Re: va$nw ? [was va$wn ?]

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

 -> "VA $WA [...] Displays the number of the next available window
 -> that XyWrite will use when a CALL or NEW command is executed.
 -> (The NW default must be set at 1, 2, or 3.)" 
 ->                    [Annie, quoting CG p234]

≪ I think that Delphic pronouncement means that default NW must be set
 greater than 0 for a new window to open automatically "when a CALL or
 NEW command is executed". The oracle forgot that (s)he was talking
 about VA $WA, not CALL or NEW (or READ or DIR or FIND...). Better
 would have been, "Displays the number of the next available window that
 XyWrite will use when a new window is opened. Displays zero when all
 windows are in use." Evidently the oracle had not recently read Strunk
 & White. ≫ 						--Carl

Oh! Oh!!! Never crossed my mind, but reading it that way does make sense.
I have a spare S&W almost as old as my infamous junior high Roget's.
Maybe I should send it south as an act of charity. But CG may well have
been written in Boston, or right here.

≪ Actually xx|$xx pairs were common in III+, probably earlier versions as
 well. I don't think they ever reliably returned different values when
 default value <> current value; 'most always they both returned current
 value (and still do). ≫

Yes--I saw a zillion I never knew existed in v3 when I ran Robert's
amazing report.pgm (was that the name?--I rename everything) that makes
a total xx|$xx readout. A lot of v4 seems to be v3 idiosyncrasies
extended. E.g (I'll probably get my head handed to me on a platter
for this), JMs look to me like nothing more than $A-$Z/$0-$9 unbound
by the 36-max limit but with the same mickeymouse {is00}-passing problem.

 -> ≪	Now, what was the question? ≫

 -> A koan? 	--a

≪ Ah, yes, I see! XyWrite documentation -- the sound of one hand
 clapping. ≫

Ya know, the syntax above notwithstanding, what's there isn't
so bad. The problem is bad indexing/cross-referencing and what's
missing, most notably almost total absence of xpl transitional help. 	--a

==================================== adpFisher  nyc