When I first used PolyForth 86, back in the 80's, one of the first things I
did was write an ASCII file loader, for which many of my fellow Forthers
chided me, but it made things significantly easier in several ways. For
starters, it was easier to make backups, transfer code from one machine to
another, and use the old PolyTron VCS code/version management tools. Plus, I
didn't have to teach a strange new editor to the technicians who had to
modify the data tables -- they could use the DOS editor they already knew.

I would not expect it to be any more difficult to write a tool that would
translate blocks to ASCII files. The main challenge would be to translate
(iirc) LOAD <block#> to something compatible with your new loader. The first
thing that occurred to me is to write each block to a separate file using a
naming convention that includes the block number, then write a LOAD word
that uses that naming convention.

e.g., LOAD 23 would load a file "23.4th", or something similar. Or, since an
extension isn't really needed, the file could simply be "24".

I would not expect that to take more than a day or two to write.

Happy Forthing! I have to admit a bit of jealousy, since the last Forth I
got to write for a living was a few years ago, for GE in Longview, TX.
Except for a timing error in my personal life, I might still be there; it
was one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had. Nowadays, I'm programming in
C++, and consider myself extremely fortunate to have a job at all in the
current economy.

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 4:03 AM, Nigel Bond <nigel_at_techwiz.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
>
> When migrating to SwiftX I was convinced I would miss blocks. I did not.
>
> I'm now needed to get back into pF8086 L3 and I'm wondering ....
>
>
>
> Has anyone got any code/suggestions for loading text source files in
> pF8086?
> (Running in DOS, or DOS under W95/98/ME)
>
> Is anyone old enough to know what I'm talking about?
>
>
>
>
> Any comments most appreciated.
>
>
>
>
> Nigel Bond
> Engineer
> TIC Irrigation Controls Ltd.
> Devon. UK.
>
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--
Howard Lee Harkness
Pro-Count, Inc.
214 269-1171
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