After an off-line executable version is created, typing "$ RUN SMAUG" will prompt SMAUG to return with "COMMAND (?=HELP)? "

(i) SMAUG uses intermediate buffers when sorting data into spectra. This has the effect of increasing speed of the program, it also will tend not to show any counts for a while in a spectrum that is rarely incremented. A command, (CLE) to flush the buffers is available for the user who ‘dishes to view all of the counts in a spectrum at any given time.

The user can usually get back to the main command loop from any place in the program by typing a series of returns. Any place that this does not hold true will, be explicitly described in this write-up.

While you operate the program there will be many times when it will ask you for the name of a construct (e.g. spectrum, constraints, etc.) to be processed in some manner. Since the names of some of these constructs can be more than sixty characters we have provided several ways to avoid the requirement of having to type out the entire name each time the program asks.

The first method is that the program allows you to specify only as many characters as are necessary to unambiguously identifying the construct and will try to find a match in the appropriate area. -A danger in using this method is that you should type enough characters for the program to recognize only the correct construct as the one the user ‘dishes to use. For example, the user input "UP" will correctly match with the names "UP", "UP ONE", and "UP TWO" and the one selected is a matter of which of the three constructs the program encounter’ first. There are some occasions where the name must be given in full before the program will attempt the correct construct. This restriction is found in the various commands to delete things, and the text will specify which of them require full names to work correctly.

The second way is to tell the program which slot number the desired construct is in. This is done by typing a # followed by the construct’s slot number. This method will still work even if the full name is otherwise required to be typed in. tf the user is designating a spectrum in relation to the AED, then the slot number that should be given is the spectrum’s AED slot number. The slot number associated with a certain construct can be obtained by using the commands "A", "B", "C", "G", "S" for AED, Band, Constraint, Gate and Spectrum respectively.

The third way is available only to designate spectrum with file names. It is done typing a "$" followed by as many characters of the file name as are necessary to unambiguously to identify the correct spectrum. If the requirement of the spectrum’s full name is in force, then this shortcut will not work.

Special Note; Almost every definition that the user makes will have a name of some sort. The only symbol that the names absolutely cannot have is ‘:‘ as it is used to terminate the name. It is also advised that the symbols ‘|’, ‘/’, ‘\', and ‘!‘ not be used in the names as the program will use them to delimit names from each other in several functions. The use of them will not cripple anything, but could render the designation of those definitions in some options more difficult than normal.

(ii) @ files, macro commands, and Start-up files.

SMAUG offers the ability to read its command input from a file and accept it as if the user was typing this information interactively. Typing a "@" followed by the file name you wish SMAUG to read from will activate this option and SMAUG will start reading the file designated. If SMAUG could not open the file, it will print an error message and try to interpret that line as actual command input.

Also available is the ability to define macro commands. Macro commands will allow the user to define a command that is composed of several lines of input. SMAUG will attempt to read the initial macro commands from the file "UREPLY.STR". A sample file (and explanation) is shown below.

"C&Z
ClearBuffers
Zero
All
"FL
FormLoad
@LOAD.FMT
<EOF>

The first macro command defined is C&Z. Whenever the symbols ‘C&Z’ are subsequently entered, the program will execute the following statements (ClearBuffer, Zero, All) until it finds a line that starts with the double quote symbol (signifying the start of another macro command). Looking at the sample file, you should see that C&Z will clear the intermediate buffers, and then zero all of the spectrum.

The second command in the file is FL. Whenever FL is subsequently entered as a command, the program will load the contents of file LOAD.FMT into the generalized event decoding system.

The <EOF> merely denotes the end of the file.

You might note that the FL command has an @ file in it. This is legal, and shows that the program will allow recursion in @ files and macro commands, in any combination, tip to twenty recursions are allowed.

Another feature, not often used, is the optional start-up file. When the program is first started, it will do an automatic command of @UREPLY.STR. If there exists a file of that name, then the program will read the file as command input, and will revert back to the user when the file is exhausted. If the file does not exist, then the program will start up by asking the user for command input right away. No error message will be generated in the latter case.