and their corresponding expansions.
- The sequence is:
-
- keyword1<CR>
- expansion1<CR>
- keyword2<CR>
- expansion2<CR>
- keyword3<CR>
- expansion3<CR>
-
- and so on. The Carriage Returns are essential.
- A sample keyword file could look like this:
-
- k
- Mr. Kerwackowitz
- d
- Dearborn facility
- usa
- United States of America
- sy
- Sincerely Yours,
- r
- Robert J. Ratchetowitz
-
- Save the keyword file and close it.
- You can, of course, create the keyword file before typing the document.
- Better yet, maintain a keyword file(s) to use repeatedly.
-
- Now run EXPAND. (EXPAND is a Basic program, so enter Basic first.) The
- program prompts you:
- [Each file name can be preceded with a drive name, if you wish.]
- Enter original file name: [this refers to the word-processing
- document which contains the abbreviations].
- Enter name for new file: [When EXPAND expands the abbreviations, it
- creates a new file; enter at this prompt what you want this new file to be
- called].
- Enter KEYWORD file name: [this refers to your list of keywords and
- their corresponding expansions].
- Now a message appears: Expanding the abbreviations... Self-explanatory.
- It is relatively slow; it can take a few minutes on a longer document.
- Also, be sure you have enough memory in your configuration for Basic, the
- EXPAND program, the keyword file, and two copies of your document.
-
- AN EXAMPLE
- Using the above sample keyword file, we could write the following sample
- letter.
-
- Dear k:
-
- Yes, the d is our largest plant in the usa.
-
- sy
-
-
-
- r
-
- After expanding this document, it will look like this.
-
- Dear Mr. Kerwackowitz:
-
- Yes, the Dearborn facility is our largest plant in the United States of
- America.
-
- Sincerely Yours,
-
-
-
- Robert J. Ratchetowitz
-
- ADDITIONAL POINTS
- *The following punctuation marks are retained as originally typed:
- . , ; : ? !
- *When a keyword is the first word in a sentence, EXPAND automatically
- capitalizes the first letter of the expansion. For example, if your keyword,
- "t", expands into "tomato pickers", then if "t" is the first word in a
- sentence, it will expand into "Tomato pickers".
- *No keywords are built into EXPAND. Only abbreviations that you specify
- will be expanded.
- *There is no set limit on the number of keywords you can create. There
- are, however, practical constraints, mainly computer memory and processing
- time. It is better to not include more keywords than you'll use.
- *With the REM statements, EXPAND10.BAS is 3K. If you want, delete the
- REM statements to bring it down to 2K.
- *We run EXPAND with a RAM disk (added memory). We don't have experience
- running EXPAND with a disk drive. If you run EXPAND with a disk drive, bear
- in mind the following points. It will be fine to load EXPAND and your keyword
- file from the disk, since they are accessed only once during program
- execution. However, the original document and its resulting expanded version
- are each accessed many times during program execution. The original file is
- read letter by letter; the new file is written word by word. Try EXPAND. If
- you find that your disk drive is constantly engaged, this is why.
- *We sincerely hope that someone will turn this program into machine
- language, to make it faster, smaller, and independent of Basic. To this end,
- we have included extensive REM statements in the program. It was written in
- the EPSON-enhanced Microsoft BASIC for the EPSON PX-8 GENEVA.
- If you do write a machine language version of EXPAND, please send a copy
- to us at the address below. Also, we have a few ideas to enhance its
- performance.
- Ronald J. Pero; MCAE, Lake Shandelee; Livingston Manor, NY, 12758