Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1988.

HOW TO TRY THE ABC EDITOR:

The directory ./ex/try is here to try the ABC editor interactively.

After a successful "make all" or "make examples" say:

        make try_editor

to enter the ABC system.  (If you are cross-compiling, copy ./ex
recursively to the target machine and say:

        cd ex
        TryEditor

you should make sure that the "abc" command in your PATH.)

After the ABC system has started up it will prompt for a command with

        >>> ?

Slowly type `s', then `t', (no capitals needed) and you should see the ABC
editor suggest the SELECT and START commands, respectively.  Now
press [TAB] to accept this last suggestion, and [RETURN] to enter the
START command to the ABC interpreter.  This command will prompt you for
input, with

        ?

Just enter a few lines of text, (which will be echoed), ending with an
empty one (press [RETURN] immediately).  A short "poem" should be generated
by the ABC interpreter.

If you are already familiar with the ABC language, you might try to edit
the START how-to by answering

        >>> ?

with

        :START

For example, try to remove the SET RANDOM command, to get random
results on the same input.  Or make the unit delay the echoing of the text,
entered by the user, until after the reading of the empty line.  For
testing purposes you should at least try the arrow keys to move the focus
around.

You can undo any change by pressing [BACKSPACE].
You can get help with ? or [ESC]-?.
You can leave the ABC editor with [ESC]-[ESC].
You can leave "abc" by typing QUIT.

For more information, see the manual page "abc(1)" and "The ABC
programmer's Handbook".

See the B Newsletter, issue 2, for a description of the "generate" program.
