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From: mikew50@aol.com (MikeW50)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2.programmer
Subject: Re: GSoft Specification
Date: 4 Feb 1997 21:05:57 GMT
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Part 5 (final)

Utility Statements
------------------					
FRE ( expression )
PEEK expression
POKE expression ',' expression

Some memory allocation and dispose routines, similar to Pascal's
NEW/DISPOSE or C's malloc() free() will be provided.

Disk I/O
--------
CHDIR directory-name         (change directory)
CLOSE file
DIR$                         (return a list of files)
EOF file
KILL file-name               (delete a file)
INPUT #file [ ',' l-value ]+			
MKDIR directory-name         (create a directory)
NAME file-name AS file-name  (rename a file)
OPEN file-name FOR [ OUTPUT | INPUT | APPEND ] AS file
PRINT #file [
       expression
     | SPC '(' expression ')'
     | TAB '(' expression ')'
       [ ',' ';' ] ]*
PRINT #file USING line [ expression [ ',' expression ] ]
RMDIR directory-name         (delete a directory)
SEEK #file ',' expression    (set the read or write position)

Some form of binary read and write for quickly reading and writing chunks
of memory will also be provided.


Toolbox Support
---------------

GSoft has a complete set of interfaces for the Apple IIGS toolbox. All
tool calls that can be called from Pascal or C without glue code are
available. Some tools that do require glue code will be supported as well,
but the complete list hasn't been compiled.

GSoft also allows access to user tools. Support includes an equivalent to
the LoadOneTool call, but for user tools, making it as easy to load and
use a user tool as it is currently to load and use system tools.

A tool framework will also be included. This tool framework allows you to
write user tools in C, Pascal or assembly language. It provides a generic
framework that is not sensitive to the tool number, so if you ever get two
user tools with the same number, simply renaming one or the other resolves
the conflict.

User tools give you the freedom to add routines in any language that can
easily be used by GSoft. As an added advantage, the same routines can be
used from any other language that supports tools, so you don't need
multiple versions of the same subroutines.