Timscript ========= Introduction ------------ Welcome to Timscript. Timscript is a software package designed to make it easy for you to use your Dragon to print continuous text such as business letters. In ddition to facilities for formatting and editing, it incorporates a unique system of two-character mnemonics, which enable you to input text with the minimum number of key depressions. This leaflet is in three parts. The Timscript language, Setting up Timscript and Using Timscript. The Timscript Language ---------------------- Most people use abbreviations to save time in making personal notes. Timscript uses the power of the computer to translate such abbreviation into their full-length English equivalents, so that for example 'ds' becomes 'Dear Sir' and 'yf', 'Yours faithfully'. Timscript uses the possible permutations of two lower-case letters as mnemonics for commonly-used words and phrases. There are 26 x 26 = 676 possible permutations, from aa to zz. Of these, some 40 are regular English words or abbreviations, such as 'be', 'is' and 'to'. The rest are available for you to use as mnemonics. There are three ways in which you can do this. The first is to use the Timscript vocabulary that is supplied. This contains about 330 abbreviations for common English words and phrases, many with a business orientation. The second method is to define your own permanent vocabulary, selecting the words you expect to use most often and devising your own two-character mnemonics for them. Finally, you may decide not to adopt a standard vocabulary at all, but to define mnemonics afresh for each document you type. Timscript gives you complete flexibility; you can define fresh mnemonics as you wish and as the voacbulary is held as a standard data file, you may have different vocabularies for different subjects, or for different users of the computer. At the end of this part are the listings of the standard Timscript vocabulary. This may look rather forbidding when you first look at it - but so would a French or German dictionary! Learn Timscript as you would any language, by starting with what is familiar to you. You will find many of the Timscript mnemonics are in common use. These are listed separately. Begin by memorising these common mnemonics. Then read through the full list and cross off any that you do not expect to use; for instance, you may never end your letters 'Yours truly'. You can now study the remainder systematically. A major advantage of the Timscript vocabulary is that you don't have to memorise it all at once. Any mnemonies you use will save time; but those that aren't used cost you nothing. You will find them easier to memorise if you analyse the way in which they are made up into four major categories: 1. first two letters of word: ab about gi give sq square 2. first letters of syllables: bc because dp depending ph perhaps 3. first and last letters bt but mt might wt without 4. others eg for example pm afternoon ta thank you Note that because the letter 'z' is rather used in English words, it is given a special meaning in Timscript. 'z' as the *first* letter of a mnemonic is used to represent 'th' as in zc they can zh they have zw they will In the *second* position it means '-self' or '-selves', as in: mz myself oz ourselves yz yourself Remember, if any mnemonic seems ill-chosen to you - for instance, if you prefer to use 'bk' to mean 'back' rather than 'book' - you can redefine it. Remember too that you can add your own mnemonics for words or phrases that you commonly use, such as your own name. You will find this facility particularly useful for strings of characters that are awkward to type, such as postcodes. You will probably find that you regularly use between 50 and 100 of the available mnemonics. You will see when you read the section on Using Timscript that mistakes are very easy to correct, so you can experiment with abbreviations you are unsure of. Once the Timscript voacbulary becomes familiar to you, you can of course use it for manuscript notes - provided that no-one unfamiliar with Timscript is expected to read them! Timscript Short List Verbs ----- I am am they are za you are yv I have iv they have zv you have yv I know ik they know zk you know yk they must zm you must ym I will iw they will zw you will yw I would id they would zd you would yd Existing Abbreviations ---------------------- account ac advertisement ad could cd company co compare cp credit cr debit dr from fm group gp great gt headquarters hq height ht input/output io machine mc Managing Director md piece pc paid pd afternoon pm postscript ps part pt question qn road rd right rt square sq telex tx very good vg would wd week wk weight wt your yr Correspondence Phrases ---------------------- Dear Sir ds In reply to ir With kind regards kr Thank you ta with effect from wf Yours faithfully yf Yours sincerely ys Yours truly yt Auxiliary Verbs --------------- could cd can ca cannot cn did dd had hd has hs have hv might mt shall sh would wd will wl was ws Prepositions and Conjunctions ----------------------------- after af again ag also ao back ba because bc behind bh but bt depending dp during dg from fm however hr near nr not nt over ov perhaps ph that tt under ud without wt Months ------ January ja February fe March mh April ap May ma June jn July jy August au September se October oc November nv December de Days ---- Monday mo Tuesday tu Wednesday wy Thursday th Friday fy Saturday sa Sunday su Control Characters ------------------ / suppresses trailing space < deletes mistranslation > tabs 8 spaces Timscript In Word Sequence -------------------------- about ab account ac adjust aj advertisement ad after at afternoon pm again ag allow al also ao any ny April ap August au average av await aw back ba balance bl because bc been bn before bf begin bg behind bh beside bs big bi book bk both bo business bu can ca cannot cn cause cs certain ce change cg character ch check ck cheque cq circumstances ci city cy claim cl come cm company co compare cp confer cf could cd count ct cover cv credit cr daily dy danger da Dear Sir ds debit dr decide dc deliver dl demand dm depending dp did dd differ df done dn double db doubt dt dozen dz drive dv due du during dg each ea edition ed efficient ef electric el enclose ec enough en enquire iq equal eq error er estimate es even ev every ey examine xm exchange xc expense xp fact fa factory fc fast fs favour fv February fe final fn find fi fix fx for fo for example eg forget fg forward fw found fd free fr frequent fq Friday fy from fm full fu gave ga general gn gentleman ge gift gf give gi glad gl good gd government gv great gt group gp grow gr guarantee gu had hd half hf happen hp happy hy has hs have hv headquarters hq height ht herewith hw high hi him hm himself hz hope ho however hr hundred hu I am im I have iv I know ik I was iw I will il I would id ignore ig in reply to ir increase ic input/output io inquire - enquire iq January ja job jb judge jg judgement jt July jy June jn junior jr just js juxtaposition jx keep kp kind kd kindly ky knew kw knowledge kg known kn labour lb lady ly less ls less than lt letter le life lf like lk liquid lq limit lm line ln list li load ld long lg love lv low lo lower lr luck lu machine mc mail ml major mj make mk Managing Director md manufacture mf March mh maximum mx May ma memo mm might mt minimum mn miss ms Monday mo morning mg move mv Mr mr myself mz name na near nr necessary nc need nd next nx no-one nn nobody nb not nt November nv now nw number nm O.K. ok obtain ob object oj October oc of the ot omit om operation op ourselves oz over ov owing to ow page pg paid pd part pt people pp piece pc please pl postscript ps power pw prefer pf probable pb public pu quality qy quantity qt question qn quick qk quite qi quote qo rather rr real rl really ry reason rs receive rc refer rf regard rg report rp require rq return rn right rt river rv road rd room rm safe sf said sd Saturday sa seems ss -self/-selves -z senior sr September se service sv sex sx shall sh sick sk size sz small sm spare sp square sq street st subject sj success sc suggest sg Sunday su sweet sw system sy table tb telephone te television tv telex tx tell tl Thank you ta that tt that is ie themselves tz then zn there zr therefore tf they zy they are za they can zc they do zd they have zv they know zk they must zm they would zd think tk this ts Thursday th time tm today td together tg tonight tn towards tw Tuesday tu type yp under ud until ul usual uu usually uy various vs verify vf very vy very good vg very much vm volume vl wait wa was ws Wednesday wy week wk whatever wv which wh will wl with effect from wf With kind regards kr without wt women wm word processor wp would wd wrong wr yesterday yy you are ya you can yc you have yv you know yk you must ym you will yw you would yd young yg your yr Yours faithfully yf Yours sincerely ys Yours truly yt yourselves yz Timscript In Mnemonic Sequence ------------------------------ aa ab about ac account ad advertisement ae af after ag again ah ai aj adjust ak al allow am an ao also ap April aq ar as at au August av average aw await ax ay az ba back bb bc because bd be bf before bg begin bh behind bi big bj bk book bl balance bm bn been bo both bp bq br bs beside bt but bu business bv bw bx by bz ca can cb cc cd could ce certain cf confer cg change ch character ci circumstances cj ck check cl claim cm come cn cannot co company cp compare cq cheque cr credit cs cause ct count cu customer cv cover cw cx cy city cz da danger db double dc decide dd did de December df differ dg during dh di dj dk dl deliver dm demand dn done do dp depending dq dr debit ds Dear Sir dt doubt du due dv drive dw dx dy daily dz dozen ea each eb ec enclose ed edition ee ef efficient eg for example eh ei ej ek el electric em en enough eo ep eq equal er error es estimate et eu ev even ew ex ey every ez fa fact fb fc factory fd found fe February ff fg forget fh fi find fj fk fl fm from fn final fo for fp fq frequent fr free fs fast ft fu full fv favour fw forward fx fix fy Friday fz ga gave gb gc gd good ge gentleman gf gift gg gh gi gj gk gl glad gm gn general go gp group gq gr grow gs gt great gu guarantee gv government gw gx gy gz ha hb hc hd had he hf half hg hh hi high hj hk hl hm him hn ho hope hp happen hq headquarters hr however hs has ht height hu hundred hv have hw herewith hx hy happy hz himself ia ib ic increase id I would ie that is if ig ignore ih ii ij ik I know il I will im I am in io input/output ip iq enquire ir in reply to is it iu iv I have iw I was ix iy iz itself ja January jb job jc jd je jf jg judge jh ji jj jk jl jm jn June jo jp jq jr junior js just jt judgement ju jv jw jx juxtaposition jy July jz ka kb kc kd kind ke kf kg knowledge kh ki kj kk kl km kn known ko kp keep kq kr With kind regards ks kt ku kv kw knew kx ky kindly kz la lb labour lc ld load le letter lf life lg long lh li list lj lk like ll lm limit ln line lo low lp lq liquid lr lower ls less lt less than lu luck lv love lw lx ly lady lz ma May mb mc machine md Managing Director me mf manufacture mg morning mh March mi mine mj major mk make ml mail mm memo mn minimum mo Monday mp mq mr Mr ms miss mt might mu mv move mw mx maximum my mz myself na name nb nobody nc necessary nd need ne nf ng nh ni nj nk nl nm number nn no-one no np nq nr near ns nt not nu nv November nw now nx next ny any nz oa ob obtain oc October od oe of og oh oi oj object ok O.K. ol om omit on oo op operation oq or os ot of the ou ov over ow owing to ox oy oz ourselves pa Pa pb probable pc piece pd paid pe pf prefer pg page ph perhaps pi pj pk pl please pm afternoon pn po pp people pq pr ps postscript pt part pu public pv pw power px py pz qa qb qc qd qe qf qg qh qi quite qj qk quick ql qm qn question qo quote qp qq qr qs qt quantity qu qv qw qx qy quality qz ra rb rc receive rd road re rf refer rg regard rh ri rj rk rl real rm room rn return ro rp report rq require rr rather rs reason rt right ru rv river rw rx ry really rz sa saturday sb sc success sd said se September sf safe sg suggest sh shall si sj subject sk sick sl sm small sn so sp spare sq square sr senior ss seems st street su Sunday sv service sw sweet sx sex sy system sz size ta Thank you tb table tc td today te telephone tf therefore tg together th Thursday ti tj tk think tl tell tm time tn tonight to tp type tq tr ts this tt that tu Tuesday tv television tw towards tx telex ty tz themselves ua ub uc ud under ue uf ug uh ui uj uk ul until um un uo up uq ur us ut uu usual uv uw ux uy usually uz va vb vc vd ve vf verify vg very good vh vehicle vi viable vj vk vl volume vm very much vn vo vp vq vr vs various vt vu vv vw vx vy very vz wa wait wb wc wd would we wf with effect from wg wh which wi wj wk week wl will wm women wn wo wp word processor wq wr wrong ws was wt without wu wv whatever ww wx wy Wednesday wz xa xb xc exchange xd xe xf xg xh xi xj xk xl xm examine xn xo xp expense xq xr xs xt xu xv xw xx xy xz ya you are yb yc you can yd you would ye yf Yours faithfully yg young yh yi yj yk you know yl ym you must yn yo yp yq yr your ys Yours sincerely yt Yours truly yu yv you have yw you will yx yy yesterday yz yourselves za they are zb zc they can zd they would ze zf therefore zg they go zh zi zj zk they know zl zm they must zn then zo zp zq zr there zs zt zu zv they have zw zx zy they zz themselves Setting Up Timscript -------------------- Timscript is supplied as two files - the program and the standard vocabulary. To set up Timscript for the first time, you'll need to go through the following steps: 1. Load the program with the command CLOAD "TS" (ENTER) and type RUN when it has loaded. 2. The program will then ask for DICTIONARY NAME. If you are planning to use the vocabulary supplied, type TSVOCAB and start the recorder to load the dictionary. For short jobs, you may not wish to use this dictionary; in this case, press ENTER. 3. When the dictionary has loaded, a menu of available functions will appear on the screen. The various options are described in Part 3, Using Timscript. Should you wish to create your own dictionary from scratch, you will need to create a skeleton. As explained in Using Timscript, unused mnemonies are identified by being printed in capitals between two asterisks. To set up a dictionary in this format, use the following program: 10 OPEN "O",#-1,"TSVOCAB" 20 FOR J = 1 TO 26:FOR K = 1 TO 26 30 PRINT #-1,"*"+CHR$(J + 64)+CHR$(K + 64 )+"*" 40 NEXT K:NEXT J 50 CLOSE This will create a file into which you can then insert mnemonics of your own choice. The Timscript program provides an option to print your address at the head of the paper. To use this, you will need to edit the address into the appropriate lines at the end of the Timscript program, setting the TABs and print sizes to give the layout of your choice. Using Timscript --------------- The Timscript program is designed to be self-explanatory. The notes that follow provide additional information to supplement the prompts that appear on the screen. Start-Up ~~~~~~~~ Before loading Timscript, you should decide whether you wish to output the text to tape; if so, you will need to position a blank tape ready by recording (by SKIPFing over any previous data). Then insert the program tape and type: CLOAD "TS" (ENTER). When the program is loaded, you will be asked for the Dictionary Name. If you wish to use the Timscript mnemonics, you should position the dictionary tape in the recorder and type the name of the dictionary file (which is supplied as TSVOCAB). If you do not wish to use the dictionary, simply press ENTER. Similarly, you can either give an output filename (having inserted the output tape and switched the recorder to record); or press ENTER if no output tape is to be used. The program will then display the menu of facilities, which are described in the following paragraphs. Define Mnemonic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This enables you to set up your own vocabularly of mnemonices. Simply type a pair of lower-case letters, then a hypen, then the expanded version (which may of course include capitals). Note that the hyphen is used rather than an = sign because it does not require the use of the SHIFT key. When you have finished your deletions, type *. If you wish the changes you have made to feature permanently in the dictionary, you will then need to position a suitable tape in the recorder, and key in the filename alloted. If on the other hand you only want the new definitions to apply to the current document, just press ENTER. List Mnemonics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This will display the vocabulary on the screen and list it to the printer. If you do not require a print, simply turn the printer off. Note that the program will hang up if the printer is not connected, or is switched on but inoperable, for example because it has no paper. Set Printer/Tape ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It any setting is to remain unchanged, simply press ENTER in response to the prompt. If your printer has variable character sizes, the line length will depend on the size chosen. If the left margin is too wide for the line length, the loudspeaker will sound, and the program will reduce the line length to the maximum that can be fitted in. If you are storing your text on cassette for subsequent printing, you must define the name of the file you will be using. The name must not exceed eight letters, and to avoid confusion you are recommended always to use capitals. If you do not wish to store your text on tape, simply press ENTER in response to OUTPUT FILE NAME ?. Input Text ~~~~~~~~~~ As you type your text, mnemonics will be automatically translated as soon as a terminate character (space or punctuation) is reached. If you type an undefined mnemonic, the loudspeaker will sound and the mnemonic will appear between two asterisks *BZ*. You can return to the beginning of any wrongly translated word simply by typing <. For other minor corrections, use the arrow left key. To restart the current screenful from scratch, use the arrow up key. A word which is too long to fit onto a line will automatically be transferred to the next line. Note, however, that phrases produced by translating mnemonics will not be split at the end of a line. If you have defined a line length of more than 32 characters, the start of each line is distinguished during the INPUT phase by spaces in blank (except in phrases produced by translating a mnemonic). Occasionally, you may type an unwanted space at the start of a line. To prevent this, a space in position 1 will be highlighted in red, and the loudspeaker will sound. The / key is used to suppress the space after a translated mnemonic, so that for example, by typing 'md/ship' you can print 'Managing Directorship'. The > key will tab eight spaces. Note that both < and > can be used normally if they are not preceded by a space, i.e. you can type 'a followed by ENTER. You have five editing options: Retype If, for example, you want to change the third line, type C: the program will respond with the message RETYPE LINE C. You can then retype the complete line. It may be that the part you wish to change is near the end of the line. In this case, you can reproduce the earlier part of the line by typing a number after the letter. This number represents the number of characters to be copied. For simplicity, this works in groups of ten; so if you type C5 you will copy the first 50 characters of the line. You can then retype from character 51 to the end. By typing C9 you can inspect the whole of line C. Delete To delete a line, type a minus after its letter, e.g. C- Insert A + sign after the line letter will insert a blank line *before* the line identified. Move An upward arrow after the line letter will cause the line to change places with the one above it. This facility enables you by a series of moves to re-order a list into any desired sequence. Centre By typing a = sign after the line letter, you can centre the text. e.g. as a heading. Note that this will only work correctly if the text starts at the beginning of the line. Pressing ENTER on its own will cause the revised text to be printed, and stored on tape. You can PRINT and EDIT each paragraph on scrap paper as many times as you need; only when the text is 100% correct is it stored on tape. A 'clean' version of the total document can then be created by printing the tape. (See Print Stored File, below). An asterisk will return you to the menu. Close ~~~~~ If you are storing your text on tape, you *must* remember to CLOSE the file, by typing C at the end of the document. If you do not do this, the last few lines of text may be lost. You will of course need the name you have given to the file when you come to use it again. A facility is therefore provided for you to print the filename at the end of the document. The name will appear in small letters in the left-hand margin. Print Stored File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To print the text you have on your tape, type F, and in response to the prompt give the name you previously allocated to the file. Be sure to type this correctly, in the right case, as on ce the computer starts to search for a file that does not exist you will have to BREAK to stop it. You can use the P option to set the printer margin before printing if necessary. Normally you will simply want to print the stored file: however, there may be occasions when you wish to change some of it, and this is provided for by a line-by-line facility. If you press S at the start, or any key during the printing the program will halt after each line is displayed on the screen. You can then either print the displayed text, by pressing ENTER, or retype the line (after typing R); or return to the menu and use the normal Timscript facilities to create a new section of text. If you wish this next text to replace what is stored, you can print the new text then rewind the tape, skip over the stored version line by line, and then revert to continuous printing by pressing the $ key. The line skip facility could be used to print a variety of standard messages, by including all the options in the file and skipping over the unwanted ones. If the printer stops at the end of the page, insert another sheet to operate the microswitch on the platen, print a few more lines, then press any key to stop printing. Align another sheet of paper, and press $ to restart. Notes on the Program -------------------- 1. The note souned on an error condition is stored as variable C$, and can be changed to any desired sound. 2. Variable LL holds the default setting of line length. It can be altered to suit the paper size normally used. Similarly, variable M holds the default setting of the margin. Note that this is in fact the number of the first character to be printed on; in other words, a setting of 11 gives a margin ten characters wide. 3. The program was developed using an Oki Microline 80 printer. Printer control characters (used in the Set Printer and Print Address sections) may have to be changed for other printers. 4. After running for some time, the program will sometimes lock up. This is because RAM has become full, and a 'garbage collection process' is taking place. This will happen automatically, and the program will restart after about 45 seconds. 5. The mnemonic translation facility does not operate during the Edit phase. 6. Take care not to translate a letter pair inadvertently. For example, you cannot create "against" by typing "ag/st", as the "st" suffic will be translated to give "againstreet". Similarly, if by mistake you type "againsy", you will have to backspace *three* times and retype "nst". 7. ENTER will not cause a new line if used immediately after a two-letter pair. 8. The Input phase will not accept a complete line of characters without spaces. If you wish to rule such a line, do so without editing. 9. Mnemonics which translate into two characters, e.g. mr = Mr, are not listed by the List Mnemonics option. 10. When defining mnemonics, leading spaces are ignored. 11. After using the Address Print function, the printer is set to normal width regardless of what may previously have been set by the Set Printer function. 12. If the program should halt with a BASIC error message, it may be possible to continue by typing GOTO 1780 (start of the edit routine) or GOTO 200 (menu).