rfl@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Bob Loewenstein) (01/18/91)
After a long negotiation period with Kriya Systems, I have received written permission to release Neon into the public domain. The letter from Kriya reads: "Kriya Systems, Inc. gives you [me] the permission to freely distribute for scientific and educational purposes the programming language formerly known as Neon, including the distribution of the source which has been released to you. You do not have the right to use the name Neon, as it apparently had prior use by another company and is not a valid trademark of Kriya Systems. All commercial distribution rights are reserved by Kriya Systems, Inc." Since a few of us at the University of Chicago have modified the language somewhat, and to comply with Kriya's wishes, we have renamed the language Yerk, which is at least not an acronym for anything, but rather stands for Yerkes Observatory, part of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at U of C. For those who don't know about Neon, it was an object oriented, macintosh targeted language based on a Forth Kernel with some major modifications. It was developed and sold as a product by Kriya Systems from 1985 to 1988. Because it is an extensible language, it was possible for us to keep it compatible with new toolkit calls, new mac managers, etc. We have modified the nucleus to make improvements, but it is still an evolving language. We are releasing it at this time because it is a very useable and powerful language/environment for the mac. We have written many data acquisition and display programs with Yerk, as well as graphical interfaces for instrument control (both telescopes and instruments). While not part of this release, we have written interfaces for color quickdraw for image processing programs, and a MacTCP interface for network interface. These and other interfaces will probably be made available on request, with the understanding that they were written for specific applications and not as general support interfaces. Some features of the language are: - defaulted early binding, with ability to late bind in almost any circumstance - inheritance (not multiple) - floating point (SANE) - many system classes and objects for mac interfacing: windows, controls, events, files, arrays, ordered-columns, menus, hierarchical and popup menus, handles, strings, mouse, quickdraw, modal dialogs, offscreen bitmaps, vbl, time manager, etc. - module (overlay) creation that are loaded only when necessary and may be purged from application heap memory. Some forth extensions are: - local input parameters - named input variables - multiple cfa words (including vectors and values) - CASE - SELECT - 68000 assembler We have used the language on the following macs: mac+,se,se30,macII,IIci,IIx,IIcx. There is no reason to believe that it won't work on any mac+ or beyond. Any system >= 6.0 is recommended. The complete source files, an executable Yerk environment, and update manual (MS Word 4.0 format) are available with anonymous ftp at oddjob.uchicago.edu in ~ftp/pub/Yerk directory. They are compressed with Stuffit and then binhexed. Please try to download these files in the evening hours. In the near future, these files may be added to the MacTutor source code disk. If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me: Bob Loewenstein Yerkes Observatory Williams Bay, Wi 53191 414-245-5555 rfl@oddjob.uchicago.edu
mrx@dhw68k.cts.com (Mark Murphy) (05/29/91)
A co-worker is looking for the latest version of Neon. Does this beast
still exist? We have an old piece of software that was written in Neon
and we need to update it. If you have any info about Neon or who to
contact, please leave me mail. Thanks...
--
Real Life: Mark F. Murphy | What kinda beer do you like?
The Net: mrx@dhw68k.cts.com | Heineken!? Intercourse that doo-doo!!
The Desktop BBS: 714-491-1003 | Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!bin@primate.wisc.edu (Brain in Neutral) (05/30/91)
From article <1991May29.160909.19319@dhw68k.cts.com>, by mrx@dhw68k.cts.com (Mark Murphy): > > A co-worker is looking for the latest version of Neon. Does this beast > still exist? We have an old piece of software that was written in Neon > and we need to update it. If you have any info about Neon or who to > contact, please leave me mail. Thanks... Neon is now called Yerk, and is available now for free. From an old posting: >Path: uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!ox.com!msen.com!emv From: rfl@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Bob Loewenstein) Newsgroups: comp.archives Subject: [comp.lang.forth...] yerk 3.3.2 upgrade Message-ID: <1991May11.070506.7881@ox.com> Date: 11 May 91 07:05:06 GMT References: <1991May10.151109.24217@midway.uchicago.edu> Sender: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) Reply-To: rfl@oddjob.UChicago.EDU () Followup-To: comp.lang.forth,comp.mac.programmer Organization: U of Chicago - Astronomy & Astrophysics Lines: 61 Approved: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth,comp.mac.programmer Archive-name: languages/forth/yerk/1991-05-10 Archive-directory: oddjob.uchicago.edu:/pub/Yerk/ [128.135.4.2] Original-posting-by: rfl@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Bob Loewenstein) Original-subject: yerk 3.3.2 upgrade Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) An updgraded version of Yerk, the Object Oriented Forth for the Mac, is available for anonymous ftp on oddjob.uchicago.edu, in directory ~ftp/pub/Yerk. If you already have version 3.3.0, you need only ftp the 'upgrade.sit.hqx' file. If you do not have a previous version, ftp the complete package in file 'yerk3.3.2.sit.qhx'. The manual has not been changed. The basic changes from 3.3.0 are: COSMETIC CHANGES - revised bold fonts in // so 9 pt chicago not loaded - class window now erases grow box when grown - now cursor is erased with delete key if +curs is set - slight cosmetic change to (.mod) - slight change stop: timer - ?lines changed in nuc to keep bottom line on screen and grow: method in window changed to send current line to bottom if grow shortened window. BUG FIXES - modified savesig - added negate: to class Int - fixed slight bug in decompile (for floats) - fixed to: problem in pathList source for sarray (file pathlist) - some changes to Install Module..it still does not create a stand-alone application, but does reset dictionary and stack sizes - slot manager traps now correct I would appreciate a note from anyone who intends to seriously use this development system. Future upgrades will be forthcoming, and any reasonable suggestions will most likely be included in such upgrades. Bob Loewenstein Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics University of Chicago Yerkes Observatory Williams Bay, Wisconsin 53191 414-245-5555 rfl@oddjob.uchicago.edu -- comp.archives file verification oddjob.uchicago.edu total 1866 -rw-r--r-- 1 146 1661 May 10 10:04 ReadMe.upgrade -rw-r--r-- 1 146 355829 May 10 10:02 upgrade.sit.hqx -rw-r--r-- 1 146 629615 May 10 09:48 yerk3.3.2.sit.hqx -rw-r--r-- 1 146 4347 May 9 23:25 modifications -rw-r--r-- 1 146 3011 May 9 23:14 ReadMe.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 146 473697 Jan 15 10:29 manual2.sit.hqx -rw-r--r-- 1 146 397932 Jan 15 10:00 manual1.sit.hqx found yerk ok oddjob.uchicago.edu:/pub/Yerk/