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What's about TASOFT
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| Jean-Marc QUERE 2004-06-16, 8:55 pm |
| The company seems to have disappeared. :'( What happen to the support
of TAWK? :/ Is it provided that it becomes open source or free ? :-?
(I think it would be great if the users can have the C source...)
--
APIEND informatique [R&D]
Site : http://www.apiend.com
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| Kenny McCormack 2004-06-16, 8:55 pm |
| In article <mn.850e7d46979f88a8.8084@apiend.com>,
Jean-Marc QUERE <[nospam]quere.jmarc@apiend.com> wrote:
>The company seems to have disappeared. :'( What happen to the support
>of TAWK? :/ Is it provided that it becomes open source or free ? :-?
>(I think it would be great if the users can have the C source...)
Yeah, they really do seem to have evaporated. I think they were almost on
the cusp of releasing the source code - or at least making it available on
some other platforms (in theory, it should be compilable under any modern
Unix that has gcc - which is to say, any modern Unix)
I think the support is you, me, and the 18 other people around the world
who use it. I post occasionally to newsgroups about TAWK; do you have any
specific question(s) ?
Note: I still use TAWK on a daily basis, and I think it is *the* best
scripting language in existence, bar none. Note that "best" has a lot of
dimensions, and I think that TAWK strikes a very good balance across several
criteria.
| |
| Jean-Marc QUERE 2004-06-17, 8:55 am |
| > I think they were almost on the cusp of releasing the source code
> do you have any specific question(s) ?
I don't have a specific question. I don't know if I can continue to use
TAWK in my commercial
products... Without access to the source and without support how I can
engage my company in this way ?
Without a LGPL licence the product is dead :'( I have to rewrite a lot
of programs.
And I built many extensions to the orignal product : dll, tawk and c
libraries, ...
The only way to continue the good job is to release TAWK as LGPL.
Please Tasoft, listen to us...
--
APIEND informatique [R&D]
Site : http://www.apiend.com
| |
| Aharon Robbins 2004-06-17, 3:55 pm |
| In article <mn.8b327d469d3e8453.8084@apiend.com>,
Jean-Marc QUERE <[nospam]quere.jmarc@apiend.com> wrote:
>I don't have a specific question. I don't know if I can continue to use
>TAWK in my commercial
>products... Without access to the source and without support how I can
>engage my company in this way ?
Here is the sum total of their web site (www.tasoft.com) now:
| Thompson Automation Software has ceased actively selling software.
|
| For technical support, please email: support@tasoft.com
|
| If you have incorporated our software into a product and wish to continue
| to ship the incorporated product, please email support@tasoft.com.
| I haven't quite decided what to do, but we will support you some way. We
| can probably even provide additional manuals. I will update this website
| when we have an approach worked out.
|
| If you need to expand a site license, please email us, and we will
| provide a note to permit you to do so legally.
|
| The news group comp.lang.awk contains general questions and answers about
| the awk programming language, and occasionally includes some articles
| about TAWK.
|
| If any very experienced C programmer is interested in continuing to
| expand the software please email me.
|
| Thank you to all our customers.
I don't know if they answer mail or not. I doubt that they will notice
begging, pleading, sobbing, etc. in comp.lang.awk. Perhaps you can
volunteer, on your company's time, to take over the maintanance?
Gawk's dynamically loadable functions may be of use to you, I don't
know. However the license is GPL, and this means you'd have to GPL
your own extensions too. That, of course, will be your choice.
Good luck,
--
Aharon (Arnold) Robbins --- Pioneer Consulting Ltd. arnold AT skeeve DOT com
P.O. Box 354 Home Phone: +972 8 979-0381 Fax: +1 530 688 5518
Nof Ayalon Cell Phone: +972 50 729-7545
D.N. Shimshon 99785 ISRAEL
| |
| Jean-Marc QUERE 2004-06-17, 3:55 pm |
| > I don't know if they answer mail or not.
Actually, not... :'(
> volunteer, on your company's time, to take over the maintanance?
I would like to help :-) and I'm ready to publish some extensions.
> Gawk's dynamically loadable functions may be of use to you, I don't
> know.
I need to build standalone programs (and thinks TAWK is much better
than gawk).
It was the reason for which I paid for it.
> Good luck,
Thank you
--
APIEND informatique [R&D]
Site : http://www.apiend.com
| |
| Kenny McCormack 2004-06-17, 3:55 pm |
| In article <mn.8c387d46e1dec5a1.8084@apiend.com>,
Jean-Marc QUERE <[nospam]quere.jmarc@apiend.com> wrote:
>Actually, not... :'(
I haven't sent them email recently (in the last couple of years), but I've
left messages on their phone answering machine - have never gotten
a response.
>I would like to help :-) and I'm ready to publish some extensions.
I guess the thing to do is to get together a group of people willing to
take it on, and then:
1) Somehow get hold of them. Maybe sent a detective out to Portland
to do some sniffing around (just kidding...)
2) Convince them that we're serious.
| |
| Jean-Marc QUERE 2004-06-17, 8:55 pm |
| > I guess the thing to do is to get together a group of people willing to
> take it on, and then:
> 1) Somehow get hold of them. Maybe sent a detective out to Portland
> to do some sniffing around (just kidding...)
> 2) Convince them that we're serious.
Actually it seems that we are... 2 persons interested and serious.
I haven't the ability to send a detective to Portland.
I'm living in France (nobody is perfect).
I can launch a wiki server to describe our will.
Everybody can add information (and may be TASOFT).
What do you think about that ? Is it a good idea ?
Or I lost my time... and we will never hear something about TASOFT ?
--
APIEND informatique [R&D]
Site : http://www.apiend.com
| |
| Doug McClure 2004-06-17, 8:55 pm |
| It would be wonderful if TAWK could be put in the public domain. But I
would also hope that Thompson Automation would put their terrific AWK
manual in the public domain also.
Alternatively, I wonder if the University of Arizona ICON project or
Gimpel Software (makers of PC-LINT) might be able to take over
responsibility for AWK.
DKM
On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 21:34:35 +0200, Jean-Marc QUERE
<[nospam]quere.jmarc@apiend.com> wrote:
>The company seems to have disappeared. :'( What happen to the support
>of TAWK? :/ Is it provided that it becomes open source or free ? :-?
>(I think it would be great if the users can have the C source...)
To contact me directly, send EMAIL to (single letters all)
DEE_KAY_EMM AT EarthLink.net. [For example X_X_X@EarthLink.net.]
| |
| Aharon Robbins 2004-06-19, 3:55 am |
| In article <cashsf$kab$1@yin.interaccess.com>,
Kenny McCormack <gazelle@interaccess.com> wrote:
>I haven't sent them email recently (in the last couple of years), but I've
>left messages on their phone answering machine - have never gotten
>a response.
They're not physically there anymore. He moved to Thailand or someplace
like that; I emailed with him within the past few months.
>
>I guess the thing to do is to get together a group of people willing to
>take it on, and then:
> 1) Somehow get hold of them. Maybe sent a detective out to Portland
>to do some sniffing around (just kidding...)
Try email. That's what the web site says.
> 2) Convince them that we're serious.
Good luck to all of you.
Arnold
--
Aharon (Arnold) Robbins --- Pioneer Consulting Ltd. arnold AT skeeve DOT com
P.O. Box 354 Home Phone: +972 8 979-0381 Fax: +1 530 688 5518
Nof Ayalon Cell Phone: +972 50 729-7545
D.N. Shimshon 99785 ISRAEL
| |
| Tim at this Newsgroup 2004-06-25, 7:20 pm |
| Email sent, fingers crossed...
| |
| Tim at this Newsgroup 2004-07-04, 8:55 pm |
| Hi, everyone,
Well, so far no reply from TASOFT. I propose that development of an AWK compiler
be undertaken. I start a 2 w holiday today, but on my return I'll set up a
SourceForge project area, grab a copy of the gawk sources and formulate a
project plan. The project will need a name (suggestions, please). I have used
the term I so far, this is a virtual 'I', let's call it the AWK Compiler Team
(ACT), ACT would be expected to be Tim Pagden plus willing contributors
(Jean-Marc?, Kenny?) - naturally if ACT gets off the ground (SF project area,
etc) whilst I am on holiday, this would be excellent.
I'll be back in 2 ws,
Tim.
| |
| Ed Morton 2004-07-04, 8:55 pm |
|
Tim at this Newsgroup wrote:
> Hi, everyone,
>
> Well, so far no reply from TASOFT. I propose that development of an AWK compiler
> be undertaken.
I've just skimmed this thread and I don't know what functionality tawk
provides that oawk, nawk or gawk don't, but why not do one of these:
a) update awk2c or awkcc if you want to compile tawk programs, or
b) update gawk to provide the tawk functionality instead of continuing
to suport tawk independently.
Regards,
Ed.
I start a 2 w holiday today, but on my return I'll set up a
> SourceForge project area, grab a copy of the gawk sources and formulate a
> project plan. The project will need a name (suggestions, please). I have used
> the term I so far, this is a virtual 'I', let's call it the AWK Compiler Team
> (ACT), ACT would be expected to be Tim Pagden plus willing contributors
> (Jean-Marc?, Kenny?) - naturally if ACT gets off the ground (SF project area,
> etc) whilst I am on holiday, this would be excellent.
>
> I'll be back in 2 ws,
> Tim.
>
>
| |
| Ted Davis 2004-07-04, 8:55 pm |
| On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 10:04:33 -0500, Ed Morton <morton@lsupcaemnt.com>
wrote:
>I've just skimmed this thread and I don't know what functionality tawk
>provides that oawk, nawk or gawk don't,
I use both TAWK and gawk - gawk when I can and TAWK when I have to for
certain features. Those features are
true multidimensional arrays (by far the most important)
richer time functions (though it lacks some gawk functions)
the fxxxx() and other file functions (fopen(), fs(), etc)
other low level functions
I used to use the screen and keyboard functions for user interfaces,
but now I just make the program a CGI process and use a web browser
for the UI.
T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)
| |
|
| Ted Davis <tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote in message
news:<vhcge0tgit88q6iu8o8cml4mqi3eddset2@4ax.com>...
>
>I use both TAWK and gawk - gawk when I can and TAWK when I have to for
>certain features. Those features are
> true multidimensional arrays (by far the most important)
Does this work in tawk(lets say variable `a' has never been
initialized):
split(str, a[0])
Does it create an array a[0] with elemens a[0][1], a[0][2] etc.?
In general, uninitialized reference to an array element creates
a scalar or an empty array?
> richer time functions (though it lacks some gawk functions)
> the fxxxx() and other file functions (fopen(), fs(), etc)
> other low level functions
Thanks,
John
| |
| Ted Davis 2004-07-06, 3:55 am |
| On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 16:05:24 GMT, nobody@nowhere.com (john) wrote:
>Ted Davis <tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote in message
>news:<vhcge0tgit88q6iu8o8cml4mqi3eddset2@4ax.com>...
> Does this work in tawk(lets say variable `a' has never been
>initialized):
> split(str, a[0])
>Does it create an array a[0] with elemens a[0][1], a[0][2] etc.?
>In general, uninitialized reference to an array element creates
>a scalar or an empty array?
It has been so many years since I used TAWK without declaring all
variables that I'm not sure - I'm pretty sure it does: it handles
variables the same way awk does, but also has optional declarations.
I find declared variables so much easier to deal with, especially when
the switch to make that mandatory is in effect.
T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)
| |
| Doug McClure 2004-07-06, 3:55 am |
| I use TAWK under DOS and have some of the standard TAWK documentation
files (text files), if anyone is interested in TAWK features.
The most recent version of TAWK had a large reference manual with lots
of information that was not in the machine-readable files.
DKM
On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 11:45:18 -0500, Ted Davis
<tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote:
>On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 10:04:33 -0500, Ed Morton <morton@lsupcaemnt.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>I use both TAWK and gawk - gawk when I can and TAWK when I have to for
>certain features. Those features are
> true multidimensional arrays (by far the most important)
> richer time functions (though it lacks some gawk functions)
> the fxxxx() and other file functions (fopen(), fs(), etc)
> other low level functions
>
>I used to use the screen and keyboard functions for user interfaces,
>but now I just make the program a CGI process and use a web browser
>for the UI.
>
>
>T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)
To contact me directly, send EMAIL to (single letters all)
DEE_KAY_EMM AT EarthLink.net. [For example X_X_X@EarthLink.net.]
| |
| Kenny McCormack 2004-07-09, 3:56 pm |
| In article <KMednZObGvgZgXXdRVn-tw@comcast.com>,
Ed Morton <morton@lsupcaemnt.com> wrote:
>
>
>Tim at this Newsgroup wrote:
>
>I've just skimmed this thread and I don't know what functionality tawk
>provides that oawk, nawk or gawk don't, but why not do one of these:
>
>a) update awk2c or awkcc if you want to compile tawk programs, or
>b) update gawk to provide the tawk functionality instead of continuing
>to suport tawk independently.
TAWK does so much more and does it so much better than any of the freewares
that it doesn't any sense to try to do any of the things you suggest.
Also, there are philosophical reasons why the gawk people won't implement
some of the tawk functionality.
| |
| Kenny McCormack 2004-07-10, 4:07 pm |
| In article <pevje094pg3u6ipvnon90jmfh4o53tp30p@4ax.com>,
Ted Davis <tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote:
>On Mon, 05 Jul 2004 16:05:24 GMT, nobody@nowhere.com (john) wrote:
>
You have that backwards. One uses TAWK when one can (since it only exists
for a few platforms) and GAWK the rest of the time (since it exists for all
platforms).
[color=darkred]
Yes - it works exactly like that. It's very nice.
In a recent program, I had:
ARGI == 2 { split($0,A[$1]);next }
which creates a table keyed on the first field of each line.
[color=darkred]
I don't understand this question - but basically, it does what you expect.
[color=darkred]
>It has been so many years since I used TAWK without declaring all
>variables that I'm not sure - I'm pretty sure it does: it handles
>variables the same way awk does, but also has optional declarations.
>I find declared variables so much easier to deal with, especially when
>the switch to make that mandatory is in effect.
I don't understand this - but it seems to be more in your "I code in AWK as
if it were ANSI/C" thread.
| |
| Ted Davis 2004-07-11, 3:56 am |
| On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 16:54:37 GMT, gazelle@yin.interaccess.com (Kenny
McCormack) wrote:
>In article <pevje094pg3u6ipvnon90jmfh4o53tp30p@4ax.com>,
>Ted Davis <tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu> wrote:
>
>You have that backwards. One uses TAWK when one can (since it only exists
>for a few platforms) and GAWK the rest of the time (since it exists for all
>platforms).
My TAWK compiler is my personal property and is installed on only one
machine, but I program on several - compiling a ATWK scrip requires
using an antique NT4 machine that I really don't care for.
>
>
>Yes - it works exactly like that. It's very nice.
>
>In a recent program, I had:
>
>ARGI == 2 { split($0,A[$1]);next }
>
>which creates a table keyed on the first field of each line.
>
>
>I don't understand this question - but basically, it does what you expect.
Maybe, maybe not - it does what you imply in your code, that may not
be what you expect.
>
>
>I don't understand this - but it seems to be more in your "I code in AWK as
>if it were ANSI/C" thread.
I have to write maintainable code - some of my TAWK programs have been
in use for many years, and like all programs, sometimes develop bit
rot, are broken by changes in the infrastructure they work with, or
contain bugs that don't show up for years. By declaring and
initializing all variables (I don't initialize arrays but I do declare
them), I avoid weird problems with typos in variable names and
variables of the wrong type. I'm somewhat dyslexic, so I have serious
trouble finding misspelled variables. Note that in the above, the
spell checker repaired a misspelled 'optional' as 'optional' and I
didn't notice it.
T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)
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