reduce-historical/psl-1983/news.txt

28-Sep-82 17:50:20-PDT,3097;000000000000
Date: 28 Sep 1982 1750-PDT
From: Alan Snyder <AS>
Subject: new PSL!!!!
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;
cc: AS

Important Change to PSL!

We have installed a new version of PSL on HULK.  It contains a number of
significant changes which are described here.  In addition, you must change
your LOGIN.CMD file to TAKE PSL:LOGICAL-NAMES.CMD instead of
<PSL>LOGICAL-NAMES.CMD.  The <PSL> directory will disappear soon, so make this
change right away!

[These changes, except for NMODE, will appear on THOR and HEWEY shortly.  There
are no immediate plans to move NMODE to the Vax.]

Summary of changes:

* If you run "PSL", you will now get a PSL that contains the NMODE editor,
which is a replacement for EMODE.  PSL will start up in the editor, instead of
the PSL listen loop.  You can easily get back to the PSL listen loop from NMODE
by typing C-] L.  NMODE is a decent subset of EMACS, so if you are familiar
with EMACS you should be able to use NMODE without too much difficulty.  If you
are familiar with EMODE, you should read the file PSL:NMODE-GUIDE.TXT, which
explains the differences between NMODE and EMODE.  A printed copy of this memo,
including the NMODE command chart, is available in the documentation area next
to Helen Asakawa's office.

* The "PSL" program (what you get when you say "PSL" to EXEC) no longer
contains the PSL compiler.  Instead, there is a separate program for compiling
(Lisp) files.  To compile a file "FOO.SL", give the command "PSLCOMP FOO" to
EXEC.  PSLCOMP will produce a binary file "FOO.B" that can then be LOADed or
FASLINed.  To run the compiler interactively, just say "PSLCOMP" to EXEC.

* The PSL directories that contain the source and binaries for all PSL modules
have been moved to a private structure called SS: (the directories are now
SS:<PSL*>).  The old PSL directories (PS:<PSL*>) will disappear soon.  In
addition, the new directories have been reorganized somewhat to better reflect
the structure of the implementation.  The file PSL:-THIS-.DIRECTORY contains a
brief description of the new structure.  If you have used logical names to
refer to PSL directories, then this change should not cause too many problems.

* A number of small bug fixes and improvements have been made.  The most
notable improvements are (1) a more readable backtrace, (2) a better
prettyprinter, and (3) the definition of a "complete" set of I/O functions
taking an explicit channel argument (these functions all have names like
ChannelTerpri, where Terpri is an example of an I/O function that uses the
default I/O channels).  The file PSL:BUG-FIX.LOG contains an exhaustive listing
of the recent changes.

The documentation has been updated to reflect these changes.  The following new
or revised documents are available in the documentation area next to Helen
Asakawa's office:

	Notes on PSL at HP
	DEC-20 PSL New Users' Guide
	NMODE for EMODE Users
	How to customize NMODE

We have made "documentation packets" containing copies of these documents.
Users are encouraged to pick up a copy!
-------
11-Oct-82 15:55:41-PDT,5771;000000000000
Date: 11 Oct 1982 1555-PDT
From: Alan Snyder <AS>
Subject: new PSL installed
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;
cc: AS

PSL NEWS - 11 October 1982

A new PSL has been installed on Hulk and Hewey.  There are a number of
improvements, plus some INCOMPATIBLE changes (see below).  A most noticable
change (on Hulk) is that PSL no longer automatically starts up in the NMODE
editor.  However, if you want PSL to start up in the editor, you can still make
this happen using another new feature, INIT files (see below).  Otherwise, you
can explicitly enter NMODE by invoking the function NMODE, with no arguments.
In addtion, NMODE now supports the extended VT52 emulator on the 9836 (get the
latest version from Tracy).  (No, NMODE is not yet installed on Hewey.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES TO PSL:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This latest version of PSL has 3 changes which may require some application
programs to be changed:

1. SAVESYSTEM

SaveSystem now takes 3 arguments.  The first argument is the banner, the second
is the file to be written, and the third is a list of forms to evaluated when
the new core image is started.  For example:

  (SaveSystem "PSL 3.1" "PSL.EXE" '((InitializeInterrupts)))

2. DUMPLISP

Dumplisp now takes 1 argument, the file to be written.  For example:

  (Dumplisp "PSL.EXE")

3. DSKIN

Dskin has been changed from a FEXPR to a single-argument EXPR.  This should
only affect calls to DSKIN with multiple arguments.  They will have to be
changed to several calls, each with one argument.

4. BR and UNBR

The functions BR and UNBR are no longer part of PSL.  These functions provided
a facility for breaking on entry and exit to specific functions.  However,
they didn't work very well and no one has figured out how to make them work,
so they have been removed.  Send complaints to PSL.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS TO PSL:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following features have been added to PSL:

1. Init files

When PSL, RLISP, or PSLCOMP (note: not BARE-PSL) is executed, if a file
PSL.INIT, RLISP.INIT, or PSLCOMP.INIT, respectively, is in your home (login)
directory, it will be read and evaluated.  This allows you to automatically
customize your Lisp environment.  (The init files are .pslrc, .rlisprc, and
.pslcomprc on the Vax.) If you want PSL to come up in NMODE, include the
statement

  (setf nmode-auto-start T)

in your PSL.INIT file.

2. Prinlevel and Prinlength

The variables PRINLEVEL and PRINLENGTH now exist, as described in the Common
Lisp Reference Manual.  These variables allow you to limit the depth of
printing of nested structures and the number of elements of structured objects
printed.  These variables affect Prin1 and Prin2 (Princ) and those functions
that use them (Printf, Print).  They do not currently affect Prettyprint,
although this may be done in the future.  The Printx function now properly
handles circular vectors.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES TO NMODE:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* NMODE also supports init files (this isn't new, but wasn't stressed in
  previous documentation).  When NMODE starts up, it will read and execute the
  file NMODE.INIT in the user's home (login) directory.  This file should
  contain PSL (Lisp) forms.

* NMODE now reads a default init file if the user has no personal init file.
  The name of this default init file is "PSL:NMODE.INIT".  If you make your
  own NMODE.INIT file, you should consider including in it the statement
  "(nmode-read-and-evaluate-file nmode-default-init-file-name)", which will
  execute the default init file.

* NMODE now supports the 9836 VT52 emulator (which has recently been extended 
  to accept commands to change the display enhancement).  The default NMODE
  init file will set up the NMODE VT52 driver if the system terminal type is
  VT52.

* NMODE no longer always starts up in the editor after it is RESET, ABORTed,
  or ^C'ed and STARTed.  It will only restart in the editor if it was in the
  editor beforehand.

* NMODE will now read and write files containing stray CRs.

* M-X command completion is more like EMACS.

* Typing an undefined command now tells you what command you typed.

* New commands:

  C-X C-L  (Lowercase Region)
  C-X C-U  (Uppercase Region)
  C-X E    (Exchange Windows)
  C-X ^    (Grow Window)
  M-'      (Upcase Digit)
  M-C      (Uppercase Initial)
  M-L      (Lowercase Word)
  M-U      (Uppercase Word)
  M-X Append to File
  M-X DIRED
  M-X Delete File
  M-X Delete and Expunge File
  M-X Edit Directory
  M-X Find File
  M-X Insert Buffer
  M-X Insert File
  M-X Kill Buffer
  M-X Kill File
  M-X List Buffers
  M-X Prepend to File
  M-X Query Replace
  M-X Replace String
  M-X Save All Files
  M-X Select Buffer
  M-X Undelete File
  M-X Visit File
  M-X Write File
  M-X Write Region
(Case conversion commands contributed by Jeff Soreff)

* Some bugs relating to improper window adjustment have been fixed.
  For example, when the bottom window "pops up", the top window will now
  be adjusted.  Also, C-X O now works properly in 1-window mode when the
  two windows refer to the same buffer (i.e., it switches between two
  independent buffer positions).

* Bug fix: It should no longer be possible to find a "killed" buffer in
  a previously unexposed window.
-------
 9-Nov-82 08:17:56-PST,4505;000000000000
Date:  9 Nov 1982 0817-PST
From: Alan Snyder <AS>
Subject: new PSL installed
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;

A new version of PSL has been installed on Hulk.
Here are the details:

New PSL Changes (9 November 1982)

---- PSL Changes -------------------------------------------------------------

* The major change in PSL is that CATCH/THROW has been reimplemented to
  conform to the Common Lisp definition (see Section 7.10 of the Common
  Lisp manual).  In particular, CATCH has been changed to a special form
  so that its second argument is evaluated only once, instead of twice.
  THIS IS AN INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: if you use CATCH, you must change your
  programs.  For example, if you wrote:

    (catch 'foo (list 'frobnicate x y z))

  you should change it to:

    (catch 'foo (frobnicate x y z))

  One aspect of this change is that an "unhandled" throw is now reported
  as an error in the context of the throw, rather than (as before) aborting
  to top-level and restarting the job.

  Also implemented are UNWIND-PROTECT, CATCH-ALL, and UNWIND-ALL, as
  described in the Common Lisp manual, with the exception that the
  catch-function in CATCH-ALL and UNWIND-ALL should expect exactly 2 arguments.

  Note that in Common Lisp, the proper way to catch any throw is to
  use CATCH-ALL, not CATCH with a tag of NIL.

* A related change is that the RESET function is now implemented by
  THROWing 'RESET, which is caught at the top-level.  Thus, UNWIND-PROTECTs
  cannot be circumvented by RESET.

---- NMODE Changes -----------------------------------------------------------

New Features:

* C-X C-B now enters a DIRED-like "Buffer Browser" that allows you to
  select a buffer, delete buffers, etc.
* DIRED and the Buffer Browser can now operate in a split-screen mode, where
  the upper window is used for displaying the buffer/file list and the bottom
  window is used to examine a particular buffer/file.  This mode is enabled
  by setting the variable BROWSER-SPLIT-SCREEN to T.  If this variable is
  NIL, then DIRED and the Buffer Browser will automatically start up in
  one window mode.
* M-X Apropos has been implemented.  It will show you all commands whose
  corresponding function names contain a given string.  Thus, if you
  enter "window", you will see all commands whose names include the string
  "window", such as "ONE-WINDOW-COMMAND".
* M-X Auto Fill Mode has been implemented by Jeff Soreff, along with
  C-X . (Set Fill Prefix) and C-X F (Set Fill Column).  If you want NMODE
  to start up in Auto Fill mode, put the following in your NMODE.INIT file:
       (activate-minor-mode auto-fill-mode)
* NMODE now attempts to display a message whenever PSL is garbage-collecting.
  This feature is not 100% reliable: sometimes a garbage collect will happen
  and no message will be displayed.

Minor Improvements:

* C-N now extends the buffer (like EMACS) if typed without a command argument
  while on the last line of the buffer.
* Lisp break handling has been made more robust.  In particular, NMODE now
  ensures that IN* and OUT* are set to reasonable values.
* The OUTPUT buffer now starts out with the "modified" attribute ("*") off.
* The implementation of command prefix characters (i.e., C-X, M-X, C-], and
  Escape) and command arguments (i.e., C-U, etc.) has changed.  The most
  visible changes are that C-U, etc. echo differently, and that Escape can
  now be followed by bit-prefix characters.  (In other words, NMODE will
  recognize "Escape ^\ E" as Esc-M-E, rather than "Esc-C-\ E"; the 9836
  terminal emulator has been modified to generate such escape sequences
  under some circumstances.)  NMODE customizers may be interested to know
  that all of these previously-magic characters can now be redefined (on a
  per-mode basis, even), just like any other character.
* If you are at or near the end of the buffer, NMODE will put the current
  line closer to the bottom of the screen when it adjusts the window.
* C-X C-F (Find File) and the Dired 'E' command will no longer "find" an
  incorrect version of the specified file, should one happen to already be in
  a buffer.
* The 'C' (continue) command to the PSL break loop now works again.
* The "NMODE" indicator on the current window's mode line no longer
  disappears when the user is entering string input.
* The command C-X 4 F (Find File in Other Window) now sets the buffer's
  file name properly.
-------
 6-Dec-82 18:41:19-PST,1969;000000000000
Date:  6 Dec 1982 1841-PST
From: Cris Perdue <Perdue>
Subject: LOADable modules, and HELP for them
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;

NEW PACKAGES:

Some relatively new packages have been made available by various
people here.  These belong in PU: (loadable utilities) at some
point, but for now they are all on PNEW:, both the source code
and the object code.  See below for an explanation of PNEW:.

Documentation for each of these is either in the source file or
in PH:<file>.DOC, which has been greatly cleaned up.

HASH.SL
HISTORY.SL
IF.SL
MAN.SL
NEWPP.SL
STRING-INPUT.SL
STRING-SEARCH.SL
TIME-FNC.SL

DOCUMENTATION ON PH: (the HELP directory):

PH: has been greatly cleaned up.  It should now be reasonable to
browse through PH: for information on packages not described in
the PSL reference manual.

TO THE USERS:

These files are intended to be IMPORTed or LOADed.  If you wish
to use modules from PNEW:, you must put PNEW: into your
definition of the "logical device" PL:.

The command "INFO LOGICAL PL:" to the EXEC will tell you what the
current definition of PL: is.  Put a line of the form:
"DEFINE PL: <directory>,<directory>, ..., PNEW:" into your LOGIN.CMD
file, including the same directories that are given when you ask
the EXEC, with PNEW: added at the end as shown.

GETTING MOST RECENT VERSIONS OF MODULES:

PNEW: also contains the object files for new versions of existing
modules where the latest version is more recent than the latest
"release" of PSL.  In particular, where PSL.EXE includes the
module preloaded in it, PSL.EXE will not include the version in
PNEW:.  If you want the latest version when you LOAD or IMPORT,
put PNEW: at the front of the list defining PL:.

TO THE IMPLEMENTORS:

If one of these is your product and you feel it is well tried and
no longer experimental, please send a note to Nancy K. asking her
to move the source to PU: and the object file to PL:.

-------
 4-Jan-83 14:37:11-PST,1577;000000000000
Date:  4 Jan 1983 1437-PST
From: Cris Perdue <Perdue>
Subject: PSL NEWS
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;

FILES THAT DESCRIBE OTHER FILES

If you need to look at the PSL directories on HULK or find
something in those directories, look for files with names that
start with "-", such as -THIS-.DIRECTORY or -FILE-NOTES.TXT.
These files appear at the beginning of an ordinary directory
listing and they describe the directory they are in, plus the
files and/or subdirectories of that directory.

PSL directories likely to be of interest to users are:
  PSL: (PSL root directory),
  PU: (source code for libraries),
  PNEW: (place to keep revisions of source files),
  PH: (help files and documentation for libraries).

LIBRARY MODULES NOW LISTED

PU: is the repository for the source code of library modules,
generally contributed by users.  The file PU:-FILE-NOTES.TXT
contains a listing of available library modules, in most cases
with a one-line description of each module.  Please look here for
interesting utilities.  If no documentation appears to exist, bug
the author of the module, also listed.  (Documentation may appear
in PH: or in the source file itself on PU:.)

SAVESYSTEM

The function SAVESYSTEM, which used to take one argument, now takes
three arguments.  The first is the banner, the second is the file to be
written, and the third is a list of forms to be evaluated when the new
core image is started.

PSL.TAGS

For those of you who browse through PSL source code, the file
PSL.TAGS moved to p20sup: from psl:.
-------
11-Jan-83 13:09:13-PST,1516;000000000000
Date: 11 Jan 1983 1309-PST
From: Cris Perdue <Perdue>
Subject: PSL NEWS
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;

When compiled code calls a function that is undefined, the error
is now continuable.  If the error is continued, the function call
is repeated.

The function EXITLISP is now available in DEC-20 PSL, where it is
currently a synonym for QUIT.  Both functions cause PSL to return
to a command interpreter.  If the operating system permits a
choice, QUIT is a continuable exit, and EXITLISP is a permanent
exit (that terminates the PSL process).

The functions LPOSN and CHANNELLPOSN now exist.  These return a
meaningful value for channels that are open for output, giving
the number of the current line within the current output page.
To be precise, the value is the number of newlines output since
the most recent formfeed.

People have been using the undocumented STRING-CONCAT function.
This function is NOT actually compatible with Common LISP.  It
should be used as a function that applies only to string
arguments, and is otherwise like CONCAT.

Various bugs have been fixed, notably in the compiler and
debugging facilities.

A new directory of possible interest is PSYS:.  This contains
executable files.  Executables already documented as being on
PSL: will stay there for some time, but new ones are on PSYS:.

DOCUMENTATION

The reference manual has been significantly revised and a new
version will be made available to all PSL users within a week or
two.
-------
11-Jan-83 13:20:09-PST,4950;000000000000
Date: 11 Jan 1983 1319-PST
From: Alan Snyder <AS>
Subject: NMODE news
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;
cc: AS


NMODE changes (10-Nov-1982 through 5-Jan-1983):

* Bug fix: In the previous version of NMODE, digits and hyphen would insert
  themselves in the buffer even in "read-only" modes like Dired.  They now act
  to specify command arguments in those modes.

* Bug fix: control characters are now displayed properly in the message lines
  at the bottom of the screen.

* Some bugs in auto fill mode have been fixed.

* C-S and C-R now get you an incremental search, very much like that in
  EMACS.  [Incremental search was implemented by Jeff Soreff.]

* The window scrolling commands have been changed to ring the bell if no
  actual scrolling takes place (because you are already at the end of the
  buffer, etc.). In addition, some bugs in the scroll-by-pages commands have
  been fixed: (1) Previously, a request to scroll by too many pages was ignored;
  now it will scroll by as many pages as possible.  (2) Previously, a backwards
  scroll near the beginning of the buffer could fail to leave the cursor in the
  same relative position on the screen.

* A number of changes have been made that improve the efficiency of refresh,
  input completion (on buffer names and M-X command names), and Lisp I/O
  to and from buffers (Lisp-E).

* Jeff Soreff has implemented the following commands:

  M-A                (Backward Sentence)
  M-E                (Forward Sentence)
  M-K                (Kill Sentence)
  C-X Rubout         (Backward Kill Sentence)
  M-[                (Backward Paragraph)
  M-]                (Forward Paragraph)
  M-H                (Mark Paragraph)
  M-Q                (Fill Paragraph) 
  M-G                (Fill Region)
  M-Z                (Fill Comment)
  M-S                (Center Line)
  C-X = and C-=	     (What Cursor Position)
                                                                               
  These are basically the same as EMACS, except for M-Z, which is new.  M-Z
  (Fill Comment) is like M-Q (Fill Paragraph), except that it first scans the
  beginning of the current line for a likely prefix and temporarily sets the
  fill prefix to that string.  The prefix is determined to be any string of
  indentation, followed by zero or more non-alphanumeric, non-blank characters,
  followed by any indentation.  The Fill Prefix works somewhat better than
  EMACS: lines not containing the fill prefix delimit paragraphs.

* New EMACS commands implemented:
  C-M-\ (Indent Region) (for both Text and Lisp modes)
  C-M-C (inserts a ^C)

* Defined C-? same as M-?, C-( same as C-M-(, C-) same as C-M-), for the
  convenience of 9836 users.

* The following commands have been enhanced to obey the C-U argument as in
  EMACS:

  C-Y			    (Insert Kill Buffer)
  M-Y			    (Unkill Previous)
  M-^			    (Delete Indentation)
  C-M-(, C-M-U, and C-(     (Backward Up List)
  C-M-) and C-)             (Forward Up List)
  C-M-N                     (Move Forward List)
  C-M-P                     (Move Backward List)
  C-M-A and C-M-[           (Move Backward Defun)
  C-M-E and C-M-]           (End of Defun)

* The C-X = command has been extended: if you give it a numeric argument,
  it will go to the specified line number.

* NMODE's Lisp parsing has been vastly improved.  It now recognizes the
  following: lists, vectors, comments, #/ character constants, string literals,
  ! as the escape character, and prefixes (including quote, backquote, comma,
  comma-atsign, and #-quote).  The only restriction is that parsing is always
  done from the beginning of the line; thus newline cannot appear in string
  literals or be quoted in any way.

* NMODE's Lisp indenting has also been improved.  It now recognizes special
  cases of indenting under functional forms, and indents to match the leftmost
  (rather than the rightmost) of a sequence of forms on a line.  It also knows
  about prefixes, like quote.

* Inserting a right bracket in Lisp mode now displays the matching bracket, just
  as inserting a right paren does.

* Inserting a right paren (or right bracket) now will avoid trying to display
  the "matching" left paren (or left bracket) when inside a comment, etc.

* Changed multi-line Lisp indenting commands to avoid indenting (in fact, remove
  any indentation from) blank lines.

* The indenting commands now avoid modifying the buffer if the indentation
  remains unchanged.

* When a command (such as C-X K) asks for the name of an existing buffer,
  CR will now complete the name, if possible, and terminate if the name
  uniquely specifies one existing buffer.  This behavior is more similar
  to EMACS than the previous behavior, where CR did no completion.

* String input is now confirmed by moving the cursor to the beginning of
  the input line.
-------
11-Jan-83 17:19:31-PST,1032;000000000001
Date: 11 Jan 1983 1719-PST
From: Cris Perdue <Perdue>
Subject: More PSL News
To: PSL-News: ;, PSL-Users: ;

The behavior of LOAD has been modified so it is possible to use LOAD
to load in ".SL" files.  As in the past, LOAD searches in two places
for a file to load:  first in the connected directory (DSK: for the
DEC-20 cognoscenti), then on PL: (or the equivalent on other machines).

On each of these directories it searches through a list of file
extensions (.b, .lap, and .sl) for a file with the right name and
that extension.  Thus LOAD looks first for <file>.b, then <file>.lap,
then <file>.sl, then pl:<file>.b, then pl:<file>.lap, finally pl:<file>.sl.

Until the latest version of PSL, LOAD would only search for .b and .lap
files.  The extended behavior should help people who often do not
compile files.  The main thing to remember is to either keep any
.b file in the same directory with the .sl, or else make sure that
the .b file's directory is searched before the .sl file's directory.
-------
19-Jan-83 18:28:27-PST,1437;000000000003
Date: 19 Jan 1983 1826-PST
From: PERDUE at HP-HULK
Subject: PSL News Update
To: psl-news

LOADing files

The LOAD function uses two lists in searching for a file to actually
load.  The lists are:

loaddirectories*

This initially has the value: ("" "pl:").  It is a list of strings
which indicate the directory to look in.  Directories are searched in
order of the list.

loadextensions*

This initially has the value: ((".b" . FASLIN) (".lap" . LAPIN)
(".sl" . LAPIN)).  It is an association list.  Each element is a pair
whose CAR is a string representing a file extension and whose CDR is a
function to apply to LOAD a file of this extension.  Within each
directory of loaddirectories*, the members of loadextensions* are used
in order in searching for a file to load.

NOTES: The value of loadextensions* has recently changed.  Removal of
the last element of loadextensions* will restore the old behavior.  Do
not expect the exact strings that appear in these lists to remain
identical across machines or across time, but it is reasonable to
believe that the lists and their use will be stable for some time.

DEBUGGING: BR and UNBR

BR and UNBR were removed from the PSL system some time ago.  To
satisfy their devotees, they have been resurrected in a library named
BR-UNBR.  A bug has also been fixed and very soon the system library
file will have the fix (if in a hurry see pnew:).
-------
24-Jan-83 09:42:10-PST,703;000000000000
Date: 21 Jan 1983 1909-PST
From: PERDUE at HP-HULK
Subject: Documentation directories
To: psl-news

The PSL documentation directory "pd:" has been cleaned up and
there are now also machine-dependent directories p20d:, pvd:,
phpd:, and pad: (Apollo).  No great news of yet concerning the
contents of these directories, though they do contain some rather
new documents in source and final form.

Note that some of these logical names are new, and there are some
other new logical names as well: the group based on the root name
"pdist" has been filled out, and the group based on the name
"psup:" has also been filled out with a couple of new directories
and their logical names.
-------
 9-Feb-83 13:22:20-PST,4442;000000000000
Date:  9 Feb 1983 1317-PST
From: AS at HP-HULK
Subject: NMODE changes
To: psl-news

The following recent changes are available in PSL:NMODE.EXE on Hulk,
and on the 9836 (except for Dired).

Recent NMODE changes (20-Jan-1983 through 9-Feb-1983):

Changes:

* The Buffer Browser (C-X C-B) has changed in a number of ways.  It has three
  new commands:

  F     Saves the buffer in a file, if there are unsaved changes.
  M-~   Turns off the buffer-modified flag.
  N     Restores all Ignored files to the display list.

  In addition, Backspace has been made equivalent to Rubout.  Also, the
  commands D,U,K,I,Rubout,Backspace,F,N, and M-~ all obey a numeric argument
  of either sign.  The Buffer Browser now starts up pointing at the
  previously-current buffer.  After performing a sort command, the cursor now
  continues to point at the same buffer.

* DIRED (the File browser) has been changed in a number of ways.  One
  SIGNIFICANT INCOMPATIBLE change is that the K and C-K commands now delete
  the file immediately and remove the file from the display (instead of just
  marking them for later deletion).  In addition, there are two new commands:

  I     (Ignore File) Removes the file from the display list, without
	any effect on the actual file.
  N     Restores all Ignored files to the display list.

  In addition, Backspace has been made equivalent to Rubout.  Also, the
  commands D,U,K,I,Rubout,Backspace,and N all obey a numeric argument of
  either sign.  The sort-by-filename procedure has been changed to sort
  version numbers in numerical, rather than lexicographic order.  When Dired
  starts, the files are sorted using this procedure, instead of leaving them
  in the order returned by the file system.  After performing a sort command,
  the cursor now continues to point at the same file.  Dired will now
  automatically kill any buffer it had created for viewing a file as soon as
  you view a new file or exit Dired, unless the buffer contains unsaved
  changes.

* M-X Insert File now takes as its default the file name used in the previous
  M-X Insert File command.  This behavior matches EMACS.

* Lisp-E (and Lisp-D, a new command) now insert a free EOL at the end of the
  buffer, if needed, whenever the buffer-modified flag is set.  Previously the
  free EOL was inserted only when the current position was at the end of the
  buffer, regardless of the state of the buffer-modified flag.

New commands:

  M-X Count Occurrences (aka M-X How Many)
  M-X Delete Matching Lines (aka M-X Flush Lines)
  M-X Delete Non-Matching Lines (aka M-X Keep Lines)
  M-X Insert Date (not on 9836 yet)
  M-X Kill Some Buffers
  M-X Rename Buffer
  M-X Revert File
  M-X Set Key
  M-X Set Visited Filename

  Lisp-D (in Lisp mode) executes the current defun (if the current position is
  within a defun) or executes from the current position (otherwise).

Improvements:

* NMODE now checks the system's terminal type every time it is restarted.
  This change allows you to use an NMODE that was detached from one kind
  of terminal and later attached on another kind of terminal.

* Fixed bug in Dec-20 version: Find File could leave around an empty file if
  you tried to find a nonexistent file in a directory that allows you to
  create new files but whose default file protection does not allow you to
  delete them.  (On the Dec-20, Find File determines the name of a new file by
  writing an empty file and immediately deleting it.)

* A soft-key feature has been added, intended primarily for use on the 9836.
  The command Esc-/ will read a soft-key designator (a single character in the
  range '0' to 'W') and execute the definition of the corresponding softkey
  (numbered 0 through 39).  Softkeys are defined using the function
  (nmode-define-softkey n fcn label-string), where n is the softkey number and
  fcn is either NIL (for undefined), a function ID (which will be invoked), or a
  string (which will be executed as if typed at the keyboard).  NMODE on the
  9836 sets up the keyboard so that the function keys K0 through K9 send an
  appropriate Esc-/ sequence (using shift and control as modifiers).

* The two message/prompt lines at the bottom of the screen are now sometimes
  updated independently of the rest of the screen.  This change makes writing
  messages and prompts more efficient.
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25-Feb-83 11:03:02-PST,2247;000000000000
Date: 25 Feb 1983 1059-PST
From: AS at HP-HULK
Subject: recent NMODE changes
To: psl-news

Recent NMODE changes (14-Feb-1983 through 24-Feb-1983):

Bugs fixed:

* Dired wasn't garbage collecting old buffers used to view files, as had been
  intended.
* M-Z would enter an infinite loop on a paragraph at the end of the buffer
  whose last line had no terminating Newline character.
* When filling with a fill prefix, the cursor would sometimes be placed
  improperly.
* M-X Rename Buffer didn't convert the new buffer name to upper case.
* The Permanent Goal Column feature (Set by C-X C-N) didn't work.
* The incremental search commands did not handle bit-prefix characters
  (e.g., the Meta prefix) properly.  Typing a bit-prefix character would
  terminate the search, but then the bit-prefix character would not be
  recognized as such.
* When executing Lisp from the OUTPUT buffer in one-window mode, the window
  would not be adjusted if the other (unexposed) window also was attached to
  the OUTPUT buffer.
* The cursor was being positioned improperly when the window was scrolled
  horizontally.

Performance Improvements:

* The efficiency of Lisp printing to the OUTPUT buffer has been improved
  significantly through the use of internal buffering.  One visible change is
  that the screen is updated only after an entire line is written.
* Insertion into text buffers has been speeded up by eliminating some
  unnecessary string consing that occurred when inserting at the beginning or
  end of a line (which is very common).

EMACS Compatibility Enhancements:

* M-X Set Visited Filename now converts the new name to the true name of the
  file, if possible.
* M-X Rename Buffer now checks for attempts to use the name of an existing
  buffer.
* Query-Replace now terminates when you type a character that is not a
  query-replace command and rereads that character.
* C-M-D has been extended to obey the command argument (either positive
  or negative).  It still differs from the EMACS C-M-D command in that it
  always stays within the current enclosing list.
* M-( has been extended to obey the command argument.
* The M-) command (Move Over Paren) has been implemented.
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