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From: carolyn@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Carolyn Scheppner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Pattern Matching & documentation, & flame to C-A
Message-ID: <1135@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Dec-86 21:30:52 EST
Article-I.D.: cbmvax.1135
Posted: Wed Dec 17 21:30:52 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 18-Dec-86 21:42:44 EST
References: <8612152348.AA29410@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: carolyn@cbmvax.UUCP (Carolyn Scheppner)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 42

In article <8612152348.AA29410@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes:
>
>	NOW LOOK C-A, I'VE ENOUGH OF THIS SH#$%%T.  WILL YOU *PLEASE* POST
>DOCUMENTATION ON BCPL STARTUP AND ALL THE STRANGE THINGS IT DOES TO THE
>STDIO FILEHANDLES SO WE CAN WRITE AN EXEC() THAT WORKS!!!.  I thought I had
>gotten an exec() that worked, but no, when I modify it to APPEND to the
>output file instead of CREATE/TRUNCATE, the BCPL program fails to write
>everything to the file.  Why the hell you didn't add this to the 1.2 DOS
>library I'll never know.
>
>						-Matt

   I've had more than enough of your SCREAMING and CURSING.  

   You act like we're hoarding some Magic Document that would endow the
reader with Instant Knowledge of the Glorious Inner Secrets of AmigaDOS. 

   Well Matt, there is no magic document.  I wish there was.
   What we have is the AmigaDOS source code.

   BCPL is a bit like C, and it is possible to decipher and even
make changes to localized portions of the code.  But when you
start to trace code that interfaces with the private global functions
via run-time linking, you get stopped by tables of labels and vectors
that specify numerical offsets into other tables that are built at  
run time.  And if you manage to make it to the other side of the
table because a corresponding label on the other side happens to
have a similar name, you get stuck there because because that code
starts loading registers with labels defined as offsets into the
run-time table.  

   So, you can either pay Tim King to reveal the inner secrets, 
or wait until someone here has time to decipher a very large and
very complex program that jumps all over the place.
   
carolyn
-- 
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Carolyn Scheppner -- CBM   >>Amiga Technical Support<<
                     UUCP  ...{allegra,caip,ihnp4,seismo}!cbmvax!carolyn 
                     PHONE 215-431-9180
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