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JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September
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JCSM Shareware Collection (JCS Distribution) (September 1996).ISO
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README.DOC
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1995-05-16
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Euphoria version 1.3
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Welcome to Euphoria! ... End User Programming with Hierarchical Objects
for Robust Interpreted Applications
Euphoria is a very-high-level programming language with the following
features:
* The language is extremely simple, flexible, and easier to learn
than BASIC.
* There is no waiting for compiles and links - just edit and run.
* Dynamic storage allocation with garbage collection is fundamental
to Euphoria. Variables can easily grow or shrink in size. Elements
of an array (Euphoria sequence) can be a dynamic mixture of
different types and sizes of data.
* Variable types can be as rigid or as flexible as you like. You can
specify the precise set of legal values that may be assigned to
any variable. You can easily write generic code that works on any
type of data.
* Euphoria provides extensive run-time error checking for:
out-of-bounds subscripts, uninitialized variables, bad parameter
values for built-in functions, illegal value assigned to a variable,
and many more. If something goes wrong with your program you will
always get a full message with a traceback and a dump of variable
values - no mysterious machine "lockups" or crashes.
* Program execution speed is 10 to 20 times faster than
Microsoft QBasic, and only a few times slower than compiled,
optimized C/C++ -- an astonishing fact, given the flexibility,
run-time safety and interpretive nature of the language.
* Euphoria programs are not constrained by any 640K or 64K memory
restrictions for which MS-DOS is infamous. You can use all of the
multiple megabytes of extended memory on your system seamlessly,
and if that isn't enough you can use a swap file on disk to page
chunks of memory in and out based on a least-recently-used
algorithm.
* An integrated easy-to-use full-screen source-level debugger/tracer
is included.
* A statement-level profiler is included.
* A full-screen, multi-file editor with color syntax highlighting and
auto-completion of Euphoria statements is provided, complete
with Euphoria source code that you are free to modify.
* A large collection of interesting demo programs written in Euphoria
is provided.
Who would benefit from using Euphoria?
* novices / students
- Euphoria is one of the simplest and easiest of all
languages to learn.
- Euphoria completely shields you from machine-level
issues such as memory addresses, number of bits in a byte
etc.
- Euphoria does more error checking than any other
popular language.
- Euphoria never leaves you with a crashed machine -
you'll always get a clear explanation of what went wrong
* hobbyists
- take a look at some of the interesting games and
high-speed graphics demos we've included.
- do you really want to invest the time and money
needed to learn C++?
- do you really enjoy spending your weekends tracking
down subtle pointer corruption bugs?
* professionals/businesses
- You can develop a reliable, maintainable, fully-
debugged program in *much* less time in Euphoria
than in C/C++.
- The level of experience and machine knowledge required
to use Euphoria is much lower than for C/C++. You won't
have to hire high-priced programmers. You can do the job
yourself, or hire lower-priced people.
- take a look at include\sort.e. Can you write a
generic routine this easily in C++?
- See demo\mydata.ex. Can you set up a simple database this
easily in any other language? Or must you purchase an
expensive, complicated database management system that
can't really be customized to your liking?
- Euphoria can be used as a sophisticated batch file
language.
- Euphoria is great for quick, easy development of file
filters and other utilities.
Euphoria comes in two different editions: a Public Domain Edition and a
Complete Edition. Both editions will run any Euphoria program of any size at
full speed, and will report all "compile-time" errors such as syntax errors,
undeclared variables etc. The only restriction in the Public Domain Edition
is that full diagnostic information for run-time errors is not provided
for large programs.
For programs up to 50 executable statements in size you will enjoy the full
support of Euphoria's excellent debugging facilities. Your program can have
an infinite number of declarations, blank-lines, comments, "end if", etc.
-- they aren't counted. The standard include files are also free.
For larger programs, a run-time error will cause your program to halt
with just a brief message. The usual fully-detailed diagnostics with a dump
of variable values and other debugging information will not be provided.
However, the source debugger and profiler will remain fully operational,
and you can insert debug print statements the way you would in C/C++ or other
languages. In C/C++ very few run-time errors are even detected (until your
machine locks up, crashes, or you get a "GPF"). Your productivity will remain
much higher in Euphoria, given the run-time safety, flexibility and expressive
power of the language, plus the fact that you won't waste time compiling and
linking.
We want you to enjoy writing some great programs in Euphoria. When you
decide that you like the language, and want to save time developing
large programs, we hope you will decide to purchase the latest Complete
Edition and the desktop-published printed manual. See doc\register.doc for
details.
An ASCII text version of the complete Euphoria Reference Manual is in
doc\refman.doc and doc\library.doc.
You are free to distribute the Public Domain Edition, without royalty, so
anyone can run a Euphoria program that you have developed. The Rational
Systems DOS-extender, "dos4gw.exe", required by Euphoria, is also
royalty-free when used with Euphoria. Use bin\shroud.ex to create Euphoria's
equivalent to a DOS .exe file.
You may *not* distribute the Complete Edition, in particular the version of
the file "ex.exe" that comes with the Complete Edition.
The Public Domain Edition of Euphoria, in its entirety, is being placed
in the Public Domain. This includes the Public Domain version of the
compiler/interpreter "ex.exe" and all of the demo programs, including the
editor. There's over 13,000 lines of free Euphoria source code in
this package. We encourage you to use it, copy it, distribute it, upload it
to BBS's etc.
To run Euphoria you must have MS-DOS on any 386 or higher processor.
Euphoria runs comfortably on any 2 Mb PC that has at least 350K of
free extended memory. It has been well tested under MS-DOS 4, 5, 6 and
6.2, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, Windows NT and OS/2. If the Public Domain
Edition runs on your machine, the Complete Edition will also run. Euphoria
exploits the full 32-bit power of your PC. A Euphoria program will run under
DOS, or as a DOS application under Windows or OS/2 - just double-click on the
file name, or open a DOS prompt window.
What's in this Public Domain release:
subdirectory (after installing)
BIN - Euphoria (ex.exe), search, lines, eprint, and more
INCLUDE - standard .e include files
DEMO - games, benchmarks and other Euphoria programs that
you can run to check out Euphoria
LANGWAR - real-time action space wars game
BENCH - benchmark programs and results
DOC documentation files, including the complete Reference Manual
You can run some of the programs without installing Euphoria, but you really
should run install.bat to organize the files into subdirectories and
set yourself up properly. Some programs will not run until you have
installed.
*** See INSTALL.DOC for easy instructions on installing Euphoria ***
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice to Shareware Vendors:
We encourage you to distribute this Public Domain Edition of Euphoria.
You can charge whatever you like for it. It is not shareware in the
usual sense. People can use Euphoria for as long as they like without
obligation. We make money from those who start to seriously develop large
applications, and want to get the latest release, with printed manual,
and enhanced debug support for large programs.
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DISCLAIMER: The Public Domain and Complete Editions of Euphoria are
provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. In no event shall
Rapid Deployment Software be held liable for any damages arising
from the use of or inability to use this product.
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