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1989-01-20
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THIS IS A DESCRIPTIVE DOCUMENT OF EXTRACT FROM PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION
THIS DOCUMENT IS MEANT FOR T)YPE READING AND NOT DOWNLOADING.
PROGRAM: IBM-PC SORTED DIRECTORY UTILITYS VERSION 6.0
(C) 1989 BY J. STETSON
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SD.COM
1.2 Design Philosophy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SD provides more information than the resident DOS DIR command about the files
on a disk, and allows the user to select, sort, format, and display the
information in a variety of ways. This is accomplished by specifying a
pattern name to select the desired files and by specifying any of a variety of
command line "switches" which allow you to modify the behavior of the
program. The switch names have been designed using letters, as much as
possible, so that it is easier to associate the function of a switch
with its name. In addition, the default switch values have been carefully
chosen to reflect their most common use.
Although the program is relatively small, it is possible to use it in an
almost infinite variety of ways by using the switches in different
combinations. A significant amount of effort has gone into optimizing the
performance of the program, due to the number of times it is typically
used. The program is designed to be as transparent as possible in
normal operation, and does not impose itself between the user and the
operating system. This allows both novice and experienced users to
use it in the way that best meets their needs.
As a default, the program writes output directly to video display memory which
results in noticeably faster output than that possible with DOS. Output can
still be redirected to an output device or file by specifying the standard DOS
redirection symbol (>) on the DOS command line.
Maximum possible use is made of the horizontal dimension of the screen to
minimize the loss of previously displayed data by screen scrolling.
Support is provided for a variety of file selection attributes.
Support is provided for a variety of screen display formats with varying
amounts of detailed file information displayed.
A variety of user customizable command line switches and screen field
display colors are also supported.
Every effort has been made to keep the size of the program to a minimum, for
efficient use on systems having floppy disks. However, many of the
capabilities of both DOS and this program are only fully realized when using
large hard (fixed) disks with hierarchical directory structures to organize
files.
Two of the most valuable resources in a computer system are memory and disk
storage. Many applications make little or no attempt to use these resources
efficiently. Not only does this program attempt to provide many useful
(and hopefully frequently used) capabilities in an efficient package, but it
can be used to manage the system memory and disk space so that they are used
to best advantage.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SDR.COM
1.2 Design Philosophy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As is the case for SD.COM, SDR.COM provides more information than the
resident DOS DIR command about the files on a disk, and allows the user to
select, sort, format, and display the information in a variety of ways.
This is accomplished by specifying a pattern name to select the desired files
and by specifying any of a variety of command line "switches" which
allow you to modify the behavior of the program. The switch names have been
designed using letters, as much as possible, so that it is easier to
associate the function of a switch with its name. In addition, the default
switch values have been carefully chosen to reflect their most common use.
The advantage of a memory resident program is that it is almost always
available for use, regardless of the other program(s) currently running.
Otherwise, it would be necessary to either exit the current program and
return to the DOS system command prompt in order to run the program, or use
the "shell" facility that some programs provide to execute other programs
and then regain control. Since not all programs provide this capability,
having your frequently used utilities in memory resident form greatly
increases their availability. In addition, execution of a memory resident
program is virtually instantaneous, since the program is only loaded from disk
once.
The primary disadvantage of a memory resident program is that it
consumes system memory which would otherwise be available to execute other
programs. Most memory resident programs are loaded once at system boot time
and remain in memory permanently. Well designed memory resident
programs are carefully written to minimize the amount of memory they use, and
allow the user to configure the program to achieve a good balance between
functionality and memory consumption. Another more subtle disadvantage
is that most non-trivial memory resident programs must employ a variety of
techniques to work around the limitations in the DOS operating system and
the IBM-PC BIOS. Since there is not yet a universally accepted standard for
what these techniques should be, there is no guarantee that any one memory
resident program will be compatible with another, or even with other
non-memory resident programs.
However, enough of a standard has emerged to write useful memory
resident programs, and the benefits of frequently used programs greatly
outweigh the occasional incompatibilities for most users. This program has
been designed in such a way as to try and maximize its compatibility with
other programs. However, there is no guarantee that
incompatibilities will not arise with a specific program. When this
occurs, a good strategy to follow is to try to simplify the environment as
much as possible; remove other memory resident programs one at a time, or
try changing the order in which they are loaded.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VSN: Volume Serial Number Utility V1.0
Copyright (C) 1989 By John F. Stetson
All Rights Reserved
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VSN.COM is utility program which is used to manage DOS Disk Volume
Serial Numbers. It operates on IBM-PC compatible computer systems using the
IBM PC-DOS or Microsoft MS-DOS Operating System Version 2.0 or higher.
Disk Volume Serial Numbers were introduced with DOS 4.0. When a disk is
formatted by FORMAT or copied with DISKCOPY, an 8 digit hexadecimal
Volume Serial Number is automatically placed in the Boot Sector of the disk.
Subsequent execution of the DOS CHKDSK, DIR, LABEL, TREE or VOL command will
cause the Volume Serial Number to be displayed. However, no mechanism is
provided for the user to create a specified VSN, change an existing VSN, or
to delete an existing VSN. The VSN.COM utility provides these functions.
Perhaps even more useful is its ability to perform these functions for disks
formatted under ANY version of DOS from 2.0 through 4.0, and it can be
executed under ANY version of DOS from 2.0 through 4.0. This greatly
enhances the possible benefits of using Volume Serial Numbers.
The main reason for using Volume Serial Numbers is to establish a unique means
of identifying a disk. Disks may have identical Volume Labels or even
identical Directories, but may still contain different data. Since DOS 4.0
forces the user to accept the VSN it selects for a disk, and the method used
is based on the current time, each VSN will be unique. However, this
means that the assigned VSN's follow no logical pattern and are difficult
to relate to one another. The VSN utility retains the benefits of the
concept, but allows the user to establish a numbering scheme which can be
used to form a disk cataloging sequence which makes sense, and is compatible
with the format used by DOS 4.0.