A QUICK GUIDE TO THE TURBO 7.0
INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT (IDE)
The Keyboard
Take a few moments to become familiar with the PC keyboard. Locate
the large "Enter" key (sometimes this is called the "return" key)
and the Escape key. There are three "helper" keys you will use:
SHIFT, ALT and CTRL. Each of these keys may be held down and then
another key (or keys) pushed at the same time. Such key
combinations, for example, will be denoted CTRL-K or ALT-9 (hold
down the CTRL key and then tap the K key, hold down the ALT key and
then tap the 9 key, etc). Also note the ten (or twelve) function
keys labeled F1, F2, etc. A key combination like CTRL-F10 means to
hold down the CTRL key and then tap the F10 key. Such combinations
are called control characters or alt characters.
The IDE Environment
The Turbo V7.0 environment is menu driven. You may make menu
selections either from the keyboard or using the mouse (or both).
You can determine which is best for you, and you will very likely
modify which commands you use as you become more experienced. The
environment presents you with the Main Screen. The main menu
commands are located across the top of the screen. These commands
are entry points to a larger list of subcommands made available via
a pull-down menu. To activate (or open) the File Menu, for
example, simply push the Alt-F keys or use the mouse to point to
the word File and then click the left mouse button. Hint: you can
always activate the file menu, no matter how badly things have gone
for you, by first pressing the Escape Key and then the F10 and F
keys! You close the File menu by either pushing the F10 key or
clicking off the menu with the mouse. Important: the Escape key
has been designed so that it will close any open window. The HELP
menu is available from the Main Screen by pushing the H key.
Practice getting help on topics from time to time--it's quick and
easy! Many often-used commands have hot key shortcuts (for example
CTRL-F9 runs a program); some of these may be worth using because
they are efficient. In general, however, finding a command using
the menu system is clearer and easier, but usually takes a little
longer. Let your own experience be your guide! Commands, once
found, can be executed from their menus by either pushing the
single letter highlighted in red in the commands, clicking on the
command with the left mouse button, or using the arrow keys to move
the "big highlight" bar to the command you wish to use and then
pressing the Enter key.
The Turbo Editor
The Editor is the tool you use to create a Pascal program. When
you enter the Turbo IDE, you will see an editing window open
labeled NONAME00.PAS. This default name can be changed by using
the SAVE AS command in the FILE menu. A dialogue box will open,
giving you an opportunity to change the name of the file. When you
first create a program file, you should be sure that your default
drive is drive A: (use the CHANGE DIR command of the FILE menu).
Then save your file very soon using a meaningful program file name
(these will be suggested to you in the programming assignments).
When you type your program, you will notice that certain editing
commands help you correct mistakes: the DEL key will erase a
character on which the cursor is located (the cursor is the short
blinking character on the screen which indicates your place on the
editing window). The backspace key will erase a character to the
left of the cursor. You may use the mouse to shade a section of
text using "drag and drop" (place the mouse cursor on the first
character of the section you wish to erase, push the left mouse
button and while pushing the button, drag the mouse over the text
you wish to delete. Release the left mouse button; see the text
shaded. Use the CUT command of the EDIT menu. Notice that the
PASTE command is available after a CUT operation, which allows you
to reinsert the text somewhere else in the program document (this
is the classic "cut and paste" operation available in all major
word processors which support the windows environment.) You should
also take note that certain key words appear highlighted
automatically in the Turbo Editor; this helps you keep track of
Pascal reserved words as you type your program.
Saving your program
When you are typing in your program, it is saved in the computer's
main memory and no copy of it is placed in secondary storage (on
diskette) until you tell the computer to do so. Thus it is
essential that you develop the habit of saving your program on
diskette several times an hour while typing your program (once
every ten minutes seems to be about right). Then in case of
catastrophe, you need only retype the last few minutes worth of
work (not an entire evening's!). Use the SAVE AS command of the
FILE menu to place a copy of your program on diskette with a name
of your choice. If the file name is the way you want it to be, use
the SAVE command instead. Because of errors which can appear in
the compile and run phases of your program development, ALWAYS SAVE
A COPY OF YOUR PROGRAM BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THE NEXT STEP!!
Compiling and Running your program
The compilation phase of developing your program is accomplished by
using the COMPILE command on the COMPILE menu (use ALT-C to
activate the COMPILE menu and C to launch the compile command).
The "hot key" is simply ALT-F9 which you can press while still in
the Editor (thus bypassing the menu system altogether). During
compilation, errors which are found are flagged with an error
message, the offending portion of the program is highlighted and
the cursor stops near the area where the error occurred. Notice
that the Turbo compiler stops at the FIRST occurrence of an error,
rather than scanning the entire program for errors. There is a
certain intelligence in this approach, since compiler errors have
a way of "cascading" (early errors fool the compiler into thinking
that later code is in error when in fact it is not). Your job
during compilation is to correct errors detected by the compiler
(called "syntax errors," or "compile time errors" since they are discovered at
the time when your code is compiled). After the compilation phase
is complete and error-free, first save your program. Then you can
run it. Use the RUN command from the RUN menu (the hot key
shortcut is CTRL-F9). The output of a typical program is sent to
a special screen called the USER SCREEN. If you run a program and
you cannot seem to locate the output, then it most likely is on
your user screen which can be brought to the foreground by using
the hot key ALT-F5 (touching a mouse button or the spacebar will
bring you back to the editing screen).
Some of the most troublesome errors programmers encounter occur
when a program is run (called "run time errors"). Typical
difficulties include (1) output is not what was expected, (2)
program seems to run correctly but produces no output or (3)
program runs erratically or causes the computer to "hang" in an
error condition. Error type (3) can cause serious problems since
the computer may have to be shut down and restarted if the error
causes a major computer memory error. For this reason especially,
NEVER ATTEMPT TO RUN A PROGRAM WITHOUT FIRST SAVING IT! Form the
strict habit to observe the rule: first SAVE, next COMPILE, then
RUN. And BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!!!
Leaving the Turbo Environment
When you have finished working on your program, you leave the Turbo
IDE by using the hot key ALT-X (or use the EXIT command in the FILE
menu). If you have not recently saved your program, you will be
prompted to do so before exiting.
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