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--- tutorials:tops20-interactive [2011/04/30 15:07] – created clemens
+++ tutorials:tops20-interactive [2012/05/01 20:06] (current) – Does not apply to SDF-EU. ivan
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 |  | ^C | Exit program (may need 2 or more) |
-===== TOPS20 Tutorial Log =====
+Does not apply to SDF-EU.
-  @tops20
+$Id: tops20-interactive.html,v 1.1 2010/05/23 16:55:57 papa Exp $
-  Following is  a brief  explanation of  some conventions  of  Tops-20.
-  Learning and remembering them will be a great help when exploring the
-  facilities on this system.  If you are already familiar with Tops-20,
-  you should  ^C out of this program.   If not,  you might want to take
-  notes.
-  The first things you should learn  are the control characters ^S  and
-  ^Q.  A  "control character"  is made  by striking  some letter  WHILE
-  HOLDING DOWN the control key  (marked "CTRL").  They are  represented
-  in print by putting ^ before the letter.  So ^S is made by striking S
-  while holding down the CTRL key. (S need not be typed in upper case.)
-  ^S and ^Q are used to stop and start output (typing) to the terminal.
-  This is useful  mostly on a  CRT (video) terminal,  where things  you
-  want to look  at have  a habit  of going off  the top  of the  screen
-  before you can read it.
-      ^S - stop output temporarily
-      ^Q - continue stopped output
-  A ^S typed by you will be simulated now.  (Type ^Q to continue.)
-  Very good!  It is also  possible (but we won't  go into how here)  to
-  have the line set up so that it automatically pauses at the end of an
-  uninterrupted page  of output.   Practice using  ^S and  ^Q every  so
-  often throughout this lesson.  (Remember: When output stops where you
-  wouldn't expect it to,  the system is frequently  just waiting for  a
-  ^Q.)
-  The next concept you  should learn is that  of ESCAPE and "?".   Most
-  commands are given  with words.   You needn't type  out the  complete
-  command.  A  unique abbreviation  is  sufficient.  After  typing  the
-  abbreviation, an ESCAPE (sometimes  called ALTMODE, labeled "ESC"  or
-  "ALT") will cause  the system  to type out  the rest  of the  command
-  word.  This is called recognition.
-      ESC - complete an abbreviated command
-  Here is  an example  - type  an ESCAPE at the end of this example:
-  TOPS20&gt;recogNITION
-  Good.  See  how the  system completed  the word  for you?   There  is
-  another advantage  to using  ESCAPE for  recognition -  guide  words.
-  When you type ESCAPE  to recognize a command,  the system will  often
-  supply a hint as to  what it wants to  see next.  These hints,  which
-  are always typed in parentheses, are called guide words.  Try  typing
-  ESCAPE again and see how it works:
-  TOPS20&gt;gUIDE (WORDS)
-  Alright!  The "(WORDS)" above is an  example of a guide word.   Guide
-  words are also sometimes  called noise words.  Usually they give some
-  hint as to what should come next, as
-      TYPE (FILES)       - you should give it names of files to type
-      LOGIN (USER)       - you should type your user name
-  Sometimes, though, this doesn't give a  big enough hint.  If this  is
-  the case, you can find out what  is expected of you next by typing  a
-  question mark.
-      ? - show what is expected here
-  Ok, now try out using a question mark ("?").  (If the system  doesn't
-  do anything when you're done, type a carriage return.)
-  How do you spell 3? ? one of the following:
-   ONE     THREE    TWO
-  How do you spell 3? three
-  Ok, next we'll work on changing what you've typed in.  First of  all,
-  sometimes, the line you are entering gets broken or messed up in some
-  other way.  If you type a ^R,  the system will retype the prompt  and
-  any input you have typed.
-      ^R - retype the current line
-  Here a  broken line  will be  demonstrated.   Type a  ^R to  have  it
-  redisplayed.
-  TOPS20&gt;This line is
-  SANTA.CLAUS, TTY45, 23-May-2010 5:41AM
-  Have you been good?
-  TOPS20&gt;This line is not broken
-  There -  you  see  how  the  line  got  retyped  all  in  one  piece?
-  Sometimes, something you  typed was  not what you  meant.  There  are
-  special characters which  you can  use to  edit what  you have  typed
-  already.  The first of these is DELETE (which may also be labelled as
-  either "DEL", "RUBOUT", or "RO").  Its function is to erase the  last
-  character typed.
-      DEL - erase the previous character
-  Use a DELETE to correct the following error:
-  TOPS20&gt;correction
-  Hey, you're moving right along now.  The next line editing  character
-  to learn is ^W.  Sometimes your mistake doesn't involve just the last
-  couple of letters.  Sometimes you'll goof up a word or two.   DELETEs
-  aren't convenient when you have to  delete so many letters.  ^W  will
-  delete characters a word at a time.
-      ^W - erase the previous word
-  Use one or more ^W (along with some other features you've learned) to
-  correct the following error:
-  TOPS20&gt;This example is not wrong
-  That's it!  Almost done with  the editing control characters...   The
-  last of these is ^U.  If, somehow,  the line you typed in was not  at
-  all what you were intending to type, ^U will erase the entire line of
-  input.
-      ^U - erase the entire line
-  Use ^U  (and  some other  features  you've learned)  to  correct  the
-  following error (we're getting tricky now):
-  TOPS20&gt;
-  Wonderful!  Now you know all about editing characters for commands on
-  Tops-20.  Only a couple more things to learn.  The next is ^O.  If  a
-  lot of typing is coming out on your terminal which you don't want  to
-  see, but you don't want to  interrupt the program which is doing  the
-  output (we'll get to how to do  that in a minute), you should type  a
-  ^O.  The  first  time you  type  ^O,  it redirects  output  for  your
-  terminal off into  nowhere (sort of  sends it to  the "bit  bucket").
-  The next time you type ^O,  output is directed back to your  terminal
-  again.  All output in the interim is lost.
-      ^O - toggles output suppression
-  For practice with  ^O, I'm  going to  dump a  lot of  output to  your
-  terminal.  Try typing a few ^O's to see how they work.
-  Type carriage return when you're ready.
-  This is trip number 1 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 2 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 3 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 4 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 5 thru the loop.
-  [...]
-  This is trip number 46 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 47 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 48 thru the loop.
-   ^O...s trip number 49 thru the loop.
-  he loop.
-  This is trip number 53 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 54 thru the loop.
-  [...]
-  This is trip number 98 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 99 thru the loop.
-  This is trip number 100 thru the loop.
-  So there's ^O for you.  Quite useful at times, isn't it...
-  Would you like to try it again? no
-  Ok, one last thing which you'll find useful before the final  lesson.
-  That's ^T.  ^T  tells you  information about what  you are  currently
-  doing.  It's output looks something like this:
-:03:57 TOPS20 IO wait at 2332  Used 0:34:41.4 in 10:05:05, Load
-.58
-  In the above example, "TOPS20" is  the the name of the program  which
-  you are running.   "IO wait" tells  what the program  is doing.   (In
-  this case, it's waiting for some input or output to complete -  maybe
-  waiting for the user to  type something.)  The number following  "at"
-  is the  address  at  which  the program  is  executing.   The  number
-  following "Used" is the amount of time your program(s) have  actually
-  spent running, and the one after "in" is how long you've been  logged
-  on.  The  number following  "Load" is  roughly the  number of  people
-  trying to use the machine "right now."
-  Try typing a ^T...
-:36:28 TOPS20 SLEEP at PS5+11  Used 0:00:01.5 in 0:07:49, Load
-.03
-  Well, would  you believe  you've made  it to  the last  part of  this
-  lesson?  The last (but not  least important) thing you'll learn  here
-  is about ^C.  Typing ^C's is how you get out of almost any program on
-  Tops-20.  If the program is waiting for input, one ^C will  interrupt
-  it.  If not, probably  two will work, but  sometimes as many as  four
-  are needed.  ^C is usually used as a panic exit from a program.
-      ^C - exits (immediately) from the program
-  Oh, yes...  Before you try it out, if you'd like to run this  program
-  again sometime, it's TOPS20:TOPS20.EXE.
-  Ok - Now for the last bit of practice - ^C out of this program.
-  ^C
-  To summarize:
-      ^C  - Cease program immediately
-      ^O  - Output suppress
-      ^Q  - Qontinue output
-      ^R  - Redisplay line
-      ^S  - Stop output
-      ^T  - Tells what's happening
-      ^U  - Undoes line being typed in
-      ^W  - Word deletion
-      ?   - what?s expected here
-      DEL - DELetes one character
-      ESC - rESCognitiion invoked
-  Ok, good luck...
-  @