Sysops:

Yep, it's the Computer Language code cavalcade once again. Here's all the
stuff from the September 1988 issue. Yes, it's not a lot of code.

TONKIN.BAS (728 bytes) is a set of three short BASIC listings from Bruce
Tonkin's "Performance Tuning and the Lowly GOTO."

KAMAL.EXE (8,960 bytes) is an executable Microsoft Windows demo program
that shows how to use the functions outlined in Fuad Kamal's "Subclassing in
Microsoft Windows."

KAMAL.C (2,226 bytes) is the C source code that accompanies Fuad Kamal's "Subclassing
in Microsoft Windows."

FORTFACE.LIST (7,038 bytes) contains all seven listings to accompany John
Figueras's "Assembly Language Routines for a More Elegant FORTRAN" article.

PARSE.C (1,668 bytes) contains the three short listings that go with Bill
Mayne's "To Parse or Not to Parse."

BITBYBIT.C (1,399 bytes) is the code fragment that goes with Stan
Kelly-Bootle's column for September.

SPECIAL BONUS FILES!!!

EGREP.EXE (23,359 bytes) is a public-domain DOS version of the UNIX egrep
text-search utility. EGREP.MAN (63,327) contains complete instructions for
use of egrep and EGREP.DOC (1,026) is just a little message that clarifies
the status of this contribution. These files were made available to us by
Computer Language contributing author Ian Ashdown.


NEXT MONTH: MULTITASKING

Look forward to LOTS of code with the October 88 issue of Computer Language!

THE FOLLOWING ARE FROM THE COMPUTER LANGUAGE AUTHORS' BBS. PLEASE FEEL FREE
TO STOP BY. THE NUMBER IS (415) 882-9915. 1,200-BPS SPEED LIMITE ENFORCED
24 HOURS PER DAY.

=========================================================================

COMPUTER LANGUAGE
1989 EDITORIAL CALENDAR

THEME PRODUCT FOCUS

JAN Design Methodologies CASE tools
FEB C C compilers & function libraries
MAR Compiler Construction Pascal & Modula-2, parser
generators, compiler compilers
APR Optimization assemblers, disassemblers, Forth
MAY Interface Design screen managers, fourth-generation
languages
JUN Productivity software development utilities
JUL Multiuser Systems UNIX tools
AUG Object-Oriented C++, object-oriented languages
Programming
SEP Graphics graphics development tools
OCT Software Engineering math libraries, stat packages,
software metrics tools
NOV Multitasking 80386 operating systems
DEC Algorithms APL, BASIC

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COMPUTER LANGUAGE AUTHORS' NEWSLETTER
Vol. I, No. 5 August 28, 1988
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL CALENDARS COMPLETE
Editorial calendars for Computer Language and Embedded Systems Programming
are available for your perusal in the Bulletins section. Calendars serve as a
rough roadmap of the territory we intend to cover in the months to come, and
as a commitment to readers and advertisers about the package we intend to
deliver.
However, I do not advocate a slavish devotion to editorial calendars. In
particular, I don't enjoy reading magazines that devote an entire issue to one
subject. If it's a subject that doesn't interest me, then I feel cheated. Even
if I am interested in the subject, I look forward to the continuity that
columnists and a variety of articles bring each month.
My goal with Computer Language and Embedded Systems Programming is to
slant one or two features plus a product review toward the issue focus. In the
rest of the issue we will cover ground with articles that are selected
according to their merit, not their adherence to some arbitrary topic.
(Sheesh, I didn't mean to trip over a soapbox!)

MORE PERSONNEL UPDATES
There's good news and sad news in the area of staffing for the Software
Development Group. Kathy Kincade, Computer Language's managing editor for more
years than anyone can remember, has decided to depart for greener pastures. If
you've worked with Kathy and enjoyed it, drop her a line or give her a call
and wish her well. We will all miss her sunny personality and journalistic
contributions to Computer Language.
Replacing Kathy will be Ms. Brett Warren, who formerly served as managing
editor of AI Expert. Brett is a thoroughly professional, highly competent
editor with a firm commitment to language. If you haven't worked with Brett
before, then you have something to look forward to.
Don't even try to keep up with the meteoric rise of Regina Starr Ridley.
A former managing editor of Computer Language herself, Regina has just
received ANOTHER promotion, this time to the post of publisher. This well-
deserved and long-overdue promotion recognizes her contributions in boosting
Computer Language's ad sales record to an all-time high.
We are also welcoming aboard a handful of new editors as we continue to
expand. Linda Comer is the new managing editor of Embedded Systems Programming.
A former programmer (we've got a bunch of nerds on staff now!) whose most
recent job was writing and editing documentation for a large software house,
Linda brings solid technical and journalistic skills to the position. Aiding
her will be editorial assistant Christine Dunn, who has an advanced journalism
degree and experience in editorial production management.
Mark Compton has left his position as editor of UNIX Review, so handling
the magazine's ongoing repositioning will be executive editor Ken Broadhurst
and editor David Chandler. Congratulations are due to both of these editors for
their recent promotions. Additionally, David Burnette has been named technical
editor of UNIX Review.
Contact information for all editors is summarized in the Bulletin section.

REAL-TIME CONFERENCE SLATED FOR NOVEMBER
The 1988 Real-Time Programming Convention will be held November 18-19 at
the Grand Hotel in Anaheim, California. Speakers include Jef Raskin, Embedded
Systems Programming columnist Ray Duncan, and Chuck Moore.
Contact Kent Safford, Forth Interest Group, 1330D S. Bascom Ave., San
Jose, Calif. 95128, (408) 277-0668.

FREE ISSUES OF EMBEDDED SYSTEMS PROGRAMMING
Want a free issue of Embedded Systems Programming to call your own? Just
drop us a postcard: Jerry Okabe, Embedded Systems Programming, 500 Howard St.,
San Francisco, CA 94105. We'll mail you a copy ASAP. Then, of course, we'll
bill you...but if you don't like what you see in the free issue, just write
"Cancel" on the bill and we'll forget the whole thing.

MULTITASKING AND DOS
Here's an anecdote I've been saving up for almost a year. It's a true
story about Microsoft's Gordon Letwin, the systems programmer who is sometimes
described as the father of OS/2.
I was passing Letwin's lecture room at our Software Development '88
conference in San Francisco last February. Inside, he was making a presentation
about OS/2. I stopped and caught this portion of his preamble: "Of course, the
principle difference between OS/2 and DOS is that OS/2 is a multitasking
operating system while DOS..." here Letwin paused, looked at the ceiling, and
continued with a wry half-smile, "...DOS is SERIALLY multitasking."
I've told this true story to my mother three or four times, but she never
laughs. I guess you had to be there.

SOFTWARE QUALITY
The Computer Language forum on CompuServe has seen unprecedented activity
in recent weeks, much of the message traffic revolving around a central topic:
what is "quality" software? Like many controversies in the professional
programmer's environment, this latest tempest is traceable to Ed Yourdon.
The debate has arisen out of Yourdon's September EOF contribution, "The
case for a quiet revolution.'' Yourdon argues that software developers in shops
without a commitment to quality should internalize the commitment as a matter
of professional responsibility, subscribing to journals, purchasing textbooks,
joining societies, and attending technical symposia. (In a curious oversight,
Yourdon somehow failed to mention that reading Computer Language is a specific
critical step on the road to coding quality. We resisted the temptation to add
it during the editing cycle--a rare example of editorial restraint.)
Defining quality was left as an exercise for the reader. And Computer
Language readers by the dozen have risen to the challenge. Most subscribe to
the I-can't-define-it-but-I-know-it-when-I-see-it school, while a handful of
the more daring have ventured specific prescriptions.
My favorite is from forum administrator Jim Kyle: "Quality software is
software that conforms to the specification." Kyle's tongue was securely
planted in his cheek when he proffered the definition, but I surprised him by
taking it seriously. While it brings us no closer to a concrete, tangible
description of quality, it does serve to direct our attention to the earliest
phases of the development life-cycle. It's here that success and failure
criteria must be established for each application. An explicit, unambiguous
specification for quality can help ensure that the resultant software performs
as desired.
The trick, of course, is determining what to desire. Be careful what you
put in your spec: you just may get it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


========================================================================

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS PROGRAMMING
EDITORIAL CALENDAR

THEME PRODUCT FOCUS

PRE Debugging Debugging tools
FEB Algorithms and Assemblers and support tools
productivity
MAR Scheduling and In-circuit emulators
tasking
APR High-level languages C compilers
MAY Design CASE tools
JUN Digital signal Forth
processing
JUL Prototyping ROM programmers
AUG RISC Microprocessors
SEP Real-time programming Real-time operating systems
OCT Embedded systems Ada compilers
and Ada
NOV Integration Logic analyzers
DEC Optimization Microprocessor development
systems

=========================================================================


===========================================================================

EDITORIAL CONTACTS
Updated August 28, 1988

Here's how to get in touch with the editors of MFP's software development
magazines:

AI EXPERT
Phillip Chapnick, Editor (415) 995-2429
Brett Warren, Managing Editor (415) 397-1881 x379

COMPUTER LANGUAGE
J.D. Hildebrand, Editor (415) 995-2436
Lisa Stapleton, Review Editor (415) 397-1881 x367
Brett Warren, Managing Editor (415) 397-1881 x379
Nicole Freeman, Editorial Assistant (depts.) (415) 397-1881 x373
Stephanie Wells, Editorial Assistant (415) 397-1881 x377

DATABASE PROGRAMMING & DESIGN
Phillip Chapnick, Editorial Director (415) 995-2429
David Stodder, Managing Editor (415) 397-1881 x362
Janet Kersnar, Editorial Assistant (415) 397-1881 x361

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS PROGRAMMING
J.D. Hildebrand, Editor (415) 995-2436
Linda S. Comer, Managing Editor (415) 397-1881 x364
Christine Dunn, Editorial Assistant (415) 397-1881 x526

UNIX REVIEW
Ken Broadhurst, Executive Editor (415) 995-2427
David Chandler, Editor (415) 397-1881 x369
David Burnette, Technical Editor (415) 397-1881 x394

===========================================================================

Please feel free to make this information (EXCEPT the number of our authors'
BBS) available to your users!

J.D. Hildebrand
Editor, Computer Language