!PCalc 1.01 (10-05-97) Copyright William Harris

Introduction

This program has been under construction for quite a while. It is basically
a desktop calculator useful for programming. It also incorperates a number
of other features. I developed it primarily for my own use (it was
originally called !MyCalc) but I decided to start releasing some of my own
stuff.

Instructions

Double-click the !PCalc icon in the filer window to load it onto the
iconbar.

Calculator

The Calculator window is opened by clicking select on the icon bar or
choosing Calculator in the Windows sub-menu. The window has two icons, and
input icon (next to '>') and an output icon (next to '='). An expression can
be entered in the input icon and evaluated when return is pressed or the
Calculator window is reopened. The calculator uses the standard format for
mathematical expressions in BASIC VI.

eg. 1+1
    SINRAD(30)
    RND(120)
    TRUE
    ATN(PI/(SQR(2)^17))+&FFEE

The result of the calculation can be converted into decimal, hex or binary
by selecting one of the options in the Output base submenu. Certain
constants are also defined:

Symbol         Value           Meaning

c              2.997924590E8   Speed of light/(m/s)
mu_0           PI*4E-7         Permeability of free space/(Wb/Am)
epsilon_0      8.85419E-12     Permittivity of free space/(C/Nm)
e              1.602192E-19    Charge of electron/(C)
h              6.62620E-34     Planck's constant/(Js)
G              6.673E-11       Gravitational constant/(Nm/kg)
Z_0            3.767304E2      ?

m_e            9.10956E-31     Mass of electron/(kg)
lambda_c       2.426310E-12    Compton wavelength of electron/(m)
r_e            2.817939E-15    Classical radius of electron/(m)

m_p            1.672614E-27    Mass of proton/(kg)
lambda_cp      1.321441E-15    Compton wavelength of proton
gamma          2.675197E8      ?
gamma`1        2.675127E8      ?

m_n            1.674920E-27    Mass of neutron/(kg)

R_h            1.097373E7      Rydberg constant/(1/m)
a_0            5.291772E-11    Bohr radius/(m)
mu             9.27410E-24     ?
mu_n           5.05095E-27     ?

N              6.02217E23      Avogadro's number/(1/mol)
F              9.64867E4       ?
V_0            2.24136E-2      Volume of ideal gas at 0C and 1atm
                               /(liter/mol)
R              3.3143E0        Ideal gas constant/(J/molK)
k              1.38062E-23     Boltzmann's constant/(J/K)
sigma          3.6696E-8       ?

These constants were taken from my old Physics A-Level Data Book. I've
forgotton what some of them are and I have a feeling that some are wrong.
They are used just like variables in BASIC.

Clock

The Clock window is opened by choosing Clock from the Windows submenu. It's
a clock.

Stopwatch

The Stopwatch window is openened by clicking on the Stopwatch option in the
Windows sub-menu. It is a fully functioning stopwatch with working timer and
two fine buttons. Click on start/stop to start or stop the timer and reset
to reset the timer to 00:00:00.

Egg Timer

The Egg Timer window is opened by choosing Egg Timer from the Windows
submenu. This is basically a backwards running stopwatch. When it reaches
00:00:00 it can beep until reset is clicked on and/or run a command. These
options can be set from the options window.

Screen Blanker

Clicking with adjust over the iconbar icon causes the built-in screen
blanker to activate. This is apparently very naughty so I'm happy to remove
it if there are too many complaints.

File actions

When a filer icon is dragged to the !PCalc iconbar icon, various actions
can be perfomed depending on the filetype.

Sprite:   If shift is not held down, sprite files will be loaded to the
          Wimp's common sprite pool by way of an IconSprites command. If
          shift is held down, they will be loaded for use as window borders. 

Text:     Text files are converted to TextCRLF format as used by DOS .txt
          files. These files have the sequence [0d][0a] as the line
          terminator.

TextCRLF: TextCRLF files are converted to RISCOS text files with the line
          terminator [0a].

Basic:    Basic files are run under BASIC VI rather than BASIC V.

Options Window

This allows you to set certain options used within the application. It is
opened by clicking on Options... in the Iconbar menu.

You can set the time to which the egg timer resets to by typing into top
three writable icons. The Beep option selects weather the egg timer beeps at
the end of the time. The egg command is an operating system command which is
run when the egg timer runs out. To set the options click on OK. To reset
them click on Cancel. To save the options so that they are loaded next time
!PCalc starts up click on Save. To reload the saved options click on Load.

Misc

To quit !PCalc click on Quit in the iconbar menu.
Info gives information on the program.

Version History

v0.64beta: First version with a !Help file.
14/04/96

v0.65beta: - Caret moves between icons in options window when up/down/return
17/04/96     pressed.
           - Number icons in options window have leading zeros.
           - Had to increase wimpslot to 48k.
           - Output base menu can be opened from calculator window.

v0.66beta: - Text to TextCRLF converter outputs CR and LF in correct order.
19/04/96

v0.67beta: - Text to TextCRLF and TextCRLF to text converters now use an
26/04/96     extendable wimpslot rather than a temporary file.

v1.00:     - Changed name to PCalc. First release version.
21/06/96

v1.01:     - Changed icons in options window to use RISC OS writable icon
10-05-97     key validations.
           - Changed options window ok icon to 'default acion' type.
           - Changed info box title to 'About this program'.

Bugs and possible future improvements

The Text to/from TextCRLF converter only converts a single file on top of
itself. This is mainly because I can't be bothered to write a save box
routine (I don't know how anyway as I don't have access to a copy of the
PRMs).

I might add a proper alarm system.

If you have any suggestions or bug reports please contact me.
           
Legal Stuff

!PCalc is Freeware. It can be distributed freely by any means provided all
the files (!Boot, !Help, !Run, !RunImage, !Sprites and Options) are included
unaltered. The copyright remains that of the author. Any part of the
application may be changed in any way but the altered files must not be
distributed without the permission of the author. The author may not be held
responsible for any damage, loss of earnings, loss of life or other
unfortunate incidents which occur as a result of using the application or
any part of it.

End of legal Stuff

Who is this author, anyway?

!PCalc is written and produced by me, William Harris. I was born on the 27th
of April 1977. I am currently an undergraduate studying Astrophysics at
Royal Holloway, Univesity of London. Otherwise, I live in Dorset.

My interests include Science Fiction, programming and other computer related
stuff. I own an old A3000 with no hard disc. I don't have much time for
programming however as I have a social life. I do not own a copy of the
Programmers' Reference Manuals but since v1.00 I have downloaded the SWI
manual for StrongHelp by Guttorm Vik.

I like a wide variety of music. I would like to travel one day.
If you want, you can contact me. My postal address is:

William Harris
62 Elm Bank Ave
Englefield Green
Egham
Surrey
TW20 0TJ

I also have an e-mail address at college:

w.harris@rhbnc.ac.uk

You can even phone me on (01784) 432251

I keep an updated contact thing on my WWW Homepage. The URL is
http://members.tripod.com/~wharris/

You might see Barty, my alter ego, on some of the talkers on the internet.

The End
