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CHATFIELD SOFTWARE, INC P. O. Box 115 Hiram, OH 44234-0115 USA (216) 632-5447 (800) 645-8806 E-mail: chatsoft@world.std.com ===================================================== STAR ALPHA 3.1 Copyright (C) 1997 by Chatfield Software, Inc. ======================================================== DOCUMENTATION ***************************************************************** *** WARNING! Do not attempt to run STAR ALPHA until you have *** read and followed the instructions in the file "READ.ME"! ***************************************************************** ******************************* * LICENSE * You may use this software * on one disk. You may make * one backup copy for your * own use. You may not copy * the program or documenta- * tion otherwise--for any * reason or purpose. ******************************* Welcome to STAR ALPHA! It's an adventure, a zany companion to chat with, a demonstration of "Artificial Intelligence," an entertain- ment, a poetry generator, a free verse processor and collaborator and editor, a verbal museum, a miniature autobiography, a loony grab-bag of wisecracks and sneaky tricks, and--seriously, folks-- THE WORLD'S FIRST COMPUTER-INSTRUCTED POETRY COURSE! As the first college level poetry course to be taught entirely by computer, STAR ALPHA involves you in a special experiment which comprises essentially two aspects: the artistic and the pedagog- ical. Artistic: In all of the arts, the computer offers challenges to the artist as a new instrument to be employed in the creation and presentation of art. Recent years have seen the composition of films, graphic displays, and music using computer programs, and in the form of the synthesizer the computer has become a familiar and by now almost commonplace "musical instrument." Computers are of course widely used in architecture, and they are also used in dance choreography. As you begin this course, you will see several examples of computer-generated poetry-- as a means of helping us to arrive at a useful understanding of what poetry is or is not. Less obviously, the computer program itself may be regarded as a kind of poetry--or a kind of kinetic art-form in its own right. No two students in this course will see exactly the same poems, ideas, or information on their com- puter screens (and you yourself will never get the same results twice in using your copy of the disk). In a special sense, the program you will be using is a work of art which is built to pre- sent itself to you as a new experience each time you encounter it. It is a piece of art that produces many of its own results, and, more surprisingly, a piece of art with which you can actually con- verse or even argue. As art, it is intended to give you pleasure as well as to enlighten you. Pedagogical: Again and again we encounter theories and situations which proffer the computer as an educational device. It is used as a visual aid in classrooms all over the world, and many of us have learned new skills or even entire bodies of knowledge using computer tutorials. In most formal study situations, these pedagogical uses of the computer have been supplementary. The instructor and the lecture materials have always been of primary importance. This may very well be a "first" as an educational experience. In this course the most essential ideas will be presented to you by the computer, and the instructor (if you have one at all!) will serve the supplementary function. Theoretically, a computer ought to be capable of teaching an entire college course--making it pos- sible for students at great distances from college or university campuses to participate fully. Except that no college credit is presently involved, STAR ALPHA, used with the supplementary read- ings and recommended videotapes, does indeed teach such a course: it gives you written assignments, provides you with drills and ex- ercises, quizzes you respecting your understanding of certain poems, and even administers midterm and final examinations-- which are different for each student! And all of this is done at your own pace. ------------------------------------------------------------- GETTING STARTED USING STAR ALPHA 3.1 WITH YOUR COMPUTER As the computer industry invents more and more operating systems, special procedures are needed to make effective use of many fine software products originally written for MS-DOS. STAR ALPHA is one such program. The INRAC language in which STAR ALPHA is written requires memory that sometimes is also needed by the operating system. This is especially true with newer versions of Windows. These instructions will enable you to use STAR ALPHA 3.1 effectively on your computer. For best results, STAR ALPHA should always be run from a floppy disk, NOT your hard drive. Computers operating chiefly under MS-DOS: If your computer is equipped with Windows, exit to MS-DOS. Copy all files to a formatted 3 1/2" bootable system disk. Boot your computer with this disk each time you run STAR ALPHA. You can make a system disk either of two ways: (1) format a new disk using the command "format/s a:" (or "b:" if you are formatting a new disk in your B drive); or (2) place your 3 1/2" backup copy of STAR ALPHA in you A or B drive and from your hard drive "C" prompt type and enter "sys a:" or "sys b:"; the system files will be copied to your STAR ALPHA disk--which you should use as your boot disk. Windows NT No special treatment is needed for Windows NT. Run "go.bat" from the FILE menu of Program Manager, being sure to check the box that allows you to run the program in separate memory space. Windows 95 Normally, no special instructions are needed for Windows 95. If the program aborts the first time you try to "talk" to STAR ALPHA at the lower case "return" prompt, restart the program and try again: for some reason, Windows 95 memory sometimes likes to have a preliminary fling at STAR ALPHA before getting down to business. (If the program persists in aborting, run "poetry.com" instead of "go.bat"; this will bypass the title screen and take you directly into STAR ALPHA--thus conserving some memory.) =========================== PRINTING The instructions for printing contained in the manual work only in MS-DOS systems (in STAR ALPHA 3.1 a shortcut to printing INRAC.OUT from MS-DOS is to type and enter the word "print" at the DOS prompt). In Windows 95 and Windows NT, by running "convert.bat" you can copy INRAC.OUT to a text file named "TODAY.TXT"-- which you can then edit and print using your Windows word processor. (INRAC.OUT remains unchanged.) ======================================================== USING STAR ALPHA ======================================================== To protect your original disk, immediately make one backup copy of your original disk following the instructions for copying disks provided in your DOS manual. The STAR ALPHA computer program begins with some basic instruc- tion, experiment, and creative play. The actual course work comes later. The computer will tell you that it's coming and ask if you're ready. When you do begin that portion of your work you should take an appropriate poetry anthology with you whenever you go to use the computer. (A bibliographical list of all poems discussed in STAR ALPHA is provided both in this manual and in the STAR ALPHA program itself. It should be very easy for you to obtain from your local library the poems you need to complete the course.) For now, you need only the disk. Never lend out your disk casually. Improper use of the disk by other persons can alter files and damage work you have already completed! Don't feel anxious in following these instructions. There is nothing you can do yourself that will cause serious harm either to the program or to the computer itself. At the DOS prompt (which will probably look something like A> ), run the file "go.bat"; to do this type and enter the word go. Then just follow the instructions on the screen! The "owner" mentioned on the first STAR ALPHA program screen is the student actually taking the poetry course. Your own name will begin to appear in this location after you have begun the formal course portion of the program. "Last user," mentioned on the same screen, is the name or pen-name of the person who has used the disk most recently. Your name will appear here until you have actually begun the course. (You must use a fake name to play among early portions of the program after your name begins to appear as "owner.") When you are asked for your name, it is extremely important that you use two names with CAPITAL first letters, a first name and a surname. That is, type "Jane Doe"--not "Jane," "JANE DOE," or "jane doe." (The program will not function properly if you don't follow this requirement!) Now your program is running! You may never need to use this manual again. But just in case you do, we'll add some pages of additional advice. ---------------------------------------------------------------- One main thing you need to understand is that you can chat with the computer whenever the word "return" appears in lower case (not capital) letters. Like this: (return). At STAR ALPHA'S >> prompt you just type what you want to say in ordinary English, using conventional spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. You will soon discover that STAR ALPHA prefers to answer questions, not simply "listen" to you talk. Perhaps most commonly you'll be asking for the menu--so you can quit a session, ask for help, or change your activity. You'll type something like, "May I see a menu?"--and you'll get a menu (a list of suggested options). USING THE MENUS The menus tell you the main choices you have. At the menu's >> prompt, simply say in English what you wish to do next. It's that simple. LEAVING STAR ALPHA The right way to exit from the STAR ALPHA program is to choose the menu and quit from there. We strongly recommend that you do not leave the program in any other way! (See "PROBLEMS," below.) However, in emergencies it is possible to exit from the program by typing and entering x at any >> prompt. This is safer and more satisfactory than simply shutting off your computer. If you have quit STAR ALPHA using the menu, the next time you use the program STAR ALPHA will take you back to approximately the same place where you left off. SAVING YOUR WORK STAR ALPHA contains a special feature which saves and records on your disk everything you do during a session on the computer! A record of each session is kept in a file named INRAC.OUT. To make use of the feature you must not restart your program, or you will begin recording the new session in place of the older one. If your computer is running MS-DOS without Windows, be sure your printer is properly connected and "on-line." Stay with your DOS "A>" prompt, and type the following line exactly (includ- ing the word "type"): TYPE INRAC.OUT >PRN Then press RETURN. Your entire work session will appear in transcript on your print- er's output paper. You may do this as many times as you wish before beginning a new session. If you are running any version of Windows, see the printing instructions below. MORE ABOUT PRINTING FROM "STAR ALPHA" 1. The file "convert.bat" copies "inrac.out" (the on-disk record of the most recent session) to a text file named "today.txt." After exiting STAR ALPHA type and enter the word "convert"--and the file "inrac.out" will be COPIED to a file named "today.txt," which you can edit and/or print using your word processor. (Note that "inrac.out" will also continue to exist until you begin your next STAR ALPHA session.) Use this printing method when you have Windows. It's much more satisfactory than DOS printing! 2. In MS-DOS, The file "print.bat" will print the file "inrac.out" to your DOS printer (this won't work for most Windows '95 configurations). From DOS, type and enter "print"; take your printer offline at the end and press the printer's continue button to print the very end of this file (as is usual with DOS printing functions). This procedure changes nothing on your disk. THE COURSE EXAMINATIONS You will never be surprised into taking either of the course exam- inations unprepared for them. Each exam gives you the opportunity to skip it or to exit before the examination begins. The Midterm Examination offers you practice questions, too. Both exams will be custom-made for you--as you are actually in the process of taking the examination! When you have completed the Final Examination, your responses and the correct answers will scroll by you on the screen at a speed much too rapid for you to read them. This is NORMAL! They are only appearing in order to be recorded in the file FINAL.OUT, which you will receive later in printed "hard copy" (that is, on paper). When you have completed the Midterm Examination, DO NOT RUN STAR ALPHA AGAIN until you have done the following (or you'll erase your answers!): Get your results by printing the file MT.OUT. After the exam, turn on your printer and place it "on line." At the A> prompt type and enter the following line exactly: TYPE MT.OUT >PRN When you have completed the Final Examination, you may get your results by printing the file FINAL.OUT. After the exam, turn on your printer and place it "on line." At the A> prompt type and enter the following line exactly: TYPE FINAL.OUT >PRN NOTE: If you are running any version of Windows, pick up and print MT.OUT and FINAL.OUT as text files using Notepad or your word processor! (MS-DOS print functions don't work in most Windows configurations.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- PROBLEMS? Most of the problems you encounter in using the program can be solved by selecting the "Help" option at the Menu. If the program "aborts" due to a "run-time error," try again from the start--saying "continue" when the computer asks whether you wish to continue or begin again. USE THE SAME NAME YOU USED THE PREVIOUS TIME! Most run-time errors in STAR ALPHA occur because a previously-used program is still in memory when STAR ALPHA is run. If you have been using your computer for other applications it is important to reboot the computer or start from a cold start when using programs written in the INRAC computer language, which requires a great deal of available memory. (So-called "memory resident" programs often use precisely those portions of memory which STAR ALPHA needs for its conversation functions. Avoid leaving ANYTHING resident in memory when you begin using STAR ALPHA! See the "read.me" file.) For help with other problems, telephone Chatfield Software, Inc. at the telephone numbers liste above. If you get voice mail or an answering machine, we'll call you back--honest! OTHER HINTS 1. It is perhaps annoying to have to move through the childhood incident section of STAR ALPHA (it comes before the actual course) again and again in order simply to enjoy early portions of the program. To skip the incident procedure simply use the two letters "sk" as the first line of your "story" and you'll move directly to the end of that section of the program. 2. You can get out of STAR ALPHA by typing and entering the letter x at any >> prompt. However, it is a bad habit, because (1) it means that your return to your place in the course will be less accurate when you restart the program; and (2) it can result in the cluttering of your disk. 3. You will be warned when either the midterm or the final examina- tion is about to begin, which leaves you free, if you wish, to skip the examination or to exit from the program. ====================================================================== BIBLIOGRAPHY The following is a list of all poems discussed in STAR ALPHA (except for poems whose texts are included within the program). This list is followed by a list of the same poems by chapter. Atwood, Margaret. "This Is a Photograph of Me." Bishop, Elizabeth. "Sestina." Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Browning, Robert. "My Last Duchess." Bryant, William Cullen. "To a Waterfowl." Corso, Gregory. "Marriage." Cummings, E. E. "Cambridge ladies...." Dickinson, Emily. No. 1129. Donne, John. "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.". Eliot, T. S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Frost, Robert. "Never Again Would Birds~'Song Be the Same." Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "The Chambered Nautilus." Hopkins, Gerard Manley. "Pied Beauty." MacLeish, Archibald. "Ars ~Poetica." Milton, John. "On His Blindness." Reed, Henry. "The Naming of Parts." Reed, Ishmael. "Do Not Read This Poem." Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." Roethke, Theodore. "I Knew a Woman." - - - - - - - - - - "My Papa's Waltz." - - - - - - - - - - "The Waking." Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 55. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Ozymandias." Stevens, Wallace. "Anecdote of the Jar." - - - - - - - - - "The Idea of Order at Key West." Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "Break, Break, Break." Thomas, Dylan. "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night." Waller, Edmund. "Go Lovely Rose." Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself 1, 6, 11, 24, & 52." Williams, William Carlos. "Red Wheelbarrow." - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Poem" ("As the cat..."). - - - - - - - - - - - - - "This is Just to Say." - - - - - - - - - - - - - "The Ivy Crown." - - - - - - - - - - - - - "The Dance." Yeats, William Butler. "The Second Coming." POEMS BY CHAPTER CHAPTER 1 Emily Dickinson, 1129. Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Pied Beauty." E. A. Robinson, "Richard Cory." William Shakespeare, Sonnet 55. CHAPTER 2 Edmund Waller, "Go Lovely Rose." Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," 1, 6, 11, 24, & 52. William Carlos Williams, "The Red Wheelbarrow." "Poem" ("As the cat..."). "This is Just to Say." "The Ivy Crown." CHAPTER 3 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, "Break, Break, Break." CHAPTER 4 Theodore Roethke, "I Knew a Woman." "My Papa's Waltz." William Carlos Williams, "The Dance." CHAPTER 5 Elizabeth Bishop, "Sestina." Gwendolyn Brooks, "We Real Cool." E. E. Cummings, "the Cambridge ladies who live in ..." Robert Frost, "Never Again Would Birds' Song Be the Same." John Milton, "On His Blindness." Theodore ~Roethke, "The Waking." Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias." Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night." CHAPTER 6 Gregory Corso, "Marriage." CHAPTER 7 Margaret Atwood, "This Is a Photograph of Me." Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess." T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming." CHAPTER 8 John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." Oliver Wendell Holmes, "The Chambered Nautilus." Henry Reed, "The Naming of Parts." CHAPTER 9 William Cullen Bryant, "To a Waterfowl." Archibald MacLeish, "Ars ~Poetica." Ishmael Reed, "do not read this poem." Wallace Stevens, "Anecdote of the Jar." "The Idea of Order at Key West." All of these poems can be found in THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY, Third Edition. (It also includes a useful appendix on versification.) NUMEROUS other anthologies and college poetry textbooks contain most of these poems and can easily be supplemented at your library. OTHER READINGS Ellman, Richard and Charles Feidelson, Jr. THE MODERN TRADITION. (Oxford University Press.) Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "The Poet." (in almost any Emerson collection.) Ghiselin, Brewster. THE CREATIVE PROCESS. (A Mentor paperback.) Langer, Susanne K. PHILOSOPHY IN A NEW KEY. (Harvard University Press.) RECOMMENDED VIDEOTAPES THE POWER OF THE WORD, with Bill Moyers. --Especially: DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE ROAD (featuring the poet Stanley Kunitz). VOICES AND VISIONS, from the Annenberg Foundation/CPB Project. --Especially: Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, and Walt Whitman. ========================================================== +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ▌ ▌ ASP Ombudsman Information ▌ ▌ Chatfield Software is a member of the Association of ▌ Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that ▌ the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable ▌ to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member ▌ by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. ▌ The ASP ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem ▌ with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support ▌ for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at: ▌ ASP Ombudsman _______ ▌ 545 Grover Road ____|__ | (R) ▌ Muskegon, MI --| | |------------------- ▌ 49442-9427 (USA) | ____|__ | Association of ▌ or send a Compuserve | | |_ | Shareware ▌ message via CompuServe |__| o | Professionals ▌ mail to 70475,1071, or -----| | |--------------------- ▌ a FAX to 616-788-2765. |___|___| MEMBER ▌ +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Unregistered copies of STAR ALPHA may be registered using the form register.txt.