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Ahoy 1987 May
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Ahoy_Magazine_87-05_1987_Double_L_Side_B.d64
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read and run.txt
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2022-10-26
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READ and RUN System
by David Stidolph and Colin Thompson
The idea of the Read and Run System
is rather simple. Programs and their
articles share space on a disk,
eliminating the need for separate
written documentation. One special
file contains the names of the text
files to read and programs to run.
This file, names.dat, also contains
other information explained below:
+---------------------------------+
!0. !
!0. !
!13. !
!1. !
!14. !
!Read and Run Disk. !
!June. !
!Read Run Disk for June. !
!Read Me. !
!*end*. !
!Run Me. !
+---------------------------------!
actual word processor screen
+---------------------------------+
!0. <--background color !
!0. <--border color !
!13. <--text color for prompts !
!1. <--color to use for menu !
!14. <--highlighting color !
!Read and Run Disk. <--disk name !
!June. <--month !
!Read Run Disk for June. <--header!
!Read Me. <--article name !
! <--more article names !
! <--can go here !
!*end*. <--put after last article !
!Run Me. <--program name !
! <--more program names can!
! <--go here !
+---------------------------------+
same screen with comments
The Read and Run menu program learns
what text files and programs are on
the disk by reading the file
"names.dat". This file contains the
necessary file names, plus
information for the screen colors,
and header information such as the
date the disk was created. One
example of its format is shown above.
The article and program titles (from
the end of the "names.dat" file) are
used as filenames as well as menu
choices. Program file names are
identical to the titles, but the
suffix ".txt" is tacked onto the
article title to become the filename
(all upper case letters are also
converted to lower case). For
instance, the article "Read Me"
matches the file "read me.txt".
The main menu gives you the choice of
reading articles, running programs,
or printing all the articles complete
with a table of contents. You may
also exit the program into COMAL.
The article text files should be
Commodore ASCII SEQ files. Each line
of text is limited to 37 characters
and must end with a carriage return.
The file is printe^ in one column on
the screen, or in two columns on the
printer. Note: some wor^ processors
allow you to set margins and insert
control codes into the text, but then
give an option to print the file to
disk as it would appear on the
printer. This file would have the
correct margins and carriage returns,
but none of the control codes. If
your word processor has this option,
it is the one you should use to
create your Read and Run files.
To produce your own Read and Run
disk, you first need to format the
disk with the title and id you want
to use. Copy the COMAL 0.14 system
onto this disk (use the top 9 files
from the 0.14 side of Today Disk
#16). Then gather your programs and
articles. Note, your programs must be
COMAL 0.14 programs; you can't run a
BASIC program from a COMAL menu. The
articles must follow the above
conventions such as the 37 character
per line limit. File names must be
entirely in lower case and end with
".txt". Those who plan to donate a
Read and Run disk of their own
creation to a users group should be
aware that not everyone is familiar
with COMAL. It is not necessary to
know COMAL to use the Read and Run
system. COMAL is included on the
disk. All the user needs to do is
follow the menus. The files "comal
article" and "info.txt" describe
COMAL to beginners. They are part of
the 9 system files you copied to your
disk.
Your disk is ready, except for the
names.dat file. You should type this
in a word processor and save it as a
normal SEQ type text file (CTRL/-Z in
PaperClip, or f1-f using Easy
Script).