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changes to HELPSYS



This is a brief summary of the changes that I made to HELPSYS:

a) I performed a large number of local-optimizations; i.e. played
smart compiler. For example, I changed (PRIN1 (PACK (LIST A B))) to
(PRIN1 A) (PRIN1 B); I also got rid of some of the code which was not used.


b) I fixed the situation in which HELPSYS would occasionally
put out a naked carriage return without line-feed, causing overprinting.

c) I fixed two or three situations where HELPSYS would cause non-numeric
arg errors.

d) I simplified the interrupt structure as follows: control-O (or whatever
character was assigned to OUTPUTBUFFER) is redefined when in HELPSYS
to mean to stop the current type-out. This eliminates all confusion
about when it is safe to type the interrupts-- it is always safe
to type a control-O.

e) Finally, I fixed HELPSYS so that it will not mess up if the
HELPSYS files are not available (this used to cause several anomalous
conditions, e.g. it would close the current input file).

In general, performance should be slightly improved, a few bugs
fixed and no new bugs introduced; however, HELPSYS is still
quite flakey in that it often answers with irrelavant information
or formats that information in an unusual way.

Larry
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