1 Things to Know Before You Start

Inside This Manual

This manual contains information on using the fourth generation program development environment Eloquence. Each chapter fully explains the features of Eloquence. Code examples are given to indicate the range of each command and provide tips for programming. Most example code can be tested; the remainder are illustrations taken from much larger programs and cannot be run alone. The manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1
"Things to Know Before You Start" contains an introduction to the use of this manual.
Chapter 2
"Starting Eloquence" explains how to start both the development and run-time versions of Eloquence.
Chapter 3
"Programming Guidelines" explains operations fundamental to the use of Eloquence (for example, developmental commands, error messages, entering, running and debugging a program).
Chapter 4
"Data Variables and Data handling" covers all variable-related operations, including defining, dimensioning, and assigning values to both numeric and string variables.
Chapter 5
"Operators and Functions" covers all of the built-in operators, mathematical functions, and string functions. Self-defined single-line functions are also covered.
Chapter 6
"Branching and Subroutines" describes conditional and unconditional branching, looping, subroutines, error trapping, and ON HALT branching.
Chapter 7
"Subprograms" shows how to define and access both multiple-line function subprograms and subroutine subprograms.
Chapter 8
"File Storage" describes Eloquence statements and functions used to store and retrieve data and programs.
Chapter 9
"Output Operations" covers audible, display, and printer output operations. It also covers formatting printed output.
Chapter 10
"Matrix Operations" describes the operations available to handle arrays.
Chapter 11
"The System Clock" describes the use of the system clock.
Chapter 12
"Multiple Task Programming" describes the special programming considerations which exist when tasks are added to a computer system.
Chapter 13
"Asynchronous Devices" explains the terminal input/output (TIO) commands available to connect asynchronous devices to a computer system.
Appendix A
"Reference Tables" contains a number of helpful reference tables describing, for example, system reset conditions, file types, and ASCII character codes).
Appendix B
"Eloquence Syntax" alphabetically lists some of the statements, functions, and commands available with the Eloquence language.
Appendix C
"Error Messages" lists Eloquence error messages and gives a brief explanation after each message.
Appendix D
"Statement Flow Analyser" describes methods of analysing programs.
Glossary
The glossary defines the common Eloquence terms.
Index
The index contains page number references for the majority of Eloquence features.
Eloquence Language Manual - 19 DEC 2002