
                 KETMAN ASM SCHOOLMASTER V2.4
                 ____________________________


January 2000

Newsflash: Students doing formal programming courses should go 
immediately to the final section of this README file, called 
"Cautionary Notes for Students". It could save you some wasted time.
______________________________________________________________

Changes since V2.0:

1. The exit key has been replaced. I had not taken into account how 
many people run everything from Windows, even programs declared as 
DOS-based. Unfortunately Ctrl+Esc does not terminate the program in 
that mode. It merely expels you from it and invokes the Start menu, 
leaving Ketman as an open window. The new exit key is Ctrl+"Q" - 
"Quit" - which works in both modes.

2. The workshop project has been completely re-written and its 
product, Ketword, has been incorporated into the Ketman tool-kit as 
an on-board editor.

3. Minor flaws in the disassembler have been fixed.

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General introduction:

The Schoolmaster is a variant of the basic Ketman package. Its 
sister program is the Ketman ASM Codemaster, which is also available 
as shareware. There is no difference between the two in terms of 
their tools, but the Schoolmaster also runs an ASM tuitional course 
in parallel with the tutorials dealing with the use of the tool-kit. 
It's a much bigger package, though the price is the same.

Which you choose will depend on your level of attainment. The 
Codemaster assumes a knowledge of the basic 80x86 instruction set 
and some elementary skills in writing routines - but not more than 
that. If you qualify on that count, you might prefer the Codemaster. 
On the other hand, if you feel in need of a refresher course on ASM 
programming, in case you missed anything the first time around, then 
stick with the Schoolmaster. It starts with first principles, but 
progresses at quite a high rate, and the final stage is a workshop 
project: to program a usable word-processor (on which this README 
file was written).

That's a long way from first principles, but such progress is made 
possible by Ketman's main illustrational device - the interpreter. 
The term "interpreter" itself is not new. Various forms of Basic 
have been using the idea for years, which always made it the ideal 
beginner's language.What is new is its use in assembly-language 
programming. Having more immediacy and visibility in monitoring the 
user's actions than any Basic interpreter I have seen, it brings 
ASM, the most difficult language, finally within the grasp of 
novices.

Like the Basic interpreter, it assembles as it runs, needing no 
program code in memory. This greatly simplifies the testing and 
debugging of even quite complex programs. With a text editor in the 
left half of the screen, a monitor console occupies the right half 
and keeps track of all register and flag values, and displays 
various types of data, while your cursor traces through the source 
text in single-step mode, or in fast-step, or in back-step (i.e. you 
can go into reverse; you can un-execute as well). Writing routines 
and running them can be done more or less simultaneously, because of 
its built-in editor, and this is true even while you are following 
the course. Everything is made clear by executable examples. You do 
it as you read it. This before-your-eyes mode of operation therefore 
makes it an ideal learning tool.

There is also an assembler and a disassembler/debugger. Both use 
only the common instruction set, 8086 upwards, not the 
floating-point set nor any 32-bit instructions. But in terms of 
their usability, especially for students struggling to understand 
the language in the first place, they score well against rival 
products. They are extremely easy to use.

The qualities of all three major tools - interpreter, assembler and 
debugger - are enhanced by user-designable windows, with which they 
interact directly, displaying RAM contents in Ascii or hex or 
binary. There are also macro commands to manipulate data more easily 
than can be done with conventional ASM instructions.

Both the assembler and debugger have only a restricted use in the 
evaluation program, but the lifting of those restrictions in the 
registered version makes it a complete package with which you can 
compile your routines into .com or .exe files. You need no other 
software, not even a linker.

The runnable file KET.EXE, for which no payment is asked, contains 
Session 1 of the course as well as tutorials on the use of the 
tools. The remainder of the course will be sent to those users who 
register with me and pay the registration fee.

The Ketman Schoolmaster is designed to run from the DOS prompt. If 
you run it from Windows, bear in mind that the directions given in 
the tutorials assume DOS. You would have to mentally re-write the 
directions - e.g. "Type wip.exe at the DOS prompt" would have to be 
read as: "Click on wip.exe".

It needs only a small amount of memory - 41k without a text file - 
and will run on any PC, 8086 upwards, but it needs the more modern 
102-key keyboard containing twelve function keys. It will configure 
itself for any kind of monitor, but I have not actually tested it on 
early models. If there is any problem, contact me and I will 
customise the display for your monitor.

The registration fee for the full package is 40 dollars (US) or 25 
pounds sterling (UK). There are no extras.

To pay by credit card:-
Email me at pmb@ketman.fsnet.co.uk and I will initiate a transaction 
with Tradesafe, and they will contact you with instructions. 
Alternatively, log in at Tradesafe.com yourself and initiate the 
transaction as the buyer. Either way I will pay the transaction fee.

To pay by written order:-
Residents of either the U.S or U.K. can write a cheque (or "check" 
in the U.S) in their own currency in the usual way.
Residents of other countries than the U.K. or U.S will need an 
international money order - which I would prefer in U.K money, since 
I don't have to convert it. Send your payment to:

P.M. Briody
P.O.Box 106
Newry
Co. Down
Northern Ireland
BT35 6EB

If you order by snail-mail be sure to give me an email address, so 
that I can send the program as a zip file. If I have to post a disk 
it would cause you some delay. 

There are no restrictions on distribution of KET.EXE provided my 
copyright is not violated.

Queries to: pmb@ketman.fsnet.co.uk

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Cautionary Notes for Students:

As a result of some enquiries from people doing college courses I 
have had to think a little more deeply about who should be 
encouraged to try Ketman, and who should be warned off it.

In the tutorial text I describe Ketman as having "a pared-down" 
assembler. I meant that in two senses. First, it limits itself to 
the instruction set that works on all PCs, the basic 80x86 set. It 
doesn't provide for the protected-mode set that 386s upwards can 
use. Neither does it provide for floating-point instructions. 
Second, it is pared down in its use of assembler directives. It 
doesn't either demand or recognise those familiar formalities like 
PROC, ENDP, PUBLIC, MAIN and so forth. That is not merely because I 
am catering for beginners who wouldn't thank me for making a job 
more difficult than it has to be, but also because I myself consider 
so much of it to be unnecessary. I am not too familiar with the 
popular A86 assembler but I infer that the author takes a similar 
view, because his program allows the user to dispense with them. But 
A86 does at least recognise those directives if you insist on using 
them, and is therefore compatible with rival assemblers on that 
point at least. But Ketman is not. You cannot import/export source 
files to/from other assemblers.

I have never taken a college course myself, but I would guess that a 
course tutor would always expect submitted work to be in a format 
familiar to him. In that case I couldn't recommend Ketman to you as 
a platform for delivering finished source text. He would probably 
throw it back at you.

That situation might not apply in the future. I'm thinking about it. 
But if I introduced some sort of compatibility-feature it would be 
as a separate program, allowing you to feed files through it and 
have them translated. The additional program would come at no extra 
cost, but I wouldn't incorporate it into the main program. And it 
would take a bit of research on my part to find out not only how 
Ketman differs from its rivals but also how its rivals differ from 
each other. So don't hold your breath.

That does not mean that I don't think Ketman would be of any value 
to you. On the contrary, there is no better platform for testing 
your algorithms, for which in many cases you don't need an assembler 
at all (as you would find out). What you would need, though, is a 
means of planting data in memory (I mean passive data, not code). 
There are macros that will do that job very nicely in the 
Codemaster. The Schoolmaster only touches on them in the demo 
version, with a fuller exploration in the registered package, while 
the Codemaster gives the full range in the demo version.

But I have to discourage you from buying the registered program if 
you are doing so in the belief that it will help you win good 
grades. Ketman is designed essentially for people like me, people 
who don't have to submit their work to anyone for approval. We can 
use any format we like. As long as our programs are clear to us, and 
work as want them to, that's all we care about.

So download the Codemaster instead and limit yourself to using it as 
some sort of auxiliary tool in your studies. The demo version is 
free. If you like it, I will accept your good opinion as payment.

END OF README FILE




                                
