Mac Gofer Beta Release
======================
MacGofer version 0.12 is now available for beta-testing. Use anonymous
ftp to ftp.dcs.glasgow.ac.uk and fetch
pub/haskell/gofer/macgofer/MacGofer_0.12.sit.hqx
pub/haskell/gofer/macgofer/MacGofer_Manuals.sit.hqx
These are BinHexed, Stuffit encoded files (ASCII format).
MacGofer_0.12.sit.hqx contains the application, Preludes, Gofer Demos
and Mac Documentation. MacGofer_Manuals.sit.hqx is a copy of the Unix
docs directory. The documentation is a self-running PostCard file.
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU START, and please take the usual
precautions to protect your system from beta-test software...
A bug report form is included. I'll do what I can to make sure
serious bugs are fixed.
If anyone is interested in helping to develop this further, please
contact me. I will make sources available soon.
MacGofer is free for personal, teaching or research use. You may
redistribute it, providing you include the documentation and README
files.
Kevin
About MacGofer
--------------
MacGofer is a standalone Mac implementation of the popular Gofer
interpreter, based on version 2.21 of Mark Jones' Unix/PC interpreter.
The Mac version has full support for floating-point numbers including
trignometrical functions and truncate/round (as also provided in gofer
2.23+). It uses 32-bit integers. The minimal MacGofer configuration
needs about 300K of disk space and 1M of RAM (but see below).
Summary of Mac Features:
A fully integrated Macintosh editor (limited to 32K files),
with the usual Mac features. Windows may be selected from
the windows menu, which also records when files have changed.
Files can be reverted, or deleted from within MacGofer.
Find/Replace is provided. Select All is available.
Expressions and results are entered in an editable worksheet.
Previously entered text may be edited in-place and
(re-)evaluated on demand. The worksheet can be saved.
Changed files are automatically reloaded when an expression
is evaluated. They may also be loaded on demand. The Prelude
is treated as a normal file, which will be reloaded if changed.
The file containing the last error can be opened at the line
where the error occurred.
Definitions and types of values can be located through a
module-oriented dialog.
Direct access to the modules forming a project is provided
from the Project Menu. The files being edited are entirely
separate from those which form a project (so you can edit
data files, or look at other programs etc.). Files can be
added to or removed from a project individually. Projects
can be saved from within MacGofer.
A "Multitasking" option allows you to continue editing whilst
evaluating expressions.
Input can be taken from the worksheet, using normal Gofer requests.
It is possible to turn echoing off.
The Gofer heap automatically adjusts to suit the size of the
MultiFinder partition. Memory parameters can be saved in a
Preferences file.
Undo is provided for text entry, cut/paste etc.
All symbols in the standard Mac character set can be included
in function names. This should appeal to non-English Europeans.
You *will* have to manually convert any such characters if you
export the file to Unix, but this can be done trivially by a
Unix script.
Documents can be printed. All printers should be provided.
Interrupt is provided(!). Cursors inform you when garbage collection
takes place.
Errors which exit the Unix/PC Gofer return you to the command-prompt
in MacGofer. This helps prevent lost work. Full stack overflow
and low-memory checking is provided. The About Gofer dialog gives
an indication of the free memory available for editing etc.
Some standard command-line commands are supported, e.g. :?.
System 7 and MultiFinder friendly. MacGofer will happily evaluate
in the background.
System Requirements:
Requires System 4.1 or later, may run under System 3.2.
I recommend System 6.0.7.1/6.0.8 or System 7.x
The full version needs at least 1M MultiFinder partition,
I am working on a cut-down version for UniFinder MacPluses.
MacGofer should run on any Macintosh, including Quadras.
It has been tested on LCs, SEs, SE/30s, Classics,
Powerbooks, and Quadras, but there *may* still be lurking
incompatibilities.
A minimal MacGofer with the full Prelude needs 300K of disk.
The complete release (including manuals) is 855K.
I *recommend* running under System 7 if at all possible. Larger memory
partitions will mean more files can be edited, as well as larger programs
run.
