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tops-20_interactive_tutorial [2021/03/16 22:04] – created hc9tops-20_interactive_tutorial [2021/03/17 14:40] (current) – [Executive Summary] hc9
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 +====== TOPS-20 Interactive Tutorial ======
 +
 +This file is a log of a session with the TOPS-20 interactive tutorial on twenex.org. It has been added to the SDF tutorials to make the content available on the World-Wide Web, but it is a much more effective learning experience to work through the tutorial interactively by logging-in to twenex.org and running the TOPS20 program.
 +
 +===== Executive Summary =====
 +
 +The tutorial introduces a number of useful keystroke commands for working with in the TOPS-20 EXEC environment.
 +
 +^Output control^
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**S|Pause output scrolling|
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**Q|Resume output scrolling|
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**O|Toggle output suppression|
 +^Command guidance^
 +|ESC| Command completion and guide words|
 +|?| Expected input guidance|
 +^Command line editing^
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**R| Retype current line|
 +|DEL (or BackSpace)| Erase previous character|
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**W| Erase previous word|
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**U| Erase current line|
 +^Program status and control^
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**T| Session status|
 +|**<nowiki>^</nowiki>**C| Exit program (may need 2 or more)|
 +
 +===== TOPS20 Tutorial Log =====
 +
 +<file config log>
 +
 +  @tops20
 +
 +  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>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>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>This line is
 +  SANTA.CLAUS, TTY45, 23-May-2010 5:41AM
 +  Have you been good?
 +  TOPS20>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>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>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>
 +
 +  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:
 +
 +  17:03:57 TOPS20 IO wait at 2332  Used 0:34:41.4 in 10:05:05, Load
 +  3.58
 +
 +  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...
 +
 +   05:36:28 TOPS20 SLEEP at PS5+11  Used 0:00:01.5 in 0:07:49, Load
 +  0.03
 +
 +  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...
 +  @
 +
 +</file>
 +
 +$Id: tops20-interactive.html,v 1.1 2010/05/23 16:55:57 papa Exp $ [[http://sdf.org/?tutorials/tops20-interactive|TOPS-20 Interactive Tutorial]] - traditional link (using [[wp>Revision_Control_System|RCS]])