HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: jkenton@world.std.com (Jeff Kenton)
Subject: Re: Sorting/Printing
Organization: Kenton Systems Corporation, Weston MA
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 11:31:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.022202.2349@menudo.uh.edu> libh@Jane.UH.EDU writes:
>
>  I am working on a project for a friend that requires me to sort a large file
>of records (2000+ entries generally) that will change from month to month as he
>gets updates so I can never be certain of the number of records.  I would
>appreciate any suggestions on sorting the file.  Right now I am debating on how
>to treat it as a large array on disk and sort it as if it were in memory, but I
>also realize that it would be VERY slow.  Any suggestions would be greatly
>appreciated.


There are lots of different sorting techniques.  See Knuth, Volume 3.

Before you actually go write a serious disk sort (it will teach you
something worthwhile, of course) consider just sorting the new entries
each month and merging them into the old (sorted) file.  Much quicker.



-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
=			Jeff Kenton	(617) 894-4508			=
=			    jkenton@world.std.com			=
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: gay@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ian D. Gay)
Subject: Re: Anyone know of an "un-exepack" program?
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 19:39:01 GMT

darrylo@hpnmdla.sr.hp.com (Darryl Okahata) writes:

>     Does an "un-exepack" program exist?  I've got a copy of the MSCDEX

Yes, there is one in the LZEXE package by Fabrice Bellard, available 
at Simtel and better bulletin boards in your neighborhood.



>     Thanks,
>     -- Darryl Okahata
> darrylo@sr.hp.com
From: dafnioti@cae.wisc.edu (Petros Dafniotis)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: FORTRAN compilers: WATCOM vs MicroWay NDP 486
Date: 12 Aug 92 16:30:01 GMT
Distribution: comp.lang.fortran, comp.os.msdos.programmer
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering

Hello netters,

  subject says it all! I am out in the market to buy a 386/486 compiler
for my 486; I have heard quite some good comments for the WATCOM compiler;
however, last week a friend of mine (haven't seen him for years) told me
that the execution speed of NDP486 is at quite faster than the WATCOM's
product.
  I would like to hear if anyone of you has used the WATCOM and/or the
MicroWay product any pros/cons; any reference to a PCMagazine/Byte article
is welcome. MUST include: extended VMS compatibility, graphics and screen
libraries. Also, any other related products you are aware of and/or suggestions
are welcome. PLEASE, no suggestion on using f2c/djgpp for FORTRAN programming.

  Thank you very much,

					Petros Dafniotis
					Chem Engr Dept, UW-Madison

					e-mail:  dafnioti@cae.wisc.edu
						 dafniotis@chera6.che.wisc.edu

PS: responses via e-mail or news are both fine. I will summarize if there is
    sufficient interest.
From: exuptr@exu.ericsson.se (Patrick Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: BIOS SPEED FOR VIDEO WRITES
Date: 20 Aug 92 19:16:10 GMT
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.

In article <1992Aug20.131829.5606@tc.cornell.edu> homer@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Homer Smith) writes:
>      
>     From a beginner...
> 
>     I wrote a short program in assembler to write to every pixel on
>     On my 386/33 with Trident 8900 chip the program takes 1:10
>minutes.
> 
>     On my 486/33 with identical video board the program takes 11:46
>minutes.
> 

First off, both times are too slow.

>     Could someone please give me a hint why the 486 is 11 times
>slower than the 386. 
> 
>     Using another program that did a simple INC AX,1 repeatedly,
>the 486 was 2.8 times faster than the 386.
> 
>     Homer

How are you drawing pixels?  What video mode? If you are calling an INT 10h 
function, there's your bottleneck.  As for why it might be slower, check 
these things:

1>  Do you have VIDEO / BIOS shadow on either machine?

2>  Do you have any non-standard bus timings on either machine?  (Extended
    setup)

3>  Compare the loaded drivers, etc... on both machines, especially packet 
    drivers, keyboard intercepts, video intercepts, etc...

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "This must be Thursday.  I never could get the hang of Thursdays"
                                                       - D Adams
  - Patrick Taylor
    Ericsson Network Systems
    exuptr@exu.ericsson.se                       "Don't let the .se fool you"
    alternately, exuptr@ZGNews.Lonestar.Org
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: drice@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Keith Rice)
Subject: Re: BIOS/DOS interrupt list
Organization: University of North Texas
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 05:19:06 GMT

In <92230.211630ISSLKA@BYUVM.BITNET> <ISSLKA@BYUVM.BITNET> writes:

>Can somebody please let me know where I can find a good list of DOS and BIOS
>interrupts, with descriptions and necassary parameter values?  I'm a student
>programmer and would like to be able to do some of the stuff that the big
>boys do.

There is a large collection of documents available via anonymous ftp from
garbo.uwasa.fi in the pc/programming directory.  The filenames are

	inter31a.zip
	inter31b.zip
	inter31c.zip

These files total up to over 500K in size zipped.

--
Keith
drice@ponder.csci.unt.edu

Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: glen@wench.ece.jcu.edu.au (Glen Harris)
Subject: Re: Can't link in math libs in djgpp - extra info
Summary: frustration
Organization: Electrical and Computer Engineering, JCUNQ
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 02:01:22 GMT

>  I've installed all the djgpp distribution files in my djgpp directory, but 
>when I try to use a maths function the error is as follows:
>test.o: Undefined symbol _tan referenced from text segment
>  I have all the set vars in my autoexec bat and a simple "Hello World" 
>program works, so <stdio.h> is OK.  By the way I _am_ using <math.h>. 8-}
>  Any ideas?

  Sorry, I should have said that I am also using -lm as a compiler argument.



Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: yogi@cs.ubc.ca (Yossi Gil)
Subject: Re: A batch programming contest for you
Organization: Computer Science, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 21:36:00 GMT

ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) writes:

>next version of TSBAT. But I thought we could for a change try a
>programming contest just for everyone's enjoyment. And who knows
>what useful batch programming ideas might pop up in the process.

Don't know about useful, but interesting... Well, how about the self
printing batch program that I posted to alt.hackers some time ago:

SELFPRNT.BAT:
	Bad command or file name

It is particularly nice since:

	a. It can be made arbitrarily long
	b. Its existence doesn't follow from the recursion theorem.  

The recursion theorem states that any programming language with
very minimal features: increment, pairing, if, goto's, etc. has a
self-printing program. DOS batch programming is not a language in
this respect.  Is it a programming language at all?.

And yet another teaser: The above batch file doesn't self print
on 4DOS! 



	

	
	 

>Please post your potential suggestions and solutions in here for
>everyone to see. 

>   All the best, Timo

>..................................................................
>Prof. Timo Salmi
>Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP archives 128.214.87.1
>Faculty of Accounting & Industrial Management; University of Vaasa
>Internet: ts@uwasa.fi Bitnet: salmi@finfun   ; SF-65101, Finland
--
Joseph (Yossi) Gil                 {alberta,uw-beaver,uunet}!ubc-cs!yogi
Dept. of Computer Science          yogi@cs.ubc.ca (cs.ubc.ca=137.82.8.5)
6356 Agricultural Road., Univ. of B.C.,             Tel: +1-604-822-8175
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z2, Canada.       Fax: +1-604-822-5485
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: dspascha@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID SCOTT PASCHAL)
Subject: Re: How can you set an environment variable in a program?
Originator: dspascha@c00083-100lez.eos.ncsu.edu
Keywords: variable, C
Reply-To: dspascha@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID SCOTT PASCHAL)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 20:01:23 GMT


Hi.  There is an MS-DOS function call (I think 5Ah or 5Bh, but I'm not sure,
since I don't have my docs handy right now) that creates and opens a file with
a unique name -- you pass it a file attribute (usually zero) and the path where
you want to create the file, and if the function is successful, MS-DOS appends
the filename to the end of the path string you passed it so you can delete it
when you're done.  Passing that string to the other program is another problem,
though.  When you use the SET command in a DOS shell, only that process'
environment is modified -- the parent's is not.  So all <shell "set a=b"> does
is give your hard disk or whatever a little exercise.  :-)  However, it is
possible to modify other processes' environments yourself (but this can get
pretty tricky).

Why don't you run program2 from within program1?  That way, you don't have to
worry about passing the temp filename back to the calling batch file; instead,
you just set up the file redirection yourself (there are some MS-DOS function
calls to do this, but again, since I don't have my manuals with me at the
moment, I can't tell you which ones), execute program2, and delete the tempfile.

Tschuess,
David Paschal
From: exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Summary: P.D. MAKE for msdos
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:25:01 GMT
Reply-To: exuhag@exu.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Richardson, TX

Glauber Ribeiro writes:
>
>(5) The best of the non-compatibles: BORLAND MAKE
>
>     If you own Turbo Pascal/C/Assembler, you probably have 
>Borland's make as well. It is not unix-compatible, but it's fast, 
>easy to use and efficient. Give it a try. The documentation is 
>almost non-existent, except for pages 173-205 of Turbo Assembler 
>Reference Guide. You need to read those pages, because it works a 
>bit differently from unix make. One very good point is the
>way it handles "response files" for the linker.

One nice thing about Borland MAKE, at least if you are using
Borland/Turbo C or Turbo Assembler, is that it *supposedly* automatically
does dependency checks for include files.  Borland has extended the
OBJ file format to keep track of all files included by a module.
This lets you have much smaller makefiles than you would under
a standard make utility.

The downside to Borland MAKE, as has already been mentioned, is
that the documentation really stinks.  It is not even clearly
stated which Borland products include the autodependency
information (I know C does, but TASM?).  In classic Borland
style, the documentation starts with a simplistic example from
which you are supposed to be able to learn the program through
induction.

Another non-standard MAKE utility worth mentioning is built-in
to the shareware Unity programmer's editor/environment.  I like
Unity in general, but I would hesitate to reccommend it unless
there has been a major update recently.  But the MAKE feature
is neat.  It uses a syntax which is more natural--you specify
files in the order that they will be compiled.  The "EXE"
dependency list, which usually results in running a linker, is always
listed last.  Nice and simple.  There are other simplifications
as well, and the whole thing is fully documented in only a few
pages.  (BTW, does anyone know if Unity is still a supported product,
seeing as there have been no new versions since 1990?).

--
James Hague   
exuhag@exu.ericsson.se
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: Frank Hoffmann <fh.pad@sni.de>
Subject: Re: Why can't I hook INT 21h???
Organization: Siemens Nixdorf Info.Sys. AG, Paderborn, Germany
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 14:18:28 GMT

rmathews@zeus.calpoly.edu (Bob Mathews) writes:

>Charlie_Hutchins@mindlink.bc.ca (Charlie Hutchins) writes:
>>Okay, maybe someone could help me here.  I am trying to write a TSR
>>that hooks interrupt 21h but whenever I try and hook that vector I
>>get an invalid command.com error and my system crashes.  I am using
>>TC++ 3.0 ....
>[code deleted]

>The turbo c interrupt function automatically saves all cpu registers.
>The return values from DOS are getting clobbered.  Code like this
>absolutely needs to be written in assembly.  You need to have complete
>control of what's happening to the machine.

>swehtam bob

Same does MSC 5/6. You must write in ASM as well or add additional ASM-Code
to restore the regs and the stack-ptr.

frank
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    __________                  Frank Hoffmann
     /             /    Siemens-Nixdorf Info. Systems Voice: [+49] 5251 812 209
    /__           /      Dept: AP 52 / SW-Production    Fax: [+49] 5251 811 599
   /' _  _   __  //            Fuerstenallee 7          USA: fh.pad@sni-usa.com
__/__/__(_(_/ /_/^\__    W-4790 Paderborn / Germany    !USA: fh.pad@sni.de
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( * )  <--- The green dot.  This mail is reusable. Copy to /dev/null instantly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Compression Algorithms Required !
From: cctr132@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Nick FitzGerald, CSC, Uni. of Canterbury, NZ)
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:24:31 +1200
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

In article <ebolog.4@elaine.ee.und.ac.za>, ebolog@elaine.ee.und.ac.za
(EDWIN BOLOGNA : THIRD) writes:

> If anyone out there has or knows where I can get my hands on ASM, C, or
> PAS compression routines for LZH, or any other good compression algorithm
> could you please mail me a copy.
> 
> I require both the compression and decompression algorithms in one of the
> above mentioned computer languages.

If you aren't too fixed to .LZH, you could get the portable .ZIP code
from Info-Zip.  If you aren't in too much of a hurry, you could wait
till the version 2 release of .ZIP which will be fully compatible with
PK's new, higher compression algorithm long promised for PKZIP 2.x.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 Nick FitzGerald, PC Applications Consultant, CSC, Uni of Canterbury, N.Z.
 n.fitzgerald@csc.canterbury.ac.nz  (64)(3)  364-2337 Voice,  364-2332 FAX
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi)
Subject: 4DOS diversion (Was Re: A batch programming contest for you)
Organization: University of Vaasa, Finland
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 20:20:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.162657.27453@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> bx304@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jeff Epler) writes:
>But *why* would you want to put yourself through the pain and agony of
>doing such a thing, when if you but 4DOS you can just say %@ext[%1] and
>be done with it...

Oh no, not again :-).  Ok, I'll bite.  Another case of 4DOS vs MsDos
for alt.religion.computers :-) :-).  Why even use 4DOS and a PC when
one can use a Sun mainframe :-).  Why even use a computer.  There is
no end to this tack. 

Seriously, because the majority of the PC users are using MsDos.  As
you might recall we already had a ____prolonged____ discussion (a
good one at that) on this subject last spring in this very
newsgroup. 

I have changed the subject line.  I hope that the original task does
not now get swamped under a this recurring circle from the fans of
4DOS, DR-DOS, etc.  (They are great OSes or shells or whatever one
prefers to call them.  But we are now considering a MsDos task). 

   All the best, Timo

..................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous FTP archives 128.214.87.1
Faculty of Accounting & Industrial Management; University of Vaasa
Internet: ts@uwasa.fi Bitnet: salmi@finfun   ; SF-65101, Finland
From: sammy@anagld.analytics.com (Sam Blackburn)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Help : Encryption Algorithms
Date: 23 Aug 92 01:14:22 GMT
Organization: Computer Sciences Corporation - Systems Engineering Division

markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Hunk) writes:

>In article <1992Aug20.155927.25742@nb.rockwell.com> wade@nb.rockwell.com (Wade Guthrie) writes:
>>
>>PLEASE NOTE:  It is likely ILLEGAL to export encryption/decryption algorithms
>>from the U.S. to any other country (the original poster is from Africa).

>That's tantamount to telling me I can't leave the country.  Such a law, if it
>actually existed, is not only laughably ridiculous, but is unenforceable and
>in all likehood unconstitutional.

>The day people get arrested for disseminating a branch of pure mathematics is
>the day an oppressive government needs to be brought down.

It is laughably ridiculous, unenforceable and TRUE!  Look at international
companies like IBM.  They can't even use their OWN e-mail system overseas
because it uses RSA public-key technology.  Encryption software requires a
munitions liscence to export it from the US.  This ranks right up there with
making certain parts of the electromagnetic spectrum ILLEGAL to look at (the
cellular phone frequencies).
From: beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Re: Summary: How to flush keyboard buffer
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:30:03 GMT
Organization: Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Canada

One comment I have regarding this trend.

What happens if you depress ctrl-break and your program is enough over
DOS not to stop at that moment (i.e. if you disabled ctrl-break by
something like signal() or other mean).

In one case (kbhit?), the value returned is either 0 or the character
received.  But ctrl-break is also returning a value of 0!
In other words, the program will freeze or exit if you typed ctrl-break!

My work-around consisted in writing my own kbhit function in Assembler.
I called it keyin().

Instead of returning the character received, it tests the zero flag and
return a response accordingly (0 or 1 for instance).  I think both
bioskey(1) and kbhit return the input character, so this must be
checked.  Also, this particular behaviour (I consider this as a bug)
was found in Zortech compiler.  No idea if Borland, Microsoft or
other will do the same.

One last word : if you know how to process ctrl-break, you probably
already have a work-around or set the BREAK switch so it does not harm.

-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Barthelemy Jarret (1471) -> Andre Jarret, sieur de Beauregard (1665)
\_.-===   -> Denis Beauregard (1992)                  Opinions ? Et pis non !
Xref: sparky comp.os.msdos.programmer:8504 comp.lang.pascal:4828
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Problems using exec to run a program that accesses modem
From: sjmadsen@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu (Steve Madsen)
Date: 12 Aug 92 17:29:24 -0500
Organization: Miami of Ohio

> My program is a front end that calls up another specialized program that 
> accesses the modem, dials a system (via script file) and collects/sends 
> data, and hangs up.  It accesses the modem fine, and even connects mostly, 
> but sometimes it won't connect, and when it does connect the data coming oer 
> the modem is garbage.  It appears that my program, running the other 
> program, causes problems with the communications...  

        Stab in the dark: your modem and the serial port aren't agreeing on the
right bps rate as the remote system.

        Your program that you exec should operate no differently when you exec
it or when you run it from the command line.  The only difference it would even
see would be that there is less memory when it's exec'ed.  So, the problem
probably doesn't lie in your program but in your comm setup.  It's my
experience that getting modems and serial ports to operate flawlessly when
there is no one there to fix things is a tough thing to do.  My first
suggestion would be to make sure the bps rates are set correctly, because that
would more than account for garbage over the line.

-- 
Steve Madsen
Miami University  Oxford, OH
Internet: sjmadsen@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer,comp.windows.ms.programmer
From: avi@magna.com (Avi Margolin)
Subject: Int 25H to access BIOS Parameter Block
Organization: Magna Software Corporation
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 20:53:29 GMT

I am trying to use int 25H (Absolute Disk Read) to access the 
BIOS parameter block of a logical hard drive. The interrupt works
for floppy and hard drives from within a DOS program, however
in Windows protected mode it only seems to work for floppy 
drives. My purpose for reading the BPB is to obtain the Volume
Serial Number of the logical drive. If you know of any way to
read the Serial Number from within a Windows program, please 
let me know. Please respond by E-Mail and I'll post a summary.

Thanks. Avi
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Subject: Help : Graphics Formats
From: ebolog@elaine.ee.und.ac.za (EDWIN BOLOGNA : THIRD)
Date: 20 Aug 92 13:23:36 +0200
Organization: Electronic Eng., Univ. Natal, Durban, South Africa


Does anyone out there happen to have PAS, C, or ASM source code to decode
.GIF, .PCX, .FLI, .GL, etc. graphic formats.

Any information at all on any of these formats will be greatly appreciated.

        Desperate fellow programmer (And very Greatful for any information)

                E.B. (EBOLOG@ELAINE.EE.UND.AC.ZA)

PS : Please be kind hearted and Assist !
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: kibirev@csa.bu.edu (oleg kibirev)
Subject: Re: 4DOS diversion (Was Re: A batch programming contest for you)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 18:10:32 GMT
X-Posted-From: csa.bu.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <4082@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us> aki@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us writes:

>
>I don't agree about that DRDOS part.  I just ran DRD6 for a couple of
>days on my PC and was not very happy.  Maybe it's me being used to
>MSD5 or something else;  anyway it was a delightful experience to find
>out that uninstalling DRD takes less than 30 seconds (plus putting
>back some DOS files which DRDOS kills).
>
Hmmm, on my computer it took about the same time for DRDOS to display
A:\> prompt. Or to traverse the search path. At least without SUPERPCK
DRDOS 6.0 disk performance is _horrible_ compared to MSDOS 5.0. Especially
after their advertisements.

Oleg


Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
From: homer@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Homer Smith)
Subject: assembler and serial ports
Organization: Cornell Theory Center
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 22:17:21 GMT

     Is there a proper group to address assembler problems too?
If so I would be happy to address these there.
 
     I am playing with INT 14, the serial port bios routines.
 
     Function 1 is supposed to write to the port and function
2 is supposed to read from the port.  
 
     I have my serial COM2 hooked upto a dumb terminal, and
I can read from it just fine, plus or minus my total non understanding
of what I am doing, but I can't get anything I write to it to appear.
Instead I get a timeout return in the AH register.
 
     What is the timeout for?  How do I get it to write the character
I send?
 
     Thanks,  Homer