HP-71 PLEX & LEXCAT

[KimH]

Thanks! I will dive into the PDF and learn...

(11-04-2020 03:55 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  PLEX prints the argument types and options for each statement added in the LEX, these are described in the IDS, Vols I & II.

It's too much to explain here, so I'll suggest you capture part of a printout and post it below with some specific questions.

I beta tested this when John was writing it, it was great fun (with only a few MEM LOST :-) ). For such a sophisticated program, John got it right in an impressively short amount of time, he was an amazing 71B guru. His articles in the PPC and CHHU Journals about the 71B internals and how to use the IDS are valuable if you're looking into this stuff.

The SYSTEM keyword was written by HP and they shared the source code and I somehow got a copy; I'm not sure why it wasn't more widely available but it seems it was not well known. I was in PPC and attended HHC meetings in the 80's etc., but otherwise had no specific inside connections; I siimply don't recall exactly when and where I got it. The source listing is available in a PDF on JFG's wesbite, here's a link:

http://www.jeffcalc.hp41.eu/emu71/files/systemfn.pdf

Look on this page on his site for more LEX stuff, specifically in the ULIB52 section.

You'll see that this function was exhaustively documented in incredible detail, presumably in an attempt to richly illustrate how to write LEX files with sophisticated features; this function can be easily extended (if you write 71 assembler) to add your own parameters.