31 lines
45 KiB
Plaintext
31 lines
45 KiB
Plaintext
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Medley for the Novice, Release 2.0
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Medley for the Novice, Release 2.0
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1. BRIEF GLOSSARY
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1. BRIEF GLOSSARY
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"1"1. BRIEF GLOSSARY
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The following definitions will acquaint you with general terms used throughout this primer. You will probably want to read through them now, and use this chapter as a reference while you read through the rest of the primer.
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advising A Medley facility for specifying function modifications without necessarily knowing how a particular function works or even what it does. Even system functions can be changed with advising.
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argument A piece of information given to a Lisp function so that it can execute successfully. When a function is explained in the primer, the arguments that it requires will also be given. Arguments are also called Parameters.
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atom The smallest structure in Lisp; like a variable in other programming languages, but can also have a property list and a function definition.
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Background Menu The menu that appears when the mouse is not in any window and the right mouse button is pressed.
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binding The value of a variable. It could be either a local or a global variable. See unbound.
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bitmap A rectangular array of "pixels," each of which is on or off representing one point in the bitmap image.
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BREAK An Lisp function that causes a function to stop executing, open a Break window, and allows you to find out what is happening while the function is halted.
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Break Window A window that opens when an error is encountered while running your program (i.e., when your program has broken). There are tools to help you debug your program from this window. This is explained further in Chapter 14.
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browse To examine a data structure by use of a display that allows you to "move" around within the data structure.
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button (1) (n.) A key on a mouse.
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(2) (v.t.) To press one of the mouse keys when making a selection.
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CAR A function that returns the head or first element of a list. See CDR.
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caret The small blinking arrowhead that marks where text will appear when it is typed in from the keyboard.
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CDR A function that returns the tail (that is, everything but the first element) of a list. See CAR.
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CLlSP A mechanism for augmenting the standard Lisp syntax. One such augmentation included in Interlisp is the iterative statement. See Chapter 9.
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cr Press your Return key.
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datatype (1) The kind of a datum. In Interlisp, there are many system-defined datatypes, e.g., Floating-Point, Integer, Atom, etc.
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(2) A datatype can also be user-defined. In this case, it is like a record made up from system types and other user-defined datatypes.
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DWIM "Do-what-I-mean." Many errors made by Medley users could be corrected without any information about the purpose of the program or expression in question (e.g., misspellings, certain kinds of parenthesis errors). The DWIM facility is called automatically whenever an error occurs in the evaluation of an Interlisp expression. If DWIM is able to make a correction, the computation continues as though no error had occurred; otherwise, the standard error mechanism is invoked.
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error Occasionally, while a program is running, an error may occur which will stop the computation. Interlisp provides extensive facilities for detecting and handling error conditions, to enable the testing, debugging, and revising of imperfect programs.
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evaluate or EVAL To find the value of a form. For example, if the variable X is bound to 5, we get 5 by evaluating X. Evaluation of a Lisp function involves evaluating the arguments and then applying the function.
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Executive Window This is your main window, where you will run functions and develop your programs. This is the window that the caret is in when you turn on your machine and load Medley.
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file package A set of functions and conventions that facilitate the bookkeeping involved with working in a large system consisting of many source code files and their compiled counterparts. Essentially, the file package keeps track of where things are and what things have changed. It also keeps track of which files have been modified and need to be updated and recompiled.
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form Another way of saying s-expression. A Lisp expression that can be evaluated.
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function A piece of Lisp code that executes and returns a value.
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history The programmer's assistant is built around a memory structure called the history list. The history functions (e.g. FIX, UNDO, REDO) are part of this assistant. These operations allow you to conveniently rework previously specified operations.
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History List As you type on the screen, you will notice a number followed by a slash, followed by another number. The first number is the exec number, the second is the event number. Each number, and the information on that line, is stored sequentially as the History List Using the History List, you can easily reexecute lines typed earlier in a work session. See Chapter 2.
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icon A pictorial representation, usually of a shrunken window.
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inspector An interactive display program for examining and changing the parts of a data structure. Medley has inspectors for lists and other data types.
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iterative statement (also called i.s.) A statement in Interlisp that repetitively executes a body of code For example, (for x from l to 5 do (PRlNT x)) is an i.s.
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iterative variable (also called i.v.) Usually, an iterative statement is controlled by the value that the i.v. takes on. In the iterative statement example above, x is the iterative variable because its value is being changed by each cycle through the loop. All iterative variables are local to the iterative statement where they are defined.
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Lisp Family of languages invented for "list processing." These languages have in common a set of basic primitives for creating and manipulating symbol structures. Interlisp-D is an implementation of the Lisp language together with an environment (set of tools) for programming, and a set of packages that extend the functionality of the system.
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list A collection of atoms and lists; a list is denoted by surrounding its contents with a pair of parentheses.
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Masterscope A program analysis tool. When told to analyze a program, Masterscope creates a database of information about the program. In particular, Masterscope knows which functions call other functions and which functions use which variables. Masterscope can then answer questions about the program and display the information with a browser.
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menu A way of graphically presenting you with a set of options. There are two kinds of menus: pop-up menus are created when needed and disappear after an item has been selected; permanent menus remain on the screen after use until deliberately closed.
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mouse The mouse is the box attached to your keyboard. It controls the movement of the cursor on your screen. As you become familiar with the mouse, you will find it much quicker to use the mouse than the keyboard.
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Mouse Cursor The small arrow on the screen that points to the northwest.
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Mouse Cursor Icons Four types of mouse cursor icons are shown below.
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