C Programming & Compiler Review Newsletter

     Volume 1, Number  6                                 10 April 1988
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
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     |                        International                          |
     |                C Programming & Compiler Review                |
     |                         Newsletter                            |
     |                                                               |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
     US Office:
     Editor                                                Barry Lynch
     Technical Editor                                Marshall Presnell

     Australian Office:     
     Editor                                               David Nugent
     Asst Editor                                          Kevin Bergin

     C News  is  published  monthly by  the  C BBS as its official
     newsletter.  You are encouraged to submit articles for publication
     in C News.  Articles should be related to C programming and can be
     Tutorials, reviews or articles of interest to the C programming
     community.  All Operating systems are fairly represented and this
     newsletter shows no favoritism to any one in particular.  Instruct-
     ions on how to submit articles for publication is included on the
     last page. 
         
     C News is the property of the C BBS and is Copyright 1988 by the
     the C BBS.  All rights are reserved and distribution is limited to
     electronic distribution and personal printed copies.  C News cannot
     be resold at any profit, by any organization.  All material enclosed
     within the newsletter is the opinions of the writers and not the
     C BBS or it's Sysop. 
     C News 1-06                                           10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                             TABLE OF CONTENTS
     =================================================================
     

     1. EDITORIAL 
             The Heap: messages from the editor....................  1
     
     2. SHORT SNIPS 
        Magazine Review's   
           by Barry Lynch  ........................................  2
     
     3. BOOK REVIEWS
        C Chest: And other C Treasures from Dr. Dobb's ............  5
            by Barry Lynch
         
     4. SOFTWARE REVIEWS
        Public Domain:   ..........................................  6
        PRNDOC.ARC, and SED.ARC 
            by David Nugent

     5. Authors Comments on Wildcard Expansion   ..................  8
            by Bill Mayne
       
     6. NOTES
        Article Submission Standards  ............................. 10
        Address's   ............................................... 11
        USER Response Form  ....................................... 12
   
     7. INDEX   ................................................... 13

     8. Distribution Points   ..................................... 15      C News 1-06                 Page 1                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                                 EDITORIAL
     =================================================================

     C News: Where it has been and where it is going...

          Since the inception of C News, numerous changes have been
     made to the format, the distribution and the areas of coverage. 
     In future issues, a beginners column will be featured as well as
     a Questions and Answer column.  Both of these columns are in the
     development stage and should be ready for Issue 7.  (Both of these
     columns are the result of the overwhelming requests submitted via
     the user response form.  C News is growing and we hope to continue
     to provide the information that all C programmers find interesting
     and useful.
   
          This issue of C News is a little thin compared to some of the
     previous, but that is a direct reflection of the lack of contributions
     by readers and users.  Suffice it to say, that I do not have the time
     or the knowledge to write and entire issue of C News myself.  However,
     I will try harder in the future.  With this issue of C news I have 
     included a file that contains a subject thread that is of interest
     to me and to a good portion of the C programmers on the C BBS - UNIX.
     This thread contains messages from the developers of Micro-port UNIX
     and users on a forum on Compuserve.  It is an interesting collection
     of thoughts and is good reading. 

          Starting next month, another column will be featured covering
     MS Windows programming.  This will eventually branch into OS/2 when
     I get a copy of the OS/2 Developers Kit.  I cannot promise anything
     wonderful, as my windows programming is bare-bones, but it should
     pick up in time.

          One last thing, the C BBS is in the process of reorganizing and
     cataloguing the software available for download/file request.  This
     should help all users find the software that they are looking for,
     and maybe save them some money on phonebills as well.  This catalog
     will be available on-line and as a hardcopy report for a nominal
     fee to cover postage.

          Well, one more issue of C news has hit the streets, and I will
     continue work on a Data Structure article for C News readers by next
     issue.  C U...

     Barry Lynch

     C News 1-06                 Page 2                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                               SHORT SNIPS
     =================================================================

     Magazine Reviews:
     _________________________________________________________________

     Magazine: Computer Language
     Publisher: Miller Freeman Publications
     Published: Monthly cost $3.50US & $4.50 Canadian
     Subject Matter: Computer Languages

     Issue: Vol 5 No 3 - March 1988

     This issue of Computer Language offered a continuation of the
     article by Al Steven's on TSR's.  This time the article was
     written with MSC 5.0 and QuickC in mind.  Other articles in
     this issue include: DOS File Organization, and some reviews
     of Public Domain software with a UNIX flavor.

     _________________________________________________________________

     Magazine: Computer Language
     Publisher: Miller Freeman Publications
     Published: Monthly cost $3.50US & $4.50 Canadian
     Subject Matter: Computer Languages

     Issue: Vol 5 No 4 - April 1988
     
     Once again, Computer Language has geared an issue towards C, and
     this time with some articles covering the subject of Debugging.
     Matter of fact it is safe to say that this issue is dedicated to
     that subject, no less then three articles are presented.  The
     first deals with The Discipline of Debugging a sort of primer to
     get you started.  The second article is a review of features in
     languages that aid in debugging, and the third is an article on
     developing your own Debugger in C, with source.

     One other article of interest in this issue covers "wierd C bugs"
     as they put it, and is quite informative.  All in all, this issue
     is quite useful and the staff of Computer Language have begun to
     produce more C related articles than in the past.  CL is now one
     of my regular journals every month.

     C News 1-06                 Page 3                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                               SHORT SNIPS
     =================================================================

     Magazine Reviews:
     _________________________________________________________________

     Magazine: Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools
     Publisher: M&T Publishing
     Published: Monthly cost $2.95US & $3.95 Canadian
     Subject Matter: Programming Languages

     Issue: Vol 137 Mar 88

     Dr. Dobb's has long been recognized as an invaluable source of
     information for programmers in general.  This issue is no exception
     with articles on Object oriented design, Binary Trees, Huge Arrays,
     and EGA Fonts.  Also included in this issue is a review of
     Codeview, and graphic symbolic debugger available with the Micro-
     soft family of computer languages.

     _________________________________________________________________
 
     Magazine: Dr. Dobb's Journal of Software Tools
     Publisher: M&T Publishing
     Published: Monthly cost $2.95US & $3.95 Canadian
     Subject Matter: Programming Languages

     Issue: Vol 138 Apr 88

     This issue of Dr. Dobb's highlights an Artificial Intelligence
     Langauge called AAL.  Several other articles on the subject of
     AI are included.  Also included in Alan Hobub's monthly "C Chest"
     column is an article on Printf and how it works, and how it can
     be spruced up.

     C News 1-06                 Page 4                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                               SHORT SNIPS
     =================================================================

     Magazine Reviews:
     _________________________________________________________________

     Magazine: Micro/Systems Journal
     Publisher: M&T Publishing
     Published: Monthly cost $3.95US & $4.95 Canadian
     Subject Matter: Programming Languages

     Issue: April 1988

     This particular issue of Micro Systems Journal is geared towards
     C and therefore is must reading for us C junkies.  Articles on
     Debugging, Dos Functions, and a comparison of TurboC vs QuickC are
     presented.  There are also some reviews of the Periscope line of
     hardware debuggers, that have been considered the best in the field
     for quite awhile.  Micro Systems Journal does not always cover
     languages in depth, but occasionally an interesting issue such
     as this one becomes available.

     C News 1-06                 Page 5                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
                               BOOK REVIEWS
     =================================================================

     _________________________________________________________________

     C Chest: and other C Treasures from Dr. Dobb's Journal
     Author: Allen Hobub
     Publisher: M&T Books, Redwood, CA 1987
     Cost: $23.95 (US$)

     Being an avid Dr. Dobb's fan I noticed the advertisements for this
     book in issues of Dr. Dobb's for quite some time now.  Today, when
     I was in the bookstore, I saw a copy on the shelf and opened it to
     browse the contents.  This is what I found:  Articles on, Pipes,
     Wild-Card Expansion, Sorting, Command-Line processing, Queues and
     Bit maps, MS-DOS directories, the UNIX Make utility, Curses and
     much more.

     This book is informative from my quick browse this afternoon and
     source is included with all chapters.  The book is well written
     and covers alot of ground, but all topics are explained clearly
     and the source is well commented.  This book is a compilation of
     the C Chest column from Dr. Dobb's from March 1985 to July 1987.
   
     C News 1-06                 Page 6                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
     PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE REVIEWS:
     =================================================================

     _________________________________________________________________

     Filename: PRNDOC.ARC

     When  I  first downloaded this file, it had been posted  as  a  C
     source  code  formatter, which I thought a great idea,  since  it
     could standardize the formatting of all my C source ...

     But this was not to be.  While the incorrect posting did cause  a
     few minutes of heartburn, it turned out to be a neat little print
     formatting   utility  for  paginating  documents;   even   allows
     inserting  a  left  margin  and  is  sensitive  to  double  sided 
     printing.  Not bad.

     The  program  is  provided  with  little  documentation,  but  is
     completely prompt driven as easy to follow.  It's quite a  clever   
     formatter that can take raw ASCII text and turn it into something
     quite presentable.  No special .xx controls or tagging  required. 
     Just straight ASCII text.
 
     Source provided: Unfortunately not.

     _________________________________________________________________

     Filename: SED.ARC

     At last SOME of the power of Unix is available on the PC.
 
     SED  is  a PC/MS-DOS implementation of the  Unix  stream  editor. 
     This is a VERY powerful utility used in Xenix/Unix scripts  (like
     MS-DOS  batch files, only tones more clever) to edit files  FROM
     THE  COMMAND LINE.  It is a utility which cannot  be  appreciated
     until you play with it.

     SED  scripts can be developed to do amazing things with text  and
     program  source files.  One sample script provided does  most  of
     the  hacking  required to transfer a pascal source file  into  C. 
     All  possible with a general purpose utility and  an  intelligent
     script.

     Of course SED is best applied repetitively, and is excellent  for
     changing occurrences of a particular variable or function name for
     a   complete  group  of  files.   While  it  may  only  be   used
     occasionally  from the command line, it can be used regularly  to
     update and manipulate text files regularly.

     If  you prefer to avoid technical utilities, you'd  better  avoid
     this one two.  Power unfortunately has a trade-off - complexity -
     C News 1-06                 Page 7                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
     PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE REVIEWS:
     =================================================================

     _________________________________________________________________

     Filename: SED.ARC Continued:

     and  this  utility is no exception.  It uses  Unix-style  regular
     expression and 'magic' syntax and is, as far as I can  determine,
     completely Unix/Xenix compatible.  For those of you like me - who
     swap between the two - this is very handy.

     Source  provided: All but the main() function.  Damned if I  know
     why  it  was omitted.  Comes with the command  parse  and  editor
     functions, which is 'just about' complete.
     Compiler:  Standard  K  &  R.  No porting  required  and  can  be
     compiled  under small models ok.  You'll have to write  your  own
     main()  [Just  to freopen stdin/stdout for file  redirection  and
     open the command script].

     C News 1-06                 Page 8                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
     AUTHORS COMMENT: ON "FILENAME WILDCARD EXPANSION IN MSC"
     =================================================================
   

        Before some perceptive reader of my article "Filename Wildcard
     Expansion in Microsoft C" in issue 4 of CNEWS accuses me of advocating
     reinventing the wheel, I should admit that the article and the
     programs it contained were written several months ago, before the
     release of MSC 5.0.  The part telling how to compile and link under
     5.0 was a last minute addition.

     I have since learned that MSC 5.0 provides library functions to expand
     wildcards which perform the same function as my "findentr()" and
     "findnext()".  They are called "dos_findfirst()" and "dos_findnext()",
     respectively.  Even the arguments are the same, except that the order
     of arguments expected by "dos_findfirst()" is different.  The
     structure used to communicate with dos, called "find_t" is compatible
     with my "DTA_STRUCT".  "DTA_STRUCT" looks a little more complicated
     because it goes a little further and declares bit fields which are
     useful in splitting up the date and time fields.  Since the actual
     structures are the same you could use casts and refer to DTA_STRUCT   
     fields while using the library functions instead of those shown in the
     article.  The declaration of the new library functions and "find_t"
     structure is in <dos.h>.

     It is actually not surprising that the two versions of the C functions
     and the structures are so similar, both are simply interfaces to the
     same underlying DOS functions.  No doubt there are many other versions
     around as well.

     For those who have MSC 5.0, I see no advantage in using "findentr()"
     and the other functions in the article over the ones Microsoft
     provides.  Quite the contrary, I would hope that the library versions
     are written in assembly language or at least highly optimized for
     tighter object code.  The code shown may still be useful to readers
     who have MSC 4.0 or earlier, or who have other compilers and can make
     the slight changes which would be needed to port the functions.  It
     also provides some insight into the inner workings or DOS for those
     who may not have been familiar with them.

     There is one other thing I should have pointed out in the article.
     There is nothing particularly original about the utility "FF" which I
     used to illustrate the use of the functions and of recursion.  As is
     obvious to anyone who collects public domain software, there are many
     other similar programs available in the public domain, such as
     "WHEREIS".  The Norton Utilities and many other commercial packages
     also include such programs.

     My real motivation for writing FF, besides as an exercise, was to have
     a version which was easier to interrupt than the Norton version and to
     provide additional selection criteria, primarily selection by date.
     C News 1-06                 Page 9                    10 Apr 1988

     =================================================================
     AUTHORS COMMENT: ON "FILENAME WILDCARD EXPANSION IN MSC"
     =================================================================

     (I am always creating files and forgetting not only where I put them
     but what I named them, so I find it handy to search for files created
     on a given date, normally the current date.)  The code presented in
     the article was actually produced by stripping out most of the
     functions which were my original reason for writing the program.
     FF.ARC, which was included in the CNEWS archive contains the full
     version.  If you want to use FF for anything other than learning some
     programming tricks, try the version in FF.ARC.

     C News 1-06                 Page 10                  10 Apr 1988
     
     ================================================================
     ARTICLE SUBMISSION STANDARDS AND ADDRESSES 
     ================================================================

          As I have repeatedly stated in this newsletter and previous
     issues, I would like to see user-submitted articles, reviews or
     questions.  Listed below are the standards that should be
     followed to make my job easier as an editor.


           - Articles should be submitted in a ASCII non-formatted
             file. 

           - If the article include code fragments as examples. Then
             you can include the entire source file if you like for 
             inclusion with the newsletter.

           - Book or magazine reviews should follow the same format,
             that is outlined in this issue.  The publisher, author,
             title, and ISBN number are a must. 

           - Compiler/and or product reviews, should include the
             version number and manufacture.  If possible, reviews
             should include a sample program with benchmarks.

   
           If you have any questions you can contact me at the
      address's included on the next page.

     C News 1-06                  Page 11                 10 Apr 1988
 
     ================================================================
     ADDRESSES
     ================================================================

     The C BBS is located at:

          C BBS
          % BCL Limited
          P.O. Box 9162
          McLean VA, 22102


     or you can send netmail to:


     1:109/713 




           C News 1-06                 Page 12                  10 Apr 1988
     
     ================================================================
     USER RESPONSE FORM:
     ================================================================

     This form will be included as a regular feature in all future
     issues of C NEWS.



     What did you think of the content of this Issue?  _____________
     
     _______________________________________________________________


     What improvements can you think of that would make C News a
     better tool for the C Community?

     _______________________________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________________


     What is your favorite section or sections?  ___________________

     _______________________________________________________________


     What don't you like about C News?  ____________________________

     _______________________________________________________________


     Additional Comments:  _________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________________

     _______________________________________________________________

     C News 1-06                 Page 13                  10 Apr 1988
     
     ================================================================
                                  INDEX
     ================================================================

     Subject:                                          Issue:

     Articles:

     Additional Comments of Filename Wild..             6
     Filename Wildcard Expansion in MSC                 4
     Integrated Environment: TC & QC                    5
     Talking with a Fossil                              5
     TurboC and Interrupts: A few Questions             2
     
     Book Reviews:

     C Chest: and other treasures.                      6
     C Database Development                             1
     C Programming Guide                                1
     C Programming Language                             1
     C Programmer's Guide to Serial Communications      3
     C Programmer's Library                             1
     C Primer Plus                                      1
     C the Complete Reference                           2
     Crafting C Tools for the IBM PC                    2
     Learning to Program in C                           1
     Microsoft C Programming on the IBM PC              1
     MS-DOS Developer's Guide                           4
     Programming in Windows                             3
     Reliable Data Structures in C                      1
     TurboC: Memory Resident Utilities                  5
     TurboC Programmer's Reference Book                 2

 
     Compilers: 

     QuickC                                             1
     
     Software Reviews: 
 
     Bplus11.arc                                        3
     C_Dates.arc                                        4
     Cdate.arc                                          4
     Casm.arc                                           3
     C-subr.arc                                         4
     Docu.arc                                           3
     Jcl-src.arc                                        4
     Mscpopup.arc                                       3
     Ndmake41.arc                                       4
     Nuc-subr.arc                                       3
     Prndoc.arc                                         6
     Sed.arc                                            6
     C News 1-06                 Page 14                  10 Apr 1988
     
     ================================================================
                                  INDEX
     ================================================================

     Subject:                                          Issue:

     Software Reviews Cont:

     Shift_c.arc                                        4
     Sysact11.arc                                       4
     Tp_to_qc.arc                                       3
     Xenixarc.arc                                       4

     C News 1-06                 Page 15                  10 Apr 1988
     
     ================================================================
                           DISTRIBUTION POINTS
     ================================================================


     Board Name               Number         Net/Node       Sysop

     United States

     C BBS               (703) 998-8377      1:109/713      Barry Lynch
     Alexandria, VA

     Jaz C-Scape         (904) 724-1377      1:112/1027     Tom Evans
     Jacksonville, FL

     Links.BBS           (916) 343-4422      1:119/13       Tom Baughman
     Chico, CA

     Eastern C Board     (201) 247-6748      1:107/335      Todd Lehr

     Rutgers1            (201) 932-4066      1:107/320      Michael Keyles
     Rutgers, NJ

     PTC Net             (206) 757-4248      1:138/4        Arlen Fletcher
     Washington, State
 
   

     Canada

     Another BBS System  (416) 465-7752      1:148/208      Mark Bowman
     Toronto, Canada

     Europe

     Fido_N1_1               31-8350-37156     2:500/1        Henk Wevers
     The Netherlands

     Australia

     Alpha-Centuri BBS   011-61-3-874-3559    3:632/348     David Nugent