Augment Tutorial

 

Introductory Notes: In Augment the screen would be divided into a small command window/frame at the top and a main, larger window below- where all the text is displayed.

This document had been edited slightly for formating but retains all the information in the original Augment Tutorial. Transfered from Augment by Mary Coppernoll of the Bootstrap Institute and converted to HTML and formated by Frode Hegland, September 2001. The original Augment Tutorial is interactive, this document is not, so use your imagination  :-)

Introduction

This file is a sort of " programmed text" for new users of Augment. By following the instructions contained in it, you should be able to learn by yourself how to use many of the capabilities of this system. Don't worry if you make a mistake -- you can't hurt anything. If you do make a mistake, press the key marked CMD DELETE (for "command delete") and start over.

First, and most important, look on the right side of your keyboard at the small device with three buttons on top of it. It is called a "mouse". Without pushing any buttons, roll the mouse around on the surface of your worktable, and watch the screen. Notice that there is a cursor, or underline character, which moves as you roll the mouse. When you roll the mouse right and left; the cursor moves right and left; as you roll the mouse toward and away from you, the cursor moves down and up. Later, when a command requires you to point to something, you will do so by moving the mouse until the cursor is under the character you want to point to, and then pressing the <OK> key.

To see the next screenful, for example, type the letter "j" (for 'jump"), put the cursor anywhere under the word "JUMPING" below (pointing to the place you want to jump to), and press the <OK> key twice. Do this now.

Jumping

Congratulations! You have successfully issued your first Augment command. It is the Jump command (which is what the "j" stood for), and it moves you to a different place in a file. When you issue a Jump command as you just did, the statement that you point to will be moved to the top of your screen. (The concept of a "statement" will be described later.) Let us jump again, but this time, as you type the letter "j", watch the line beginning with "BASE" at the top of your screen.

Notice that the word "Jump" is completely spelled out there as soon as you type the "j", The area of the screen you are looking at is called the "command window", and it lets you see the commands you have typed. Also note that the word "(to)" appears. This is called a "noise word", and helps to make the command more like an English sentence.

After "(to)", the characters "M/C:" appear. This is called a "prompt", and lets you know what the machine is expecting next. We call the action of pointing with the mouse and typing <OK> "marking", and that is what the "M" stands for. Go ahead and "mark" anywhere in "JUMPING BACK" in the next line (by putting the cursor under it and typing <OK>), and then type another <OK> to see a new screenful.

Jumping forward is easy, but how do you jump back? The very top of the file is called the "origin" (this is where you were when you started). The command to go back to the origin is just another Jump command (as are all commands to move around in a file), so you should again begin by typing "j".

Now you must do something a little different. The prompt "M/C:" says that you may either mark (which you do not want to do) or give a command word (whcih is what the "C" stands for). Type the letter "o" (for "origin") and note that "Origin" is spelled out in full in the command window.

Type two "<OK>'s to complete the command, and then come back to here by using the simple Jump commands you used previouslyi From now on, you will not be specifically told to jump to the next screenful; whenever you run out of things to read, just jump to the next screenful by using the simple "Jump (to) MARK" command- In theory, you can now view all of any file simply by repeatedly jumping to a statement that you mark- This is slow, however, and you will soon learn better ways of getting around in a file- You may have noticed a "V:" prompt before the final <OK>. We will learn about this later· (One last reminder -~ jump to "FIRST EDIT" below·)

First Edit

Let us now learn to make a few elementary editing changes to this file. Notice that this wword has an extra "w" in it.

Let us fix it up. You want to delete the extra character, and to do so, you will begin by typing "d" followed by "c", standing for "Delete Character"- As you type these two characters, be sure to watch the command window to make sure you have not made a mistake. Remember, if you make a mistake in any command, you can press the key marked CMD DELETE (for "command delete"). This will get rid of the entire commando and you can start over. The backspace key, marked BACK SPACE CHAR, "undoes" the last character you typed. Sometimes this is simpler than getting rid of the whole command.

Now back to the command. Notice that the noise word is "(at)"; you are now supposed to indicate the particular character to be deleted. "Mark the character by putting the cursor under either "w" in "wword" and typing <OK>» Notice that the character you marked is highlighted. The character has not been deleted yet; the highlighting simply shows it has been marked. If it is the wrong character, you can backspace and mark again. If It is correct, type <OK> again to complete the action and delete the character. Notice that the spacing is adjusted to take up the extra space.

More On Delete

TThere are a nnumber of typingg errors in this paragraph which can be fixed with the Delete Character command (by typing "d", "c", MARK, and <OK>). Do so now. Remember that you can backspace if you mistype or if you mark the wrong character. You may want to make some intentionalll errors to test this feature.

Now for a shortcut. It turns out that the right mouse button is exactly the same as the <OK> key on your terminal. It is more convenient because you can keep your hand on the mouse during an edit. It may seem a little harder to use in that when you press the button, the mouse may tend to slide around a little, but keeping your wrist on the table will help. Remember that the backspace character lets you undo an incorrect mark.

A second shortcut is the following: The left mouse button is a backspace, and the middle button is the same as the command delete key. Try getting rid of the extra characters in the following sentence doing all your <OK>'s, backspaces, and command deletes on the mouse. Again, you may want to make intentional errors to try out the backspace and command delete features.

Heeree is aaa sentence with a number of repeated characters..

Note that the extra space and period are deleted the same way as letters of the alphabet.

Deleting Other Objects

There are a number of things besides single characters which can be deleted. The simplest is a word. The command to delete a word is given by typing "d" followed by "w" and is completed (the same as the command to delete a character) by marking the word and then giving the final <OK>. You do not have to mark as accuratelyi however. You can mark ANY character in the word and the whole word will be deleted. (If you try to mark the space between two words, both the words surrounding the Space are deleted. We will talk more about this later.)

Try using the Delete command to get rid of the extra words and characters in the next sentence. (Remember that the right mouse button is the same as <OK>, tne left cutton is the same as the backspace key" and the middle button is the same as the command delete key. Watch the command window a" you type.)

Now now is the ttlme for all all good men to come to the aide of their country country country.

Good! Did YOU notice that the spacing was adjusted, and the extra space was taken out? Did you remember the trick to delete two words at a time when you were getting rid of the two extra occurrences of "country"?

In the next screenful, we will learn about how to insert new information into a file.

Inserting New Information

The same two objects, characters and words can be inserted into text as well as deleted. The commands will be similar, except that they will begin with "ic" and "iw" for "Insert Character" and "Insert Word"; respectively.

After you have typed "ic", the noise words "{to follow character at)" will appear on your screen after which you must mark the character after which you want the new character to appear. (In the case of Insert Word, you merely need to mark somewhere in the word you want the new word to follow.)

After you have indicated the position of the new character or word, you must tell the system exactly what the new character or word is to be. Do this by typing it. (The "M/T:" prompt tells you this -- "T" Stands for "type") in the case of a new word, you do not need to worry about spaces around the word; the system will take care of the spacing for you.

To indicate that you are finished typing the new information type <OK> (using either the keyboard or the mouse), and the new text will be inserted into the file. Now, as an exercise, try to make the second sentence below appear exactly the same as the first one. You will need to use both Delete and Insert commands.

This is a model of the correct final form for this sentence.

TThis is a moel of the fina form forthis sennce"

A Little On Command Recognition

By now you have probably noticed a few patterns in the Augment system.

First the commands introduced so far are indicated by typing the first character of the English word. The Delete command is given by typing "d, and "Character" is Indicated hy typing "c". There will be some exceptions to this rule later, but for a whi1e it will always work.

Notice also that the verb, or action word, comes first.

Jump, Delete, and Insert all tell the system what to do.

The second word of a command, if there is one; is usually a noun.

It names the object that the verb is ito act upon. After "d" for "Delete", the next command word -- Character Word -- tells the system exactly what is to be deleted.

Almost all of the Augment commands will work that way. Later, when you get more experienced, you will find that you can often guess what the next command word will be, and instead of looking it up in a manual, you will just try it. No damage can result; if something unusual appears in the command window, you can always backspace or command delete. Nothing will be changed by a command until you type the <OK> at the end of it.

Now, before you go to the next screenful, try to guess what the commands might be to move a word and to replace a character.

More Editing Commands

The answers are Move Word (typed "mw"), and Replace Character (typed "rc"). Move Character and Replace Word are also valid commands. The "Move" verb is used to take an object from one place and put it in another; the "Replace" verb gets rid of one object and replaces it with another.

Try to do the following exercise with no more clues than that, and if you have trouble, look at the answers on the next screenful. Pay attention to the noise words in the command window at the top of the screen, because they sometimes give a good clue as to what is expected next. As before, try to make the second paragraph look identical to the first one. Also, READ the sentence as you correct it.

Correct sentence: On the next page, we will learn about another kind of noun -- Text. Text is any number of characters in a row, and must be identified by the first and last characters. It is useful for specifying larger pieces of text.

Sentence to correct: On net the page, we llearn about another kind of noun -- Text. Text,+ is any of characters in a row number, and must be identified by the first VIOLET and characters. It is useful for specifying larger pieces of text.

Answers And The Text Noun

You give the Move command (after typing "mc" or "mw") by marking the character or word to be moved, and then marking the character or word It is to follow. The final <OK> completes the command.

The Replace command is like a combination of Delete and Insert; the item pointed to disappears and is replaced by the new item, which you type in.

You should have read the sentence you were editing, because it was a quick introduction to the concept of Text. As it said. Text is another noun, and can be deleted, inserted, moved, or replaced with commands you begin by typing "dt", "it", "mt" , and "rt", respectively.

The difference between Text and Character or Word is that two marks are required to identify it -- one at the beginning and one at the end. Text can be any string of characters. It may, if you wish, begin or end in the middle of a word. Otherwise, the commands are the same; just mark twice where you would have marked once in the case of Character or Word. Another important point is that Text must be contained within a single statement, which has not been defined yet. Soon you will learn to tell where a statement begins and ends.

Now do the exercise on the next screenful, using the "Text" noun.

Editing Exercises

As before, make the second paragraph look exactly like the first. (It will be easier to correct the paragraph if you first change INCORRECT to CORRECT -- everything will line up, and it will be easy to see if it is correct.) Try to use the "Text" noun whenever doing something with a long string of characters.

Correct: In a certain village in La Mancha, which I do not wish to name, there lived not long ago a gentleman -- one of those who have always a lance in a rack, an ancient shield, a lean hack and a greyhound for coursing. His habitual diet consisted of a stew, more beef than mutton, of hash most nights, boiled bones on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a young pigeon as a Sunday treat; and on this he spent three-quarters of his income.

Incorrect: In a certain vilage in La a little extra textMancha, which I do not wish to name, lived not long , long, ago a ge of those who have always a machine gun in a rack, an ancient shield, a lean hack and a greyhound for coursing. His habl diet consisted of a stew, more beef than mutton, of hash most blights, boiled bones bones bones on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a young stool pigeon as a Sunday treat; and on this he spent three-quarters of his income.

Now that you have completed the exercise, you will learn what the definition of a statement is.

Statements

"Statement" is just another kind of noun, which can be inserted, deleted, moved, and so on. Probably the best way to think of a statement is as a paragraph. All of the paragraphs you have read so far were individual statements, and the headings (as at the top of the screen) are also short statements. It is sometimes hard to tell where one paragraph ends and the next one begins. In Augment, there is a way to change your view of a file (but not alter the file at all). What you do is change the "viewspecs".

Another complication is introduced in this section: The command to change the viewspecs will be Set Viewspecs, but you will find that if you type "s", the command window will show "Sort", which is not what you want to do. Since there is more than one command that begins with "s", and since it will turn out that Sort will be far more useful than Set, Augment handles the problem by having you type a leading space, followed by as many characters as necessary of the command word. (In what follows, <SP> stands for a space, which you get when you press the space bar.)

To give the command word "Set", you will need to type "<SP>se" You need the "e" because there are even more possibilities for "S" commands, like Start (for which you would type "<SP>sta")«

Changing Viewspecs

OK. Let's change the viewspecs. Give the command verb "Set" by typing "<SP>se", and the noun "Viewspecs" by typing "v" .

After you type these four characters, Augment will respond with a "V:" prompt, asking for viewspecs. Type the letter "y", followed by <OK>. Do this now.

Isn't that nice? It is now easy to see where one statement ends and the next one begins. Augment has put in a blank line between them. There are good reasons for giving you the choice of what to see, however: Without blank lines, you can get more text on the screen, and with blank lines, you can easily see where a statement begins and ends. Let us now turn off the blank lines, again using a Set Viewspecs command. This time the viewspec you will set will be "z". If you do this now, you will find that the blank lines will disappear. More fits on the screen if the blank lines are off. Also notice that when you change viewspecs, the same statement remains at the top of the screen.

As we said before, it is easy to see what a statement is. The Delete, Insert; Move, and Replace commands work as before. As with Word, you can be a little sloppy -- a single mark anywhere within a statement identifies a whole statement. (Talk about the broad side of a barn...)

Review Exercises

Using the Set Viewspecs command (remembering the leading <SP> before "se" ) , set the viewspecs to "y" to turn on blank lines. Then follow the directions in the statements below to practice working with whole statements. Delete this statement entirely. Make a copy of this immediately following this (using Insert), Move this statement so that it follows "REVIEW EXERCISE" above. Replace this statement with the much shorter statement "This is a shorter statement". Don't do it by deleting the text at the beginning and end of the statement.

Read this, then delete this. You have now learned most of the basic editing commands. Experiment with them. If you like, you can go back through this file; and modify (or mangle) it any way you want. Have fun. Try inserting your own paragraph, editing it, and deleting it -- just take the time to look at one more screenful first.

To Use This File Again

Actually, none of the edits you have made so far are permanent. If you wish to go back to the way the file was before you started, you can delete all your modifications with the single command: Delete Modifications (typed "dm").

Since this is usually a drastic step, you will be required to give two <OK>'s to confirm it. Remember this command. Write it down on a piece of paper, and then go have fun with the file. When you are done, you can Delete Modifications, and you will have your original TUTOR file back. Later you will learn to make your modifications a permanent part of the file, along with a number of other things. You've done quite a bit already.

Remember, to get back to the beginning of this file, the command is Jump Origin, followed by two <0K> ' s.

Have fun, and when you are done, you can continue in the file named TUTOR2. You can get there now by using another kind of Jump command, which will be discussed later. For now, just type "jl" (you should see "Jump (to) Link" in the command window), then type "tutor2," (be sure to include the final comma), and then type <OK>. If you wish to stop working now and come back later, perhaps to use TUTOR2, you will need to know how to get there after logging into the computer.

If you type "tutor" again, you will get back to this file.

How To Enter And Leave Augment

Instead of typing "tutor", type "augment" at the Executive "@" sign. This will put you in the Augment editor, viewing a file called your initial file", where all your sessions with the editor will begin.

To get to TUTOR2, simply type "jltutor2,<OK>" (remembering the final comma), and you will be there.

Write this down, so you will remember it tomorrow. If you want to log out, type "lj<OK>" (it stands for "Logout Job").

If you want to go back to the Executive to run another program, type "<OK>".


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