From: joehorn@usa.net Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48 Subject: Roo-man & Joey, #8 Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1998 18:15:52 GMT Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion Lines: 48 Message-ID: <6t17sn$gvv$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.17.159.25 X-Article-Creation-Date: Mon Sep 07 18:15:52 1998 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.5b1 [en] (Win95; I) X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x7.dejanews.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 206.17.159.25 Xref: republic.btigate.com comp.sys.hp48:15608 [Page 3] BWANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With a system-staggering hop, they arrive. "Interdimensional interpreters, Roo-man, where are we?" "We are in the misty rom realm, Joey. This is where the ROMS THEMSELVES begin. Look." "This is really something, Roo-man! They're switching right before our very eyes!" "Yes, lad. Look there. There's a relocatable lexfile (lexfilius relocatabilitus) blending into a system routine (routinus sissyius) with the aid of a catalyst species, the ROMJSB (jsbus romus)." "Roving relocatability, Roo-man! What if a relocatable lexfile calls a routine (thru ROMJSB) that creates another file? That will move the caller lexfile all over the place!" "No problem, Joey. We save the return address relative to ROMPTR (the start of the current lexfile) and make it absolute upon return, so the lexfile can move all over the place!" "But Roo-man! What if we want to call a subroutine in a lexfile in ram? How will it be able to find it?" "No problem again, Joey. The address that is given to ROMJSB is really an address relative to ROMOFF. With ram lexfiles, ROMOFF is set equal to the address of the lexfile. With rom lexfiles, ROMOFF=0. Amazing, isn't it." Roo-man chuckles as Joey, lost in boyish thought, is struck by a sudden page boundary. [Page 4] As Roo-man helps Joey to his feet, a thoughtful look washes over Joey's features. His youthful brow furrows with concentration. His mentor patiently awaits the question that he knows is forthcoming. "Roo-man?" "Yes, Joey?" "Where did all these programs come from? Uh, er, I mean, programs don't write themselves, do they?" "Indeed not, lad. Our top scientists theorize that this program was written by a PRORGRAMMER." "Why did you shout that word, Roo-man?" "Well, Joey, when we speak aloud as we're doing now, you can't tell if a word is in uppercase or not. Hence, when you mention the name of the great PROGRAMMER, you say it a bit louder." --excerpt from the HP-75 Internal Design Specification [They just don't write docs like they used to. -jkh-]