— © a — = j Language Manua ™w The Spelicaster 2°" AM 20 ‘AL ‘Ne Spua ‘stsayjuased yysi WIZ Z Gt cheers (@#eut sora) py Sts pur yay diy A & oF POPE OOO Heme we eee yxa asja ‘pom Joyd ut yIxa pasnes XO Jo Xj jt Suyyyou =: Ys X oc ttt ee evensevers jjads ® 105 parogiay 129 MMM Tg °**** aweu jjads Aay-auo v 105 preoghay yay? WIZNA A pasnun fn OZ rr rettsreees bene bwerenees aweu jjeds ujZaq AL .£ ov °° Alou uy Jaquiautas ‘aweu e& leds 8 saatsd gyqQGg S wl teteeee (49p10q ul Bu1yyou saop) yyBsa uany lu u GI ott t tte eeeeeee oeeeede *** 3JO/UO sya UINy HSNO o 6T "Tt (JaAa] BuO UMOp) sisayjuased 432] Nd d FRSScrnre paypyewun 41 yIxXa /paysyeu jr BuryoU xo O QE rr ee bs cesses seacecranevees tee rte rree qeadai NN N FE (teen ee eee eadaeeeenceees oedivens sau) Aueut os yeadax XW “NW ‘IW ‘AW ‘VIN ‘OW ww BECO eI eF (49paog ut Suryjou saop) yyaj usny WoT . 20j02 uad 438 xy ‘NM ‘IM “SH “WHOM » x EL *** Suppays zo Supmesp ynoyyis premio days or | bro patyoyeus 4) xa ‘paysyewun jr Suryyou xi J elo e+ bereese (4apsog ul aSIM4I0]9) dn urn} IH H Zp treeees (421]9) YseM ‘psemsoy days (49119) ysem oo 9D tS °** (9494) 08) saysodajay yay 34 "794 07 vas a4 2d 2G chee Che beeens Pewee ew eesaeeeees (uontsod Joquiausas) 19}10daja4 asodxa 3 ‘73 03 wa 3 qg GU Peete eee ceeteherwpnesesie's veers punoae wing ia a pasnun = Il SEPM eee ees boone * (4949) Mep *‘paemioy days og q ST eeeeeinsiese JO[O9 4aYStY JXaU 0} 4OJO9 Uad aduey wuY WV SIFPIIAS s2aseo]]adg jo Susy] peonaqeydy The Corerneed Mera Upete 0) ererrars eet er) the ew Scott Qilkeson > 2\eu te this bel 93 RSE ES Npetrne Dyrteae bene : Copyright © 1984 by John R. Fairfield. All rights reserved. Spellcaster is 4 trademark of John R. Fairfield. DOS 3.3is a copyrighted program of Apple Computer, Inc. licensed to John R. Fairfield to distribute for use only in combination with Spelicaster. APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE ENCLOSED COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR IT'S FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, THIS WAR- RANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE ee RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO ATE. The Book of Spell; The Spellcaster Language Manual Version 1 by John R. Pairfield DOM'T READ THIS BOOK until you've played with Spelicaster. This book won't make much sense until you've seen Spellcaster in action, and read some of the tutorial that is built into the Spellcaster disk. Speilcaster will tell you when you are ready for The Book of Spells, | SS, _—_ a, — ——_ ee ee ee What is Spellcaster? Spellcaster is a programming language that was designed to be very easy to learn, yet be powerful enough for programming fast video gamen. Small children enjoy Spellcaster because it lets them draw colored patterns all aver the screen to their heart's content, just by pushing on a few keys on the keyboard. Spellcaster quickly pulls the beginner into serious computer programming. Spellcaster has many unique features that make it an ideal tool for learning to program: ¢ feedback. Spellcaster makes all the program's data visible all the time, not as numbers, but as screen patterns. The effects of every keystroke are inetantly shown on the screen. Every aspect of the program speaks to your it makes noises, you can see its progress on the sereen, [ts conditional branching test is continuously on display; in fact, nearly every aspect of the entire current state of the program is continuously on display. * editing. Playing with programs themselves is so easy in Spelleaster. You can stop 4 program, make it back up, change it, add stuff te it, all while watching the instant effects of every change. * On-screen Tutorial. A tutorial (dozens of lessons) Is built into the Spellcaster disk, to teach the beginner how to use Spellcasters +. It displays text on the screen, tells the beginner what to cype pee ' even does some typing for the beginner. The tutorial uses simple ws video games as example programs, to teach beginners, Step by step, to program. * Simplicity. for instance, there are only three kinds of conditional test in Spellcaster, and in the whole language there are only 34 syllables. What is a spell? A spell is a computer program written in the Spellcaster language. My betters always told me that a spell was a long stream of gibberish Syllables. Some wild-eyed wizard would utter the spell, and the door would blast open. At least that's what we learned in the Army. In Spelicaster, a spell is a long stream of syllables that, as you type them, cause all sorts of things to happen on the screen. Each syllable of the spell makes some simple change to the screen, but the combined effect of the whole spell can be yery, very interesting. a Can I really learn computer programming with Spelicaster? Is Spelicaster just for games or in it serious? ‘There are a number of other systems that let you draw stuff on the screen, and that are advertised as introductions to computer programming, but they don't measure up to computer science's definition of true computer languages, (An exception is LOGO, which, Like Spelicasterc, is a true computer language.) With Spellcaster, will you reaily learn computer programming? Yes. Spellcaster is a true, complete formal language. Let's be specific. If you think that computing necessarily has to do with numbers, then you probably wonder why Spellecaster doesn't deal with numbers. But the heart of computing isn't numbers at all, it's logic. Most introductory courses in BASIC {a popular computing language), spend so much time dealing with numbers that they never get into interesting control logic, Spellcaster takes you directly to the heart of computing, to the logical control of a changing process. Logic isn't easy, and if you want to write really complicated programs, it won't be easy, But if you use Spelleaster, at least there will be no barriers between you and the truly interesting, truly difficult part of computer science. Yo give an example: several systems which only let you draw stuff on the screen (without really getting you into programming) have 4 special FILL command that lets you fill ina region with a solid color. You might use the FILL command to color in the roof of a house, after you drew the outline of the roof. There is na such commmand in Spellcaster. Why? Because you can write a spell which will do that, a spell that will £ill in any outlined region you make, with any color you want. Now the PILL spell is already written, it's on your Spellcaster disk, the tutorial will tell you all about it and 5 how to cast it, and this manual, in the last section, ee FILL spell for you in great detail. So you get the cent just as worlds: since the spell is already written, you can use it frow it easily as any special FILL command, and you can also learn y change it, and adapt it to your own spells. Why Spelleaster domsn't use English -Like" Many computer Languages (like LOGO or BASIC) use "English phrases for their commands. ‘The question ie whether uaing Snglise phrases is a help or a hindrance. Usvally the word as use in in computer Language doesn't quite mean the same thing as it oi six English, and that can be very confusing. What's even more con : 9 for the learner is when you can use some English phrases but no others that appear equally reasonable. For example, in BASIC, "FOR I = 51 TO 60" is supposed to mean that something is to be repeated 10 times, once with I (a number) we % $1, the next time with I equal to 52, and so on. But "FROM I = 5 60" means nothing in BASIC, nor does “FOR I EQUALS 51 TO 60", nor does "FOR I FROM 51 TO 60", nor does... Spelloaster does not confuse itself with English. l t i l 1 1 I l \ Computer literacy concepts in Spellcaster reading technical manuals the program/data dichotomy the difference between computer memory and secondary (disk) memory. editing, cursor control, control keys creating, deleting, changing files on a disk variables interpreters powers of 2 arithmetic structured programming control structures, including loops loop exit conditions nested conditions subroutines recursion stacks strings process, process state polling real time programming random number generators +teeterrrete ++ +++ + sheet pati Hej thy f t wiih y ea Hi squared are tts ac if the ) equare bo the’ hexe. The Mala Scrven and the Border Actuaily, Spelicaster thinks that there are two serene. One ts big. and (ilies Rost of the TY'* (or monitor’) screen. ‘This big scraon in called the "sain serewn”, The other screan in just a thin line Like a picture Lrane « all the way around the maif-screen. Thiet frome acreen the na tain accoen, at NO. or JO or GO taken the eke yo off-one pie of sh stteen (an 4f it wore ing to step in border), the ets eee rece ha coment ee in on other giles Taiahous aver getting ). Bame way for top and bottom: if you step out the top, you'lt come rtght in q the bottom. The border is os A tallrood track one square thick that goes all around thu inain gereen. If the pen lie’ tn the “yordes {in other vords, on the cailroad track) and comum to a corner of the border, going ie ek eae eet perce vere age & the pen follow the track around a : = tn the border: can't turn sameeren the track at all. To turn around in the border you have * There! are rhally: only teo directiana in the border, clockwise and compas cyoons tay around the track, =n the border, HI makes the pen turn to the clockwise direction around the border, no matter what @irmetion tt had mesh going. so there's po uy: that you can step out of one screen 4 ints the other with BO, 60 or 3 ‘TS Renee e e eee ene Eneomen ey, PERS you have to use ny ar 4, ané eoior in the spoare it Ke: Ee eseet oer speates give 4 (OCF tqutettind tne Mera, Bonk o£ 50's ie a hurry, — \a new dot hext to it tn the sow en Neatly Cano” or *drav", at “washer” eee and tt deen the gen color to wes Teavin and tie ase it arrives ror Ware weualls “sheen nooriierth sly’ the: Be ‘ sotat. OE eu oa q ; , lawn Of waning: SaaS praraPys ace dot one step farther on, by ormebyy tie ‘Bat nr X wanted itn ¥ wakee tha sine color ao) ¥ washod witn x. Jee Bie name co ibeas tty if you meena eernemion a ath cee a eX washed with KO (the ero caloc) makon x. : ae po eg testi a aquace twice in a row wich | ame color, | thee *unitoes* the effect of the ioeee ; with ¥ makes color a. het with Y mahes x, t2 — ae a oe ee oe ee re ~—= TS KH SS TS BS SS q: = a8 age g eee oe: ue Ses Lb aa g 3 53 an ii fens oe net S5t* is a ; as aoe x ‘4 § 5 ther ur. pen tur rection ) One had bean saing. the border, st -setwen, HI makes the pon going. In Lt . the At nave no effect in the border. si border, you have to.gam O01. Of sakwe tha pen ture areund (change dicection). cae = Se ae“ 1 ahApee, wire wall wie fe the Hi RT ARE Phe er form erant amd ae Pit ficintele eta tte v. an eof 45 farat. A poner ool tune tty 6 feneth baet an, with the wii (hoot, Ware whEt ETE mene. free 2iedere . Wihaeee , in Solow tata fey the AOS the ben th by Leokinu at aw oe a ial ore ar Ye me See lonard iemersi.* an page. Hext pegw. ’ oe ey a v0 Sai ote eet) er se eee ssamete. teh Ghee a2 4" + [eet thn s o ak Lae ae lk ’ : ’ ! ! ! ne Lo: ioving S¥ries cf <tangies Sight Help you t> Usdererand Naw => ene Buppoee you have trpué the Aeyetrore= : 7 stow up 28 feyectonel posted kee stil tosr tieers The text tour \ es / . i PL ashins yea aes ne eaten es. Soe Rete me mening hidden teys thet are sqe-rre ied —_—_— S| Slee eee i 6 — Mefinine and Gauting Spells & spell is made of words. Wordn ace made of Example syllables: Bo wu IX MU KA. A syliable is fey latterd long, wee Usually just have to type the First letter to get the whole Syllable. Example words; BORIBOLI XENRO WUBOIX. A word is made of one or more cneeteey and ends with a blank (though there's one way of enclosing blanks within a word: ‘quickfind po), syllables. A es ts made of one ar more Words. fvery time you want to cast » Spell, da you have to type the Whole thing? Wo, you can give a spel! name, and make the computer remember the spell and its name. Then, every time you type the name of the spell, it happens just as if you had retyped the whole thing. The next page tella you how to give a spell a name. SPELLS TH Olve « spoll a nano, follow these atepns de iy 4. Type the spelt, fxample; nunontnrisr RIBGBORD Hit the Gokoy {which mtands for the eyllable "SPELLS" !. The computer will prank “SPRLLS TU" and wait for a y type he you went. The TO is # syllabiw tha Marks the beginning o begin with Tu.) Example: NUBORTBOLIIX AIBOBOBO SPELLS TU Type a namo for your spell. t aw spell mames all spell names Hxample: HUBORIMOGITX RIBOBORG SPELLS TUWALLFAPER Hit the = key (which stands for the syliable 21M). (ALL spell names end with 21m.) — : Example; WURORIBOLITX AIBOROHO SPELLS TUMALLPAPERDIM ! 26: One occasional hassle is that you think of a name that has @ & in 3 (Like DLISABETH), but then find out you can't use tt, because as soon 45 you type the &, the coiputer thinka it's for the cloning SIM. panera you typed no name at ail, just hit = right off, what happens? Weil, that’s the name that has no letters ih it, and it's a perfectly g0O8 maine. [To cast that-epell you would typo TUNIM,) Can you put spaces and numhers in a spell name (Like TUS6THAINM or TUMY SPELLZIM)? Yes. Most of the keys on your keyboard van be used in spell names. ft changes nome from computer to computer, but at least ali of the letters (except 2), the digita (0123456739), and hiunks (the space bar) can always be used in spell names. If the computer already has In its memory another spell that has the fame name as the one you choses, tt will complain by printing the eeatels “There's already o spell With that name”, and make you make up a erent aame. The computer will remember the spell until you turn it off, or Otherwine quit Speiicanster. If you want your spells to be written onts the disk sp that they can he used when you turn the computer back on, you have to tell the computer to do that. (Use the Manu). TUs.-ZIH PO... 31M WU... kIM VIIEIM All of theaw syllables cause one ppell to cast annther spell. When the second spel! is done, the Eirat spell continues an with the rest of ituwlf (tho vane coming after the TIM}. for example, BORGBOTUCONTIMIOIQIO does three BOM, then all the sylisnles in the COW spell, than three JO'n. TV... SIN To cast @ spell, you type ita name between Ti and 2IM. For example, you caat 6 spell named COW typing TUCOW2IM. The TU tolls the computer to look up the apell named Cow. Tf the computer doesn’t know ony spell named COW, Tk prints "There i= no spel) named COW.” Maybe you Haven't named any spell CoW yer. Maybe you misnpelled the hane. Or -maybo you've forgotten to have the commuter cead your spells {that you made and named yesterday) Crom the disk (quickfind Im). You can make 4 spell that cants a spelt that downn't oxints the computer will just print that mosnage ("there ts no mpell named .-.") ry time you cast the spell, and continues as if the missing spell did’nothing. (Why? OQuickfind Recursion) 28 a Ged cle PUL. TIK PU and ZIM are useful when you want to cast 4 short spell inside another spell, and you don't want the bother of giving the thort spell a fare. and SIM sre parentheses (theo () things). They tet you pet 4 spell in the middle of anothor spell (just like these parentheses tet ne put this sentehce in the middie of another sentence! without having to name the epell you put in. For example, suppose you want to imake # hox of four (MEMO) sides. Each pide ta made of ELftoen (MIMI} BO's. (TE's OK Lf you don't understand MEMO and MIMt yet, Just cememboe for now that NEMO means 4 and MIMI means 15.) You could do it by first making a spell with 15 BO's: MIMIBO SPELLS TUSIDEZIM | and then doing four sides Like this: MEMOTUS IDET IMRT Or, you could do it with gust one spell, like this: NEMOPO MIMIBO EIMRI Tn both cases, the box spell behaves Like MIMO(MIMINO )RI. Whatever is betwoan the PU and the 23M is treated exactly like » regular spell (which of course means that you could haye parentheses (like thts (or even this)) inside parentheses, and so on). Wetice that t£ you type MEMOMIMIBORI without the PU and ZIM, you just get BORT repeated MEMOMIMI times (that's i€3 times, and it doesn’t make a box). 29 Wu. ’ _stK Suppese you Nave s spell that goes along and makos same regular pattern. It Weald ba nice if wvery once in a while it wauid some up for alr and ask you for some redirection. If your spell han a WU tn it, then every time it gets to the Wi it will wait for you to type 4 apeil at the kryboard. tf you want it to cantinua with no change, $ust Hit TIM. fit Af you want it to hang « right, er if you want to cast 4 Spell ot that point that draws a flower, go ahead. Then hit ZIM, amd the original spell will go on its way. fvery time 4 soeil dows a W), it anka you to type inva spell to be cast at that point. ‘he cursor (the bright thing that shows where your typing Will appear) appears one fine down, telling you that the Computer is waiting for you to type, Yat can type sey Et SS would nopmatly put in # spell (aa long or short as you want). when you are done typing the spell, type 41M. ‘Ten the spell that had tho WU tn af will continge. ; for various reasons, « WU dinables dolets, leftacrow, superieftarrow, and zapperinftartow, In other words, if a WU aske you for # spell, you can’ hack up wngi? you hit ZIM, 30 ——* ’ — —_—— — — ¥ — —— | vurIm VUEIM is ti for making game spells, where you want to control some procesa (like a rocket) that ia going to keep going (sintack into an astroid) even if you don't do enyeniag to control Lt (in fact, eopecially if you don't do anything to control it). Every time a spell does a VUZIM, lt checks, real quick, to see if you have hit a Key on the Keyboard. If you haven't, the spell continues as if the VUZIM wasn’t even thore (moving the rocket ever closer to that astroid). Tf you have htt a key, the computer looks te seo if there is a spell that has that name (Like if 7 hit the A key, the computer looks for @ spell named Al. If there ie nd such spell, the spell with the VUZIM continues aa if nothing had ha] ed, Sut if thore ta, that apel!i is cast, Sree then, before the first spall continues another step (hopefally, TOATIM will turn that poor rocket sround). Because VUTIM doesn't stop the spell it's in, it is useful for gomes where the game keeps going even if you don't type anything. WU, by contrant, staps the apell it ia in, to wait on the keyboard. VUCIM can only cast spelis whose names have just one letter in them. With VUZIM you can use any of the keys [except the Special keys) to ‘cast apelle, except, one might think, the 2 key. No spell can be named %, because typing 2 ends @ wpell name (with a ZIM), However, if VUZIM spots that you've pressed the z key, it looks for the spell whose name lies no letters in it,. the ape 1 that would be cast as TURIM. € this spell exists, VUZIM will cast it when you hit &- 31 Zz j se Ea = oA. Te peateors Repeaters ace useful tf you have some pattern that you want repeeted « humber of times on the acrean. Repeaters are peefis syllabies, A prefix is 4 syllable that is techec on to the teginning pf a word, to change the meaning of the werd. for example, "im" changes the word "possible" to *impossibia”. Af ter prefix makes the reset of the word copeat 4 certain nomber ofr (unless an 1% or OX exits the word). For example, the prefix NI meane “repeat three times", so MIRORIBOLE does BORIBOLI three timen. \Now the spell BO RI BO LI usually has the save effect ae the spell BOMTHOL], It tinuaily doesn't matter whether the spel! is four separate words (50 Ri BO GI) or just one word (SORIBOLI!), Sat if you Put 4 repeater in front, the spaces between the words become SRO E RANE MIRO RE WO GE dees three BO's, then one RI, ane BO, «nd one Lf. But MIPU BO RI-BO LI ZIM does the same thing as MIBORIDOLI. Why? Beosuse the PU...=IM parentheses wrap the BO Rl BO LI up into « spell. Tt*s just an tf you typed RO RI BO LI SPELLS TUSTEPEIM 1 and then did MITUSTEPSIM, You see, because the spaces wore between the worda of another spell, the word that started with mt ‘Gidn't stop until after the itm. MO MA ME MI Make sure you sce the IMPORTANT POINT at the bottom of the next page. Wow, suppose You want something to repoat Li times. What repeater to use? This table gives you all the repesters between 0 and 15. MO: 0 MA: 1 MB: 2 Mi: 3 MAMOr 4 MAMA: 5 MAME: 6 MAMI: 7? MEMO: 8 MEMAt 9 MEME: 1D MEME: 11 MEIMO1 12 MIMA: 13 MIME: 14 MIMI: 15 The whole thing is built on four syllables: MO, MA, ME and MI which are worth 0, 1, 2 and 3, See how the repeaters in the first column (0, 4, & and 12) all end with MO. The eecond column repeatars all end with MA, the third column with ME and the fourth column with MI. In effect, all the repeaters in the first row begin with MO, because MOMO ts the same an MO, MOMA is the came on MA, MOME is the some as ME, ond MOMI is the same as MI, Why? Because MO means aero, and so Soean’t add anything. All the repeaters in the second row bagin with MA, and all in the third row begin with ME, and all in the last row begin with Mi, 34 ee C—O 23 SS ta, Ge ion. ’ ’ ms Guppone somubolly aaka you how much MINN ta don't lodkt). Now auvaig Se figure if out? Well, all you have to know ia that MO ie were, MA oe cnv, MM in two, and Mt is three, ‘Thatta all. Then what you @G +8 take the tient gytiable of MIME, multiply it by 4, and add the inant nyliable. That’s Mt timen 4, plus ME, Which is three times 4, plus two. Which is 1242 + 14. Now look. If 4 repeater has three ayllables, iike MIMAMO, then the &Lest sylianie is multipied times 4 twice, the second syllable times 4 oc, and thy last syllable just added on, So MIMAMO 18 3°4"4 + 1%4 + 0 * 32. 1& a repeater has four syllables, like MEMOMEMA, then the firat syllable is multiplied times 4 three times, the second uyliable times 4 twice, the third syllable timen 4 ance, and the last syliabie just aided on. So MEMOMEMA is aeqege4 + 07444 + 244 4 2 = 337. ‘On eome computers, the biggest tepester you can make is MIMIMINT. That's 3°494°4 4 394%4 + 1444+ 3@ 255. Tf you try to make repeaters thet have wore than four syllables, they start over again at z2¢ro, Like MAMOMOMOME is worth just ME, 2. e** IMPONTANT POINT ***: Being able to figure out repeaters isn't eorectat ty impartant for using Spelicaster. If you ask me (John Fairfield, the suthor of 3 9 caster) how much MEMAMO is, 2 don’t have the faintest idea, Well, let's see, 1 do know that it's bigger than MIMI, ond it’s leas than MIMIMT, and — do know how to figure it out é I have to, but I-don't want to. I asually use MIMI, or MIMIMIMI, oF just try around until it looks right. 35 yu MU ts usefal when you want something to happen by chance, A spell bynckane many MU's in it makes « differwnt shape wach time it is cast, nee. MUts a Fandom fapester. tt eguld be worth MO, or MA, or ME or MI, and you never can tell which it will be, t's like throwing dice: each time it could be different. So MANY coulii be 4 ar 5 or 6 or 7 {anywhere in the second row). MUMA could be 1 or 5 or 9 or 13 (anywhere in the second column), MUMU could be anywhere between 0 and 45, And MUMUMUMU could be anywhere between 0 and 255. Por examplo, MUMUTUBILZIM does anywhere between 0 and 15 BIL’s. HX lets you use a square of color to determine how many times something will repeat. MX repeat its ward depending on the color last atepped on} That is, if the color last stepped on was KIKA, thon MX ia worth MIMA (13)! And strangely enough, MXMEMX would be worth Lae4*a + 244 + 13 = 229. Remember, though, that on some computers rapeaters can't get bigger than 255, Beyond 255, they would start Qver again at aero (like 25660, 257=1, 258=2, and no on). wu NU repeats itn word indefinitely. Tne word will not stop repeating until an Ik or OX exits the wens Raat 36 | ! ! | ! | Pen Color The pen color is the color used by BO to draw (and by GO to wash). When your spell is stopped, you can always tell what color your pen is by looking at the top square of the Mate x. You can change the pen color just by typing the name of the color. Por example, KE NUBOIX makes a line in the color KE. The next page tells you the names of all the colors. How many colors can Spellcastor draw? That depends on your. computer (di€€erent computers have different numbers of colors). Of course, if you're not using a color TV or monitor, you won't see colors even if your computer can make them. Instead, you'll see different textures of dot patterns. Spellcaster comes with a spell named COLORS which will show you all the colors that Spellcaster uses on your computer. The tutorial will tell you all about the colors on your computer. The names of the colors follow the same system as the repeaters (MO, MA, ME, MI}. If you understand the names of the repeaters, you'll understand much better the names of the colors. BE KO KA KE KI If Spellcaster on your computer uses four colors, they will be named KO, KA, KE, and KI. tf Spellcaster on your computer uses sixteen colors, they will be named like this: KOKO (RQ) RAKO KEKO KIKO KOKA (KA) KARA KEKA KIKA KOKE (KE&) KARE KEKE Kikk KOKI (RI) KART KEKI KIKI KOKO is the same as KO, KOKA is the same os KA, KOKE is the same as KE, and KOKI is the same as KI. To change the pen color, you just type the name of the color you want. Por example, if you want to draw a line in the color KEKA, you would type KEKA NUBOIX 38 — ee | _— = KU KU is a random color. It could be KO, KA, KE or KI, and, like throwing dice, you never know what will come up. IF you've got a KU in a loop (like NUKUSO), it may be different every time the loop repeats. Likewise, KEKO ts a random color that begins with KE (either KEKO, KOKA, KEXE@ or KEKI), and KUKE is o random color that ends with KR. KURU could be any color between KOKO and KIKI. AKA again AKA changes the pen color to the next higher color. For example, if the pen color is KO, AKA changes it to KA. AKA changes KA to KE, KE to KI, and (if your computer has more than four colors), KI to KAKO. AKA changes the highest color to KO, the lowest. 39 The Gelor Last Stepped on “The color last stepped on” is very important in Spellcaster: it can be used by a spell to decide which way the spell ought to go- color last stepped an" is the color ms | the acreen square ste d on by the moet recent BO, JO or GQ. 80, JO and GO are the only syllables that “sten*. Of course, BO and GO change the coler of the screen square. However, “the color last stepped on” in the color the square was, before it got changed. The Matchbox The Matchbox is that little box that's always on the drawing screen. Whenever the spell is stopped, the Matchbox shows two colors: the pen esler (on top) and the color last stepped on (on the bottom) . Sometimes it looks as if it only has one color in it: that's just because the other color is the same as the background. Matched and Unmatched Whenever the pen color matches the color last stepped on, the spell is “matched” (just then). Whenever the pen color is different from the color last stepped on, the spell ia "unmatched". tf the two colors shown in the Matchbox are the same, the spell is matched. If they're different, Lt's unmatched. 40 a -m-. a sa... ea 2. So AB. = = = | KX XX ig useful if you want your pen to "pick up" the color of sosie Squsre it has just atepped on. XX sets the pen color to match the color last stepped on. to be matched. Immediately after a KX, a spell in guaranteed 4 3 = Oe —— “a 2S?) Exits Exits (IX, OX and XBW) are the logical heart of Spellcaster. They let you make spella that behave differently depending on what they find on the screen. An exit forces its spell to make a decision: keep going a6 usual, or skip to something different. How does the spell make the decision? By whether or not it is matched. A Spall 48 matched if the color last stepped on is the same ae its pen color (quickfind “The Color Last Stepped On" iff you don't understand matching). 43 TX OX iX and OX can be put anywhere in a word. More than one can be put in & word. They sometimes cause an exit. That means, they sometimes cause the rest of their word to be skipped, so that the spell continues with the following word. Por example, the words "BOBOBOIXBOSO RIAKA" would sometimes do 5 BO's before the RIAKA, but other times do only 3 BO's before the RIAKA, because the last two would get skipped. IX does nothing, just lets the spell pass through it unchanged, if the spell is unmatched when it gets to the Ix. But if the spell is matched, IX exits the word (the rest of the word is skipped over and the next word starts). So BOBOBOIXBOBO would do only 3 B8O's if the spell was matched by the enc of the third Bo. 44 OX is the opposite of IX. If the spell is matched when it gets to an OX, OX lets the spell pass through it. But if the spell is unmatched, OX causes the rest of the word it is in to be skipped, and the next word begins. So BOBOBOOXBOSO would do only 3 BO's if the spell was unmatched by the end of the third 80. If a word has » repeater prefix, an IX or OX in the word might cause the repeating to guit before it has finished its usval number of repetitions. This is especially true for NU, hecause a NU word without an exit will never quit. For example, NUBOIXAKABO will only quit when the first 8O happens to step on a square the same color as the pen color. as XEN XEN is pronounced “ZEN". XEN is @ prefix that must come even before repeater prefixes. For example, you can do XENMIMIBO but you can't do MIMIXENBO (try it, it won't let you type the XEN). A XEN does an exit unless an IX or OX in the preceding word did an-exit! Suppose your spell had the two words “MAMAIXBO XENRI" in it, There are two ways the spell might finish the MAMAIXBO: the MAMA (5) repeats might get all done, or the IX might cause an exit. In the firet case, when the $ repeats got finished without the IX ever doing its thing, the XEN would cause an exit (because no exit happened in the first word), so the RI would get skipped. In the second case, when the IX did an exit, the XEN wouldn't, so the RI would make the spell take a right. The word before a XEN must have at least one IX or OX in it, or the XEN word will always be skipped. In the spell "“IXTUJAMESZIM XENTUJOBNZIM", either JAMES or JOHN happens, and the other gets skipped. They never both happen. Why? Well, suppose the spell is matched when it gets to the IX. The IX will work, skipping over JAMES, So that means that the XEN will let JOHN happen. On the other hand, suppose the spell is unmatched when it gets to the IX. The IX won't exit, so JAMES will happen. But now the XEN will make the spell skip the JOHN. 46 Notice that these two spelia do exactly the same thing, no matter what JAMEB and JOHN do: IXTUJAMESZIM XENTUJOANSIM OXTUJOHNZIM XENTUJAMESS IM Why do they always do the same thing? Well, if either one of them Starts matched, it will do JOHN, and not JAMES. And if eithor starts unmatched, it will do JAMES, and not JOHN. If you wanted it the other way around, you'd have to write it like either of these; IXTUJONNZIM XENTUJAMESZIM OXTUJAMESZ1IM XENTUJORNZIM Both of these do the same thing, but theie thing is the opposite of the first two spells, a? Recursion A Spell can cast itself. por example, the spell BOTUCATEZIM AKABORIBOLI SPELLS TUCATZIM | Casts itself. When you first type it in, the computer will complain (4s you type the first TUCATZIM) that “There are no spelia named CAT", but that's all right, you're creating it! Go ahead and make CAT OR your computer. What happens when you cast CAT now, after it is defined? ‘The computer looks up the definitian of CAT, does the BO, and then says “hmm, I need to cast CAT aqein, but I'd better near track of this first CAT, ‘cause I'm not finished with it yet, so I'll call this second dude CAT2 or somethin’." ‘Then it looks up the definition af CAT again, and does the BO, and then says "hmmmm, another CAT!?. O.K, that one's CAT3, and here goes..." Then it looks up the definition of CAT again, and does the BO, and... Well, you see how things are going to go. It will just do BO's until it runs out of memory keeping track of all those CATs. ‘he computer's got a lot of memory, it can keep track of hundreds of CATs, but there is a limit! Then the computer will print the message “Can't do it. Not enough room in memory." rt didn't even get to the second word of the first CAT! Notice that even if it had a hundred times as much memory, the same thing would have happened. ee ee ee ee ee A spell that casts itself (or o spell that cantsh another spell that... ends up casting the first mpell) iw called 4 *recuraive” spell. What's the ase of recursive apelis if tho computer always runs out of memory? Well, you can write recursive apelin which don't run aut of meHOTY. fiow? Well, thore has to be some way that sometimes the spell @oean't cast itself. You've got to ose an exit, [xX or OX. For instance, try this apell: BOIXTUDOGIIM AKARORIDOLE SPELLS TUDOGEIM t The enly difference between DOG and CAT in the 1X. Now when you cast DOG, the same thing's going to happen as with CAT, except that, perhaps on DOGI43, the computer's going to do the 143'rd BO, which ts finally going to step on the square that was colored Y the ficat BO. 00G143 will be matched when it hits its EX. So it will skip the TOUDOGZIM, and finally do an AKAHORIBOLT. POi14a3 will then bo done, so the computer can now finish off pOGL42 (doing ita AKABORIBOLI), and then finish off DoGldl, and nodi40, and so on all the way back to the Eirat 00G, and be done! When you write a recursive spell, you have to make sure that under some condition, the spell won't cast itself. Sometimes, the easiest way to get something done is with a recursive spell. The PILL spel! is a recursive spell. 49 <eete iteelf. Whee pes first tt fn. the computer will cocplain sas tes sere me Eirey TOEATIIN] that “There are na ee os ~: that rigzt ‘ee ceweting tt Co me o® year cuepcter, — } e Sts: Stree whee yes cast CAT maw, after it is detinedt Thu Canpater loots =p tye defteition af : tie » and then zaya “hem, I Reed 22 gest CAT ) Bat 274 tatter | track of this first CAT. i = with st get, se 2°'2i call chia second dide in*.° Then 32 Sp the definition of 2oce then cays “homme, another CAYE?. ik, that one's SATS, wad hore gies... than tt Looks uy the detinition of Car aguit, aod dies tte BO, ant... Well, you sex thew tx ace ging to gn. (Ct will just de 80's until ing tract of ell those CATS. The computer's te Swen tcack of hundreds of Cats, but there coppsser will print the message *Canlt ao it, s : : Sot encagt roce i= =* -3e Sidn's even tea the second vord-of Sie first CAT! Sotice Oven AE it bald nuateed simon. an mech eSsry. She same thing would have hacpenwd. : = Teleporters Suppose you're a farmer driving tractor in a field. for some reason (supper?} you have to quit, and you want to pick up work later exactly where you {eet off. You'd need to remember where you quit, and what direction you were going, and whether you were disking or plowing or whatever. NOW suppone you wanted to stop the work of a spell, and later on have the spell pick up the work again at that place. You'd need to remember all these things: Position of a Spell: Location: where was the spell on the screen? Direction: was the spell headed up, down, left or right? Pen color: what color would it draw with if it did a BO? Quiet or Buzzing: has a QUSH turned the BOs’ clicks off? Normal or Mirror: has a ¥ turned left to right and right to left? That's what teleporters sre for: remembering, and then Later going back to, the position of a spell, (Notice there's one interesting thing that teleporters don't remember: the color last stepped on. I'll talk more about that in a bit.) Read the next page for more about teleporters. 51 E FE To make a teleporter remomber the current position of a spell, you have tO "expose" it, as if it took a picture. You can think of a teleporter as some kind of magic crystal, When you pull the crystal out of your pocket (“expose™ it), it sees and remembers your position. When you expose a teleporter, it remembers the location, direction and pen color of the spell, and it remembers whether a» QUSH has turned the BO clicking off, and whether RI and LI have been switched. To make a teleporter take the spell back to the position the teleporter is remembecing, you have to “feit" it (as if you had to reach into your pocket and rub the crystal with a felt cloth to make its magic work). When you "felt" a teleporter, it sets the location, direction and all that other stuff back to what they were when the teleporter was last exposed. There are 26 teleporters, named A, B, C and so on through 2. To expose a teleporter, you type E followed by the name of the teleporter (for example, to expose teleporter A, you type BA). To "felt" a teleporter, you type FE followed by the name of the teleporter (for example, to “felt" teleporter A, you type FEA). There*s one thing a teleporter doesn't remember: the color last Stepped on. Why? Well, that's so you can pass news From one teleporter place to another. Suppose you're working at teleporter A and just now stepped on 4 green square (so the color last stepped on is green). Then you can go to the place teleporter B is remembering, set the pen color to green, and start drawing in green, like this: PEBKXBO. The KX sets the pen color to be the color last stepped on (not the color you last stepped on when you were working at B, but the 52 =. =_>_ fs i color that wan most recently stepped on by the epell, in this case the green back at A). Usloqg Teleperters with Exits RARABARIRIR] MIMTBO FEATXTUJAMESSIM KENTUIONNS IM When this spell runs into the Ix, exactly what lu the “color Last utepped on", and what in the "pen coloce"? (It's important to knew, otherwine you can't Figure what the IX fs going to do.) Lot's stare at the beginning. The KARA sets the pen color. Then the EA exposes teleporter A. Let's call this place "position Abel," The pen color is then changed to KIKI, Then the spell takes a right and does fifteen (MIMI) BO'm. Let's call the place where the spell is now, "ponition Baker." Then cowes FEA, which sets the spell back to position Abel. ‘That includes setting the pen colerc back ta KAKAL And then comes the IX, What is the color last stepped on? Well, it depends on what color the last RO stopped on at position Raker. Let's suppose you atarted this upell off by itself on an all black (KO) serwen: the color last atepped on would be KO. Is the spell matched? No, the pen color in KAKA, So on An all KO screen, this apell would always be unmatched by the time it got to the IX, so JAMES would happen. On 4 screen that already had enough KAKA drawn on Lt so that at posltlon Baker the spell atepped in KAKA, JOHN would happen. 5 Teleporters and the Border What happens Lf you "fele” a teicsporter before you have exposed tt? It takes you to its birthplace, its homeland, the border. The border ia @ queer place. It's like a railroad track that goes sll the way sround the main screen. The track is oniy one little square wide. You can go etralght ahead on the track (when you gut to ‘. corner you'll go around the corner, just doing straight 50's, JO'S OF GO's) Gr you can turn around (with a DI}, but LI and RI have no effect at all. It's as if there were only two directions in the border, clockwise and counterclockwise. Even HI, in the border, doesn't make you go up, it makes you go clockwise (so that, for example, if you were way over on the right hand side of the border, a HI would actually turn you downwards}. When you're in the border, you can't turn and go into the main screen, and when you're in the main screen, you can't pierce through into the border. The only way to get from the main screen to the border, and vice versa, is with teleporters. The “inborn” position of every teleporter is as follows: location: the bottom left corner of the border screen. Girection: doing up (clockwise). pen color: Whatever color spells start with on your computer. Quiet or Buzzing: buzzing. Normal or Mirror: normal. — i a | | Once you're in the border, how do you got back? Easy, you just have to expose one teleporter in the main screen first, before you “felt” an unexposed one to go to the border. Then, when yoy want to go back, you just “felt” the one that's remembering the pos tion in the main screen. For instance, EA PES MIMIMIMIBOAKA FEA MIMIMIMIBOARA Suppose you're in the border, and teleporter A is remembering @ position back tn the main screen, and you do BO FEA IXTUJOHNZIM XENTUJAMESZIM. The IX compares the color last stepped on (in the border!) to the current pen color {in the main screent), to see if they match. Why have a border? It's handy Lf you want to make some patterna that will govern spelis that are drawing on the main screen. You don't want the main acreen spells to overwrite the patterns that are governing them. The border is 4 nice, sheltered place for the governing patterns. How do you make stuff in the border affect stuff in the main screen, er vice versa? The only way is with the color-last-stepped-on, For instance, suppose you had just stepped on 6 green square in the main ecreen. Then, if teleporter Z is in the border, PEZKX will set the pen color at % in the border to be green. 55 Level Teleporters When I talked about EA through B2, and PEA through PEt, I said that there were 26 teleporter stones. Actually, there are more, but the enes I'm about to tell you about are strange. Whenever a the computer &. begins working on a spell that you are typing, or B. comes to a TU...ZIM, or Cc. cames to a PU...2IM, or D. comes to a WU...3IM, or ER. comes to a VUZIM, the computer snaps its fingers and plucks a new teleporter out of the air to use in the new level it's about to begin. What do I mean by level? Well, if spell A casts spell B&, then spell B is one level below spell A. If spell A has a part in it that is between PU and ZIM, that part is one level below spell A. For example, if spell A is BOBOTUJILEIMRIPU MIMIBOTUWILZIMAKA ZIMBORIBOLI ee then A's level is BOBOTU..2IMRIPU..ZIMBORIBOLI, JIL, is one level below A, the MIMIBOTU..ZIMAKA is one level below A, and WIL is two levels below A. Any spell that JIL casts is two ievels below A. Any spell thet WIL casts is three levels below A, and s0 on. Every time you change levels, the printing changes from regular to boldface. This helps to see one tevel, but it makes it look Like stuff two levels down is the same as stuff on the top level, which it isn't. 56 er rR OK, sO there's a special teleporter to use on each level. What's its name? It is called '. That's right, '. To "expose" a level teleporter, you type £', and to "felt" a level teleporter, you type PE‘. For example, in this spell, MIMIE'PU RIBOBOE' BOBOPE'RIBOBO YIMFE'JOJOJIGIOAKA there ore actually two teleporters being used, because they're at different levels (even though they look as if they've got the same nama). The following spell does exactly the same thing as the previous one: MIMISAPU RIBOBORBBOBOPEBRIBOBO EIMPEAIJOJOJOJOAKA only it does it with two regular teleporters, A and B, So why have level teleporters? Why not always use regular teleporters? Two reasons: 1. You might run out of regular teleporters (there are only 26 of them). 2. Recursion! 57 Recursion? Right. Let's change our recursive pod spéll (that we used when we discussed recursion) so Lt uses teleporters. I'm going to try twice, the first time using regular teleporters, the second time using level teleporters: BOTXEZTUBAADOGZIM PEZAKADORINOLE SPELLS TUBAADOGZIM | BOIXE' TUGOODOGZIM FE"AKABORIBOLI SPELLS TUGOODOGZIM | Try them out on your computer. Both of these spells are recursive, sech casts itself. Each of them is going to go dowh many levels before it stops casting itself. BAADOG exposes the same teleporter at each level, teleporter %, so that when the computer finally starte coming back up through all those levels, doing the PEZARARORIBOLI's, why they all teleport to the same place, the place remembered by the last exposure of teleporter %. Not too interesting, GOODOG exposes a different teleporter at each level of itself, so that when the computer Finally starts soming back up through all those levels, doing the PE‘ AMADORIBOLI, each level teleports back to where it_was before it cast the next level down. That can bo very useful. LOOK again at how ®@ definitions ao » BAADOG and GOODOG are different, and how they behave differently when you cast them, 58 The Command Menu Spells in the computer's memory, Spells on the disk Some of the menu commands have te do with spells in the computer, and some of them have to do with files of spells on the disk. What's the difference? Well, whenever you define a Syetee the computer remembers (t in its memory. But turning the power off kind of biows the computer’s mind. Go if you want to turn your computer ott for the day, tomorrow you'll have to type in oll your spolla again, unless you mamehow keep a copy of your spells somewhere vlse- That's where the disk comes in. You can command the computer to copy ali the spells that are in its memory into a file on the disk. Turning the power off does not affect the disk. So tomorrow, when you turn your computer back on, all you do is command tho computer to copy the disk file back into its memory, and you're all set. You can even keep more than one file of s lis on the disk, gayhe one that you're working on, and one that a friend is working on. 39 Let's go through that again. Suppose the only spells in your compater's memory are the spella SALLY, COW, WILLIAM and WHAMO. You tell the computer to copy these into the file named MYSPELLS. Then the next day, you make up a spell called GEORGE, and then tel! the computer to copy the spells from file MYSPHLLS into memory. What happens? GEORGE gets wiped out, the only spelis in memory now are SALLY, COW, WILLIAM and WHAMO. O.K, 50 you cool off, type GEORGE in again, change WHAMO to SUPERWHAMO, and then turn off your computer. The next day, you have the computer copy the spelis from File MY¥SPELLS into its memory. What do you get? SALLY, COW, WILLIAM and WHAMO, because you forgot to save the changes and additions! Just because you changed WHAMO in memory didn't change it on the disk. Always remember you're dealing with two separate copies, and the only copies you can change are the ones in the computer's memory. You might not want the spells from the tutorial spells file to clutter up a bunch of spells that you are making. Well, you can command the computer to erase them all (or use the Replace command to erase them one by one}, so that you can start with a clean memory. There's no harm in erasing them from memory, because they're still on the disk. 60 Di: Display the definition of a spell The Display command is useful if you want to look at the definition of 4 spell, Sut you don't want to change it. If you want to do surgery on a spell, use Replace or Copy. When you choose this command, the computer will ask you which spell you want displayed. dust pe the name, hit ZIM to end the name, and the computer will display that spell. R: Replace the definition of a spell The Replace command is useful for erasing spells, or for changing them. BEWARC! With this command it's easy to change, or ¢ven erase, wipe out, destroy, a spell that you've been working on for a long ime! When you choose this command, the computer will ask you which spel! you Want to replace. Just type the name and hit 21M to end the name. What happens next is this: 1. The computer erases the spell from its spell memory. 2. ‘The commuter puts the entire spell, minus the last keystroke (which Ls the Einal 71M) into the keystroke stack, exactly as if you had typed it yourself and then hit the superleftarrow key. 3. The computer lets you start typing, 61 Let's do an example. Suppose you replace TUBILZIM. The computer will erase the woes from spell memory, put it in the keystroke stack, and you'll be left staring at a blinking B [since the first keystroke in BIL happens to be a & for HO). Now what? 1. Suppose you want to erase the spell. Just hit RETURN. Dead, gone, as if it had never been there. 2. Suppose you want to see the spell do its stuff. Hit Superrightarrow (+), and the computer types {and draws) BOBOBOBOBORIBOBOBOBORIBOBORTROBORIBOBOBOBO SPELLS TUBIL Everything's there except the Final 41M. Suppose you look at the speli and decide it's OK. All you do is hit the ZIM, and the spell ts back in business exactly as if you'd just typed it in anew. 3. Suppose you want to change the spell's name to SAM. After hitting superrightarrow (+), just delete three keystrokes to back over the BIL, type SAM, hit ZIM, and it's done. 62 4. Suppose you want to change the spell itself. If there's a whole lot of changing to be done, maybe it's best to erase the spell [hit RETURN) and start over. Tf the changes you want to make are near the beginning of the spell, then hit superleftarrow (-) to get you to the front of the spell, use rightarrow to move in to the place you want to change, make the change, and then use superrightarrow to finish typing it. If the changes you want to make are near the end of the spell, hit superrightarrow and then use the leftarrow to back into the spell. Make your changes, use rightarrow to retype the end of the spell, and rename it. Every time you use delete (/) or leftarrow, the whole spell is recast up to where your cursor is, and that can be a drag if the spell takes a long time. If you use the zapperleftarrow key (*), you'll be able to make your changes much faster. The zapperleftarrow key works like the superleftarrow key, but it also makes Spellcaster quit spelleasting, so you can work without waiting. The rub is that you can't see anymore exactly what effect your changes are having on the spell. if you hit the zapperleftarrow key a second time, it turns spellcasting back on, so you can see the results. 63 C: Copy the definition of a spell The Copy command is useful if you want to make « now spell that is just a bit different trom an old spell. [t's easier to change a copy of the old spell than to type in a whole new spell. If you choose this command, the computer will ask you for the name of the spell you want copied, Type the name of the spell, and hit ZIM to end the name. The Copy command is very much like the Replace command, ‘Take 4 look st what the Replace command does. The only difference between the two is that the Copy command ekips the first step of the Replace command (where tho Replace command deletes the spell from the spell memory), What difterence does this make? 1. Tf you hit RETURN when you are working on a Copied spell, the original sd ks still tn the gpell memory. rf you hit return when you are working on o Replaced Spell, the spell is gone, gone, gone. 2. Tf you hit superrightarrow when you are working on a Copied spell, and then hit & for ZIM, the computer will complain that there's already a epell by that name (of course, the original copy). When you copy and change a spell, you have to give it a new nae. 64 L: List the names of all spells in memory This command is useful if you've forgotten the name of 4 spell you want to use. The List command makes the computer list the names of all the spelis in its memory (not the ones on the disk). There might be a whole lot. If there are more names than will fit on the screen, the computer will Eill up the screen with names, and then pause to give you time to read them. While it's waiting, it displays the message "Hit L for more". When you hit L again, it will go on and display more names, until there are no more. P: Print all spells in memory The Print command is useful if you want a printed copy of all your spell definitions. This is especially handy when youre making 4 large system of spells that cast each other: sometimes it's nice to work on paper. £: Erase all spells in memory This command makes the computer erase all spells from its memory. It doesn't hurt the spells in disk files. Just in case you hit this command by mistake, the computer will check if you really mean it. [t warns you about what it's going to do, and then asks you to type Y (for YES} if you really meant it. If you hit anything besides Y¥, it won't forget a thing. 65 GO: Out (replace the disk file with 4 copy of the spello in memory) This command makes a disk filo that is a copy of all the spall in thw coinputer's memory. Tt wipes out the old file (if there wan one) and replaces it with a thew Elle that hae only those spelis in tt that sre now in the computer's memory. ow you might hit this command by mistake, and not want your file changed st all. Don’t worry, the computer will warn you about what's going to happen, and ask you to type ¥ (for YES) to be sure you ceally oeeoe ees If you type anything besides ¥, the computer won't change your file. I: In (replace the spells tn memory with a copy of the disk file) This command erases ail spells From the computer's memory, and copies the spells from a disk file into the cleared memory. Now you might have some new spells in memory that you've been working on, and hit this command by mistake. So, just like the Frase command, the computer watns you about what's golng to happen, and asks you to type Y (for YES) to be sure you really meant it. If you type anything besides Y¥, the computer won't forget your spells. 6? A: Add in (add a copy of the disk file to the spells in memory) This command is useful if you want to add some spells in one file to some spells in another file (or some new spells you've just typed) - Use the In command to get the spells from the first file (or type in your new spells), then use the Use command to change the filename to the name of the second file, then use the Add command to add the spells from the second file. After all this, the computer’s memory will contain all the spells From both files (so you could use the Out command to make a File that contained them all). Suppose there was 6 spell named GEORGE in both files? The List command will show them both. 1£ you cast TUGEORGEZIM, you'll cast the topmost one on the list. If you Display or Replace or Copy TUGEORGEZIM, you'll display, replace or copy the topmost one on the list. So you can easily change the name of the topmost one, and then you can get at them both. 68 1 1 U: Use a different disk File This command lets you change the name of the file used by the Out, In and Add commands. When Spelicaster program starts, it sete the file name to SPELLS. To change the name, choose this command by hitting U, then type a file name, Let's do an example. Suppose you want to make a file that has only your spells in it, and that will be called "MYSPELLS". 1. Use the Prase command to clear out all the spells that go slong with the tutorial (ICHABOD and BIL and all}. 2. ‘Type 4 bunch of spells of your own. 3. Use the Use command to change the file name to MYSPELLS. 4. Use the Out command to create file MYSPELLS with a copy of all your spells in it. 69 UU Ar ASd in (add a copy of the dink file te the spelis ie sesory! This commacd is eeetal Lf you want to edt soon apelis ts soe fits f° scot spells in escther file (or some sew spells you've 2<5* ypet § 3 E i if The Spellcaster Page Editor The page editor is a program that lets you make your own tutorial pages. I used the page editor to making the Spellcaster tutorial. You can use it to tell people how to run your games (when you swap spell disks with friends), or to make your own user's group newsletter, or to make courseware for students to learn shout computer programming, and so on. You can even market your own Spellicaster games or courseware, using the page editor to make a tutorial for your software. Special Keys The delete (/), rightdelete (\), leftarrow and rightarrow keys work just like they do in Spellcaster. For the superleftarrow and superrightarrow keys you have to use the uparrow and downarrow keys (if your computer has none, you have to use control-K and control-J). The other special keys (RETURN,!,2?,<.>,+--«*) @o not behave in the special way they do in Spellcaster. Rather, they just behave like they would on a normal keyboard. 7 Page Conventions If you want your pages to work right, there are a fow things you'd best know. ‘The easiest way for you to learn how to make a good page is to study the ones in the tutorial. Go ahead and uae the page editor In command to bring a copy of the first page of the tutorial, POOl, into the computer's memory. File names for pages must begin with the prefix P, and are numbered from POOO to P8399. You can edit them with prefixes other than P, but Spellcaster will only read ones whose prefix is Pp. 1 usually nake them up with some other prefix, and then rename them all when f'm ready to go. XxX When you look at the tutorial's file f001, you'll notice it starts with XXX. All the pages do. That's just to reserve room for the page number, which depends on the Elle name, Vor instance, even if file POOL began with 486 (instead of XXxK), it would still show up in Spellcaster as page 001. If you changed it's file namé to P333 (without changing the XXX or anything else on the page at all), then it would show up in Spellcaster as page 333. ‘This is handy: if you want to change the page numbers (maybe because you want to insert 4 page in the middle of a bunch of pages you've already made), all you pare te do is rename the files (you don't have to edit the files at all). 72 | Hints tiow look at the bottom line of the tatorial’s first page. You see something with the page editor that u didn’t from Spellcaster. That last line is a hint (as in “take a hint"), it's a bunch of keystrokes that are put into the keystroke stack whenever that page is read from Spelicaster. Bvery page must end with exactly one hint. The hint should always start on a Line of its own. A hint starts with @ and ends with @ (though these @'s are not put into the keystroke stack, just the stuff between them is). The aimplest hint is @@. That's really no hint at all. But overy gaze must have a hint, 80 you use @@ when you don't want any keys put nta the keystroke stack. Writing hints is a little funny, because you have to pretend you're in Spelleaster. If you put in a string of keystrokes that won't make sense to Spelicaster, then your hint won't work right. The best way to learn about writing hinta is to study the hints used in the tutorial’s pages. 73 i i ee | | | he | Some Useful Spells Completely Explained The SNIF spell looks for a matching square (a square the same color as the pen? one square ahead, or to the left, or to the right. The PARabola spells draw all kinds of curves. The FILL spell fills in an area of the screen with a solid color. This section explains how to cast these spells. This section also takes these spells apart, and explains, step by step, how they work. Don't read about how these Spe work until you have played a lot with all of the syllables of Spellcaster, and you're getting bored with simple spells. If you feel you want to move on to some more interesting (and difficulti) spelicasting, then you're ready for this section. SNIF is easier to understand than the PARABola spells, and FILL is hardest. 75 SNIF SNIP is useful for following « line, hike a bloodhound sniffing along a trail. T£ you start on a line, and do a SNIF before each step, the SNIP will automatically turn you in the right direction to follow the line. How to use it: To use the SNIF spell, you set the pen color to the color of the re you want SNIF to lock for. ‘Then do TUSNIFZIM, SNIF looks first straight ahead, then left, then right. If it finds a matching equare, it turns in that direction, and quits matched. If lt doesn't find a matching square, it quits unmatched. So TUSNIPZIMIX or TUSNIPZIMOX will exit (or not) depending on whether or not SNIF found a matching square. for instance, if you start on a line of the same color as your pen color, this spell RUTUSNIFZIMOXBO will follow the line to the end and then stop (though it can get confused 1f the line makes loops). 76 SNIP step by step: EAJOPLAIALIFAJOPEAIXDIFAJOFEA SPELLS TUSNIP2IM EBA Jo PEA Ix ui BA Jo FEA Ix oI BA Jo FEA Remember the beginning position. Step forward. Go back to beginning position. Skip all the rest of the spell tf the First JO stepped on a matching square. Turn left, Romember the left-turned position (which ts the name as the beginning position except you've turned left). Son: Rewer es Go back to the left-turned position. Skip all the rest of the spell if the second JO stepped on 4 matching square. Turn around. Romember the right-turned position {which ts the same as the beginning position except you've turned right). Step forward. Go back to the right-turned position. Notice that if any of the gO'a steps on 4 matched square, SNIF will end matched. If none of the JO'sy steps on a matched square, SHIP will end turned to the right, and umatched. V7 EEE” The PARabola spells | The PARabola spells draw curves. There are 5 spelin in the PARabola family: PARBEGIN, PARIN, PARDUT, CURVIN and CURVOUT. I How to use: PARBEGIN {s always cast first, before you cast any of the others, to set Up wome stuff that the othere depend on. PARIN does one utep of | an increasing curve (a curve that starts off nearly straight, but i turns harder and harder as it 9906 along), PAROUT does one step of a decreasing curve (a curve that starts off curving real hard, but that gets straighter and straighter as it goes along). CURVIN makes one 4 whole increasing curve by casting PARIN a number of times. CURVOUT makes one whole decreasing curve b casting PAROUT a number of times. To get the feel for these, try typing TUPARBEGINS IMTUCURVINZIMTUCURVOUTS IM 4 MIMNITUCURVINGIM The PARabola family makes heavy use of teleporter W. Using chains of CURVIN and CURVOUT, separated by changes to teleporter W, results in strange snaky loops, repeated arches, and so on. ‘fo get a feel for this, take a look at the definitions of the Spelle HEAD, RING, BLOB and SINE. If you want CURVIN and CURVOUT to make longer, lasier curves (or shorter, Faster ones}, add more BO's to PARBEGIN (or take some out). 76 fiow it works: The genecal idea of CURVIN, for example, in th do 4 BO's straight ahead, then shift over 3 90's straight ahead, then shift over 2 80's straight ahead, thon shift over 1} BO straight ahead, then shift over (CURVOUT works Like CURVIN in reverse, one to the tight, then do one to the right, then do one to the right, then do one to the right, and quit. first doing 1 86 straight, then two BO's, then three, then Four, 4nd then it quits.) 719 | | ial att i : i ba Na ie i i ig. yj i ii i i it Sih ih a a Ey i PARBEGIN: fo start with, PARBEGIN lays down a strip of color over in the bottom left corner of the border. The length of this border strip depends on how many BO’s there are in PARBEGIN. (You can change them if you want. With only three BO's, CURVIN would only count down from 3. With eight 80's, CURVIN woald count down from &.} PARBEGIN step by step: E£WPE' BOBOBOBO SPELLS TUPARBEGINZIM | EW Make teleporter W remember 2 position in the main screen (you've got to expose a tele- porter in the main screen, if you're ever going to get back from the border). The other spells in this family all use tele~ porter W to keep track of where to draw in the main screen. PE* Go to the border land, bottom left corner (where all teleporters are born). BOBOBOBO Lay down a strip of 4 squares of color. 80 a. noi ee meee ee CU PARIN, PAROUT, CURVIN and CURVOUT: Toleporter Y¥ is used to keep track of how many BO's you're going to go straight, and teleporter X is weed to count those 30's. Jf teleporter ¥ im three BO's from the end of the border strip, you're working on doing 3 BO's straight ahead. The way you count three 50ts is, you just position teleporter XK at teleporter ¥, and then advance teleporter X down the border strip, doing one BO in the main screen for every step you take on the strip. When teleporter X gets to the end of the strip, you do a RIJOLI in the main screen (to shift over one to the right), then you advance the ¥ teleporter one step (so that next time you'll only do 2 BO's straight ahead before you shift), set teleporter X at teleporter Y and start over. PARIN Goes one step of thie process (PAROUT does the same thing, only in reverse). When teleporter ¥ gets to the end of the strip, though, PARIN has got to atart ¥ all over again at the beginning of the strio. steuaeye™ only time that PARIN ends unmatched (normally PARIN ends matc * So CORVIN's job is pretty easy, all it does is cast PARIN until PARIN goes unmatched. In fact, I might as well give you the definitions for CURVIN and CURVOUT right here, there's nothing more to say about then: CURVIN and CURVOUT definitions: NUTUPARINZIMOX SPELLS TUCURVINZIM ! NUTUPAROUTZIMOX SPELLS TUCURVOUTZIM | BL And now for PARIN and PAROUT. Remember, they use teleporter W to keep track of where they are drawing in the main screen. PARIN step by step: FEXJOEXOXFEWBOEWKK XENFEWRIIOLISWPEYIONYEXIXFR" EYEXKRAKA SPELLS TUPARINIIM I FEXJOEX ox FEWBOEW KX XEN PEWRIJOLIEW FEYJIOEY PE' £YEX RXAKA Advance teleporter X one step. If you've run off the end of the strip. mkip to the following XEN word. Do a BO in the main screen. End this word matched. pe this word when you've run off the end of the strip. Do a RIJOLI in the main screen. Advance teleporter Y one step. Set teleporter X to be the same 45 teleporter Y. If ¥ hasn't run off the end of the strip, quit matched. Set X and ¥ back to the beginning. Quit unmatched. 82 es Notice the trick PARIN uses to make sure it quits matched or unmatched. To guarantee that it's matched, it does KX, to guararntoe that {t's unmatched, it does KXAKA. There are three places where PARIW could quit: after the First word, after the IX in the second word, and at the end of the second word. Only in the last place does PARIN quit unmatched. PARGUT is just like PARIN, only it has to work backwards: PEXOIJODIEXJOOXFPEWBOEWKX XENFEWLIJORIEWPEYJOERYEXIXFE! EYEXEXARA SPELLS TUPAROUTZIM | FEXDIJODIEX Move teleporter X back one step. JOOX 1£ you're past the corner (the beginning), skip to the following XB word. PEWBORW Do a BO in the main screen. EX Quit matched. *xEN De this word when you've moved back past the beginning. FEWLIJORIEW Do « LIJORI on the main screen. FEYJOEY Advance teleporter Y one step. Ex Set teleporter xX to be the same as Y, 1x If ¥ hasn't run off the end of the strip, quit matched. PE‘ EYEX Move X and ¥ back to the beginning. KALAKA Quit unmatched. 83 Sot moe for PARIS und PABOCE. lceeater, they ave telngorter ¥ to Ser Teese ¢f etece they are Srewind 12 the SEiz octet, PRSID ete> Dy Ete) ® ‘ 1 ? TH ae ; 3 ane 5 if gat in sty .8 3 As Pitas naj pay hit fed adaddgs aaa The FILL spell There are two kinds of F1LL spell one might imagine: Type 1 fills a Eegios ef constant color surrounded by an outline made of one or many colors (other than the region's color), Type 2 fills a region that may already contain many colors that is Surrounded by an outline of constant calor (that is different From any of the colors in the region). Something has to be constant. Eithor (Type 1) the region ts all one solor (te begin with), or (Type 2) the outline is all one color. There's got to he some way to figure out where the boundaries of the region are! The FILL spell T am about to explain ia of Type 1- You could make up a Type 2 PILL spell, in fact it would be nice to have both. fiow to use it: Suppose you have just outlined a region that you want filled with a4 certain color. You need to position your speil on the outline of the region, turned into the region, with pen color set to the color you went to fill the region. ‘Then do TUPILL2Z. When PILL is done, the position will be unchanged, Here's an example that draws a small square and fills it in. MAMOPU MAMOBO RI ZIM BORIKETUFILEZIN 84 — al How it works: There are three spells in the FILL system: FILL, FILA and PILB. PIS sets up initial conditions, and casts PILA. FILA casts FILS, and PILE casts FILA (that's recursion). PILA and fILB really do the work. FILA goes straight ahead, casting PILB to right and left. FILA is like the spine of a feather, casting FILB's Like fronds to beth sides. tf you watch the spell in action you can see this happening. FILA stops when it gets to a wall (the outline). PILB also goes straight until it cune into a wall. Only, it feels to either side of it for a wall, and if it happens to pass alongside of 4 — = the wall leading to right or left, it casts a new FILA into the hole. To begin with, FILL is positioned on the outline of the region, turned inte the region, with pen color set to the "fill® color. Call the color of the region (before FILL is called) the "region" color. PILA and PILB need to cemember these two colors somehow. FILA and PILB use the “region” color as thelr pen color, becouse they're always looking for squares that match that color. They know the "fill" color by looking one step behind them: they always presume that the square. one step behind them has already been filled in, so they look there to find out what the "fill" color is, 8S Tre FILA wei here Ate tee Wine ef FLEE npeth ome might Heep ian TYPE THe W eogdat at pmantoet color wu¢euunded tip an aut lee made =" BE Reny Toler iwther tree the regian’s colin). tre 4 tikie @ fey ian that way at tain wuny cetera that ti wT COMmAID hry an conninn of cengins! eee oe [thet be ALi forest free any y the welorn im tie riod. ree tae fee te be ecinntant Nither (ype TP tee regia ia all ow wuLoe (te Owale withl, wr Cee 2) the eutiiee te all ane colue, THOT ede Rt ee ee ey CG Figure et va Vane aude pee et Ate fan ayet ree 1 ae haut 1" Septet h 10, SEP iy Yuu i err ape Tr © PTR peril, te fact Gh wud lr mtr te have ew te eee ita iypeoee pu have Tut cahifeet # feqio Lhe pie went Child wate « enytaih eine. Yow need be patti ian yous apeee we the uathies af thn FOUL, Dern Fale he Wan, with mL wth uelar pon pest Go TEAL Wh eho. Hh vite PURER. ity RL be trate, Khe PR beet EE hae tateemanangnil. Herne Gh eamtete Chat drew © ewell eanere and Ciibe at ine MMIOY MARDRY AE TIM HORIKITHRELE IN om waeeeee S| Like f waid, the FILL spell junt sots things up for FILA and PLL. FILL haw three jobs to do: 1. 3. Remember the starting position, so that when PILA and FILB are done, FILL can go back to the starting position. (Why? Secause it's nicer for whoever caste PILL to be returned to their position, instead of ending up who known where.} Cast FILA just right: when you cast FILA, the pen color must be the region color, and the square just stepped on must already be filled in with the fill color. When PILA is done, go back to the starting position. FILL step by step: 2*BOKXTUFILAZIMNFE' SPELLS TUFILLZIM | Ee’ 80 Remember the starting position, Pill in one square with the fill color- Set the pen color to the region color. KX TUPILAZIM Cast FILA. PE’ Return to the starting position. 86 oa_ — ae es = Tactics of FILA and PILLS: Tactic ly FILA and FILS operate with their pen color set to the region color, because they'te always looking for squares that match the region color, in order to fil] them in. So how do they know what the Fill eolor is? They look behind them: both PILA and FILS assume that the square just bahind them has already been filled in (by thempelven or, for the vory first square, by FILL). To color ane square in the cegion with the fill color, here's the little song and dance that PILA and FILA do: OLJOKXOTBO bI0 Turn around and step on the square behind you. KX Set the pen coleur to the color —_ just stepped on (which hepe¢fully is the fill color). DrIBO Turn back in tho direction you were going and Fill in the square you were on. Tactic 21 FILB marches steadily ahead, but Lf it notices that it's skimming along a wall, it keeps a lookout for a hole in the wall. tf¢ it Finds a hole, it casts 4 PILA into the hole. How does FILB detect a hole? Well, if it goes past two squares, and the first one is wall (i.@., not in the region), and the second one is region colored, then a hole has opened up, 87 Lite T aape, ne FTL apell joet wets change up tor FILA und FE tthe tide $e8e ae ese ' Lid eernher the weuntion Ti ean. po pork oe tbat oben ous ant FIR ate ' Sees Sacre est gearpieg peels Shy bones tele einer Seete FILA Uy bw tetera’ 0 Leela pee ht hati, jeeteet Of riveting «@ ee Rewen where t Cmte rite met gant os vente oe ele eet rephun Wako. the apenee atepee? of aust Aleneny tw ttitee 1 th hehe tte vist" waite eee TULA be dene, Ge beet be the atari tag pele iany TILK wep ny step et ncesruriLAciers’ ePilLis TeriLiein & Po » ™ het the TeriLese = Cnet ewweirns the cereale Bl ented) vend +he er Speers be C108 enbee 4 enter 86 ee reainn onic 4 Oe —_—_—eeseeweee = = = FILA step by step; NUE’ RITUPIUBEIMPE* LITUPILBSIMFE! JOE OXDTJOKKDIAOF SPELLS TUPILAZIM } Nu Repest. E'RITUPILBZIM Cast FILA to the right. PE‘EITUPILBZIM Cast FILB to the left. FE' TOE! Advance position one square. ” . ox Quit repeating if the new Squere isn't in the region. OLJOKXDIBO Pill in the new Square (see Tactic 1). PEt Set the pen color back to the region color. = PILB step by step: HUJOE’ OXDIJORXPIBOFE' PU B* LIJOOXLIJOIXPE' LITUFILAZIM PE'RIJOOXRIJOIXFE' RITUFILAZIM ZIMFE' SPELLS TUPILBZIM | nu Repeat JOE’ Move position Forward one square. Ox Quit repeating if the new square isn't in the region. DIJOKXDIBG Fill in the new square (see Tactic 1). 3 Set the pen color back to the region color. uv Bt LIJOOK Test for hole to the lett. LIJOILX Test for wall behind and to the left (see Tactic 2). PE'LITUPILAZIM Center and cast FILA into a left hole. FE' R1J00x% Test for hole to the right. RIJOIX Test for wall behind and to the right (see Tactic 2). woe Center and cast FILA into a right hole. M FE’ Return to position. What tiakes PILA and FILB interesting is that they mix recarsion with NU repetition (iteration). It 15 much easier to make a FILL system that only uses recursion, but then it is limited to relatively small regions. if the machine has to do one recursion for each square that it colors, It runs out of memory [remembering all the recursions) if you give it a region that is large. 89 FILA atep by step: WOE" ALTOFILariners Sd TUPELnS INEE* Jor ORD Joey; porn’ SPELLS TUPILASIN 1 uu firpeat. E'NITOPILBEIM: Cast FILB t> the tight. PE" GETUPILBZIM Cemt FILA to the fe ¢. re"Jor* Advance ¢ositicn one square. ox Quit repeating if the new equare lan't in the region. OLJOnEoAO Fill in the new oquare (ase Tavtic 3). rE’ fet the pen color back to the region color- a Spelleaster Syntax definition :* spell SPELLS TUspellnameZIM | A spellname is zero or more alphnums. An alphnum is an uppercase ARCDEFPGHIJKLUMNOPORSTUVWKY, Or apace, oF 0-9, or possibly others. A spell is zero or more words, separated by spaces, word := [XEN] [repeater}atomstring repeater := NU | mrepeaterstring An mrepeaterstring is zero or more mrepeaters. mrepeater := 4O | MA ¥ ME Y MI Y MU fT AX An atomstring is zero or more atoms. ‘ atom :* AKA 7 BO 1 DI 4 Etelename ff FEtelename yj GO | AI || EX 9 JO ¥ KA KE 0 KI § KO 4 RU U KX £ LE ¢ OX.§ PU spell ZIM J QUSH | RI ¥ TUspelinametIM 1 YURIM T WUE Y¥ A telename is an uppercase A-2, or ea '. 91 eT lhlU6€>?Z = = INDEX A AKA 15,39 Add in (menu) 68 activity change keys 18 8 BO 10 BAADDOG spell 58 border 10 end teleporters 34 c copy (menu) 64 casting a speli 25,28 changing a spell 63 changing the Flle name (see use) counters (see repeaters) color 37-40 color last stepped on 40 cownand menu 5$ computer literacy 7 CORVIN, CURVOUT (see PARabola spelis) 93 D pr i4 Display (menu) 6! DOG spell 49 delete key 22 deleting a spell {see Replace) E & 32 £° 57 Erase (menu) 65 editing spells (see Replace, Keystroke stack) editor 71 exits 43-45 with teleporters 53 exposing a teleporter 52 F FE 52 FE' 57 felting a teleporter 52 files 59 {also see In, Out, Add in, Use) FILL speli 64-89 GO 12 GOGDDOG speil 55 Riis I Ix 44 in isenu) 67 if, tf then 40,43-47 3 Jo it Ez KA KE KI KO 36 KU 39 RX 4) keystroke stack 15-23 L Li14 List (menu) 65 ieft array key 22 ievels (vith teleporters) 56 logic 40, 43-47 94 ” MA ME MI MO 34 MU 36 mX 36 Batchbox 40 matching 40 menu 59 momory 59,60 mode (see activity change keys) N NU 36 noise 66 numbers (see repeaters) a OX 44 Out (menu) 67 P PU 28,29 Print (menu) 65 page editor 71 page conventions 72 PARabols spells 78-83 pen color 37-39 position of a spell 51 process state (see position of a speli) programming 5 Q QUSH 15 R Ri i4 Replace (menu) 61 recursion 48,49,58 repeaters 33,34 right arrow key 22 right delete key 22 5 SPELLS 26 (also see spell, below) Switch sound {menuy) 66 SNIF spell 76 sound 66 (also see BO, GO) Special keys i7 spell what is a spell 3 Casting 25,28 defining 25-27 deleting (see Replace) naming {see defining) Stack, see keystroke stack syntax 91 switch 66 Superlefitarrow key 21,23 superrightarrow key 22,23 T Tu 28 Turn page (menu) 66 teleporters 51-58 with exite 53 and the border 54 and levels 56 U Use (menu) 69 v VuzZIM 28,32 W wu 28, 30 washing 12 x MEN 46 XXX 72 ¥ ¥-15 za ZIM (see TU, PU, WU) zapperleftarraw key 21,23 < GO 12 POOMONG a pet) PTT ” wtise ‘ R44 ts (mene) at it, 10 then 46,4347 4 wi eS Ley ko 3 nD 48 RX id MeYStrome ateck 19<79 L Rl le List (meng) 65 teense ter any 22 ve with teleporturs: Aopie 40, 42647 a ny * WA AE et wD 14 BU ah wa watehbos 60 Watching 40 ci 9D memory 50,40 node Lave activity ahange kwys) " tt de noise €6 fusdere (eon repeaters! on 44 Gat (aenu) 6T r pu 20.2% Print (zeny) 65 payo editor 71 poge conventions T2 PaAnebola . 78-83 pan solor position of a ope Be Process state 4) taeu position of 4 ape programing 5 =—_—_ ee elm