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Updated README files
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‎README‎

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The Debian Package a68toc
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-------------------------
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The Algol-68RS Compiler (a68toc)
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--------------------------------
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This is the Linux port of the A68toC Algol 68 development system. It
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was extracted from the ELLA package which is used for VLSI chip
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design.
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This is the A68toC Algol 68 development system. It was extracted from
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the ELLA package which is used for VLSI chip design.
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The compiler front-end is essentially the Algol 68 RS portable
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This repository contains a version of a68toc derived from a Linux
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port of a68toc by Sian Mountbatten. See README.Sian for more.
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The compiler front-end is essentially the Algol-68RS portable
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compiler originally written by the Defence Research Agency when it
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was known as the RSRE (Royal Signals and Radar Establishment). Only
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that part of Algol 68 needed for the ELLA compiler was implemented by
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that part of Algol-68 needed for the ELLA compiler was implemented by
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the `a68toc' translator with the result that formats are unavailable
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and are likely to remain unavailable for the foreseeable future. The
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`PAR' construct, for parallel programming, with the associated mode
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entirely unsatisfactory for the general user, not least because they
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were almost completely without documentation (see ctrans.texi).
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It was decided to write a Standard Prelude which would conform, as
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closely as possible, to the Standard Prelude described in the `Revised
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Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 68' (see the bibliography of
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the book `Programming Algol 68 Made Easy').
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In view of the amount of time it would take to create such a prelude,
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it was decided to adapt the Standard Prelude written for the Algol 68
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compiler marketed by Oxford and Cambridge Compilers Limited (OCCL).
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Only the transput of that prelude would need to be used, more or less
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in its entirety. (In fact, some of the numerical routines were also
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used.)
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The only other possibility would have been to implement the van Vliet
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Transput Model (as described in "ALGOL 68 TRANSPUT" by J.C.van Vliet.
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"Part II AN IMPLEMENTATION MODEL" gives the source code). It was felt
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that this full implementation of Algol 68 transput would require
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rather more time than the author felt she could give.
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In the event, the "Quick and Dirty" (QAD) implementation of the new
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Standard Prelude lasted, not three weeks as the author originally
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thought, but 7 months and the documentation thereof a further 7
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months. What with other commitments, the project has taken a full
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year to complete.
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The QAD Standard Prelude given here (in sub-directory qad)
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uses the conversion routines from the van Vliet Transput Model as
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well as the source code for `put' and `get' suitably adapted.
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The availability of the `STRAIGHT' operator in the a68toc Algol 68
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compiler meant that some of the modes in the OCCL definition of
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`SIMPLIN/SIMPLOUT' could be removed. While it is true that `STRAIGHT'
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will straighten any multiple, a quick attempt to remove all multiples
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except `STRING' was unsuccessful.
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The package was originally uploaded to
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<vestein.arb-phys.uni-dortmund.de>
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as ctrans_1.0.0.tar.gz, but it was always the intention of the author
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to upload as a Debian package.
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uses the conversion routines from the van Vliet Transput Model of
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transput.
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This version of the translator dispenses with the module manager `mm' and,
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instead, uses `ca' to create preludes and programs.
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A few extra files have been added to the port:-
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Starting from Dr Mountbatten's Linux port (labelled as v1.15) this
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package has been enhanced with bug-fixes and has machine-specific
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dependencies resolved. The result is a sequence of new versions,
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starting at v1.20 (a v1.19 version was previously known to exist
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but the author has not been able to locate it).
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The current branch of a68toc now compiles, runs, and self-compiles
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on little-endian CPUs (Intel/AMD) and big-endian CPUs (ARM) in
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both 32-bit and 64-bit forms on the Linux operating system
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and on Intel 64-bit on macOS.
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Support for macOS has been made possible by the integration of the
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Boehm-Demers-Weiser Garbage Collector (bdwgc), a version of which
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is contained in this repository, and is a compile-time option for
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the Linux variants, being set as the default for all 64-bit systems.
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(1) The following two files enable Algol 68 source files to be
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printed with some lexical highlighting, provided that `a2ps' is used
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(see the Debian package of that name):-
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algol68.ssh -- a style sheet for `a2ps'
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sheets.entry-- an entry for the file /usr/share/a2ps/sheets/sheets.map
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for `a2ps'
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Further example programs have been added to this repository including
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some from Glyn Webster; see the examples folder.
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Lastly, I am actively using this port and have already created the following
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preludes:-
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regular expressions
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Unicode regular expressions
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string operators, sorting and the binary chop
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system facilities:-
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execve, fork, exec piped child, system
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getpid et al
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stat, fstat, lstat
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directory scanning
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time routines
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Xforms library binding
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Neil Matthew
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neil@tilde.co.uk
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May 2021
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If any of these interest you, then do send me email.
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Dr Sian Mountbatten Thu Sep 13 18:00:00 +0100 2012
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Inverness
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Scotland
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<poenikatu@fastmail.co.uk>

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