re v3 XPL code in v4

[OkAnnie@xxxxxxxx]

I apologize in advance for the length. I hope you'll indulge me again; as I
said, I've been starved for contact.

:	(Where is Herb Tyson when we really need him?) --Carl Distefano

Hanging out in the Warp newsgroups! Why wasn't I surprised to find
tyson@xxxxxxxx there?  ... Did Signature sour his interest? The need for a
new edition is glaring, but obviously is not going to happen. That Book
represents such a promethean effort for such a limited market--even among
XyWrite users--burnout would be understandable. When I found it I wrote him a
fan letter; no answer (can't remember--I may have proposed marriage ). ...
As the author of one of the more serviceable v3 books, Art Campbell really let
down v3 users by failing to address porting issues in "XyWrite 4 Macros."
Seems to be solely for former DisplayWrite users.

:	But it is time we lobby TG to release more adequate documentation :	
for XPL--ideally in a text file, not on paper. 	--Nathan Sivin

Yes! However: Things in Baltimore may have improved since when v4.0 was new,
but that operation then seemed singularly numb, starting with the voicemail
from hell--on the customer's dime. If they remember my name--and they may--I
fear associating it with such a project would doom the effort.

:	there are many fine enhancements which you'll greatly :	appreciate if
you do much XPL programming ... 	--Carl Distefano

The roll-your-own feature seems the most promising. Once I started playing with
it I'd surely come up with better uses than simply making v4 behave the same as
v3, but that's what I now see as its greatest potential. v3 is--for my
purposes--the closest-to-perfect DOS product I know: a universal front end. It
belongs in some unnamed category of its own. TUI? I consider it a programmable
DOS shell/text editor that also has word processing features.
The Windows icon I use is the Swiss army knife. v3 XPL is so powerful and
flexible I've never found an obstacle I couldn't work around. I use v3.52
because its kernel is slightly smaller than my v3.56's, crucial to using
XyWrite as a front end, but I sacrifice string parsing. Working from the good
Mr. Tyson's advice on searching function symbols, I wrote an XPL routine that
does that *without* the parsing feature. The only v3 aggravation that's forced
me to the mat is the surprising 650-"line"-max page (Xyquest was no stranger to
points).

All I wanted in v4 was a kernel the same size or smaller, an unlimited or more
generous max page length, and graphical preview--certainly not gratuitous
changes to existing functions. After I saw that v4 had redefined
UD (I use it lavishly), I started wondering how to put my hands on some
TNT--not the Tips 'n' Techniques variety. Finding that ≪mdLL≫s had become
case-sensitive convinced me finally that I was straying onto an unmapped
minefield. ... My basic problem with v4 is that the name fooled me into
thinking the Signature aberrations would be gone, and my resentment and
disappointment at finding XyWrite 4 was really Signature 2 are probably
unresolvable. With XyWin, at least I understand what I'd be getting.

:	... you might benefit by looking initially at some of the simpler :	
routines in my SMARTSET package (SMARTS24.ZIP); also, the :	DOCumentation and
routines in REORGNIZ.ZIP, by Robert Holmgren :	and me; also Holmgren's
PRSEFRM2.ZIP. All of these files can be :	downloaded. ... 	--Carl Distefano

:	I use a number of XPL programs, mostly small (which you can :	download
as XPLNS.ZIP). 	--Nathan Sivin

'm delighted!!! I've used XyWrite and XPL for years in none-too-splendid
isolation, unaware of resources like these. The few XyWrite users I know
learned in some newsroom how to open and store a file; some even know how to to
block or search text. All think it's great. A friend who is software tech
support (mostly WimP) for a prominent think tank called one day to ask how to
close a XyWrite file. The new president, till then a venerable NYTimes
columnist (yes, that one), didn't know; I'd assume a dedicated key sends
finished Times pieces to an editor. The editor of a Conde Nast mag quipped once
that somewhere in NYC is the mother copy of the XyWrite every journalist in
this city uses. Some may not even know that XyWrite is something civilians can
buy. ... I've always supposed CIS is where the online action is, but an account
would bust my budget (I'm practicing ozCIS). A search of AOL member profiles
turned up three instances of XyWrite among a million-plus members:
One wrote a best-seller on Bill Gates, one wrote that
Beth-and-her-grandmother manual (the less said the better), the third uses
XPL as his AOL address. Hardly a critical mass. ...

Some of my XPL primitives are 10 bytes, but other stuff is pretty ambitious and
very specific. Some cleans up stuff from other programs, much of it sets up
text files for other apps (one set of chained XPL files is 50K). Little of it,
alas, is of any use to anyone else. (Pipeline users nb: I just wrote an
XPL routine that finishes what the offline reader starts; you'd need to adapt
it for your own newsgroups. For a copy, email me.)

:	Most recent releases of memory managers (I use QEMM) allocate it :	
dynamically to EMS and XMS, which means you don't have to think :	about which
your application uses. 	--Nathan Sivin

Point well taken! Every time I start out to replace my antique EMM386 I come
home with something glizier--most recently os/2 2.11 for the Warp $50 rebate
coupon. Now reading the comp.os Warp newsgroups indicates that half my hardware
is on the long problem peripherals list.

Thanks for the help, guys. It's great to know you're there. Carl, I know your
name. Guru? Author of stuff a kind friend has passed along from the CIS boards?
Just can't place it. 	--Annie