SOFTWARE TOOLS; program development interface. [Base version (This version is not tailored to any one machine but serves as a portable base for the user who can add ''primitives'' or modify the base source to tailor SOFTWARE TOOLS to the local computing environment. ); FORTRAN IV and RATFOR]
One of the problems encountered by computer users is the lack of common utility routines for different computer systems. The software which was initially presented in Kernighan and Plauger's SOFTWARE TOOLS represented a first step toward a solution to this problem. A common editor, text formatter, sort, and other program development tools were presented through two mechanisms: (a) all source was written in RATFOR, a FORTRAN preprocessor language directly translatable into FORTRAN, and (b) system-dependent routines were pushed down either into macro replacements or primitive function calls, to be implemented by the individual charged with bringing up the utilities in the local computing environment. These mechanisms, together with adoption of certain conventions pertaining to data types, permit many sites running different operating systems to implement these tools. If the shell, or command line interpreter, is implemented, this software can essentially define a portable ''virtual operating system'' providing inter-system uniformity at the three levels of user interface--virtual machine (the primitives), utilities, and command language. The SOFTWARE TOOLS package consists of a set of program development utilities and a program library modelled after the Bell Laboratories' proprietary UNIX operating system.Base version (This version is not tailored to any one machine but serves as a portable base for the user who can add ''primitives'' or modify the base source to tailor SOFTWARE TOOLS to the local computing environment.); FORTRAN IV and RATFOR.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6478834
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/NESC-967; ON: DE83048967
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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