[Indigo]<Mesa>Doc>Summary60u.bravo!1

This memo outlines changes made in Mesa since the last alpha update (Mesa 60.t, June 11, 1980). It contains changes from the documents contained in that update (those documents are also being updated to correctly reflect the differences between Mesa 5.0 and Mesa 6.0). As Mesa60u.press this document also includes documentation of two new Debugger tools and a list of ARs fixed since 6.0t.

The language extensions to Mesa 5.0 have been modified in the following areas:

The type specification StringBody[n] describes a STRING of n characters (n need not be a constant); it can be only used with NEW and SIZE.

The Mesa 6.0 Compiler Update has been updated with complete descriptions of these changes.

All of the system interfaces have been recompiled for 6.0u. This means that all modules must be recompiled/rebound to use the new Mesa.image. No source changes are necessary. Several new interface items and defaults were added. Additions include:

ForgotDefs: all item are now in SegmentDefs and copied into ForgotDefs for temporary compatibility. You should remove references to ForgotDefs as soon as possible.

In addition to many bug fixes and some performance improvements, the following changes or additions have been made:

AScii Display [address, count] is equivalent to interpreting
LOOPHOLE[address, POINTER TO PACKED ARRAY OF CHARACTER][0!count].

ATtach Condition [BreakPoint#, Condition] changes a normal breakpoint into a conditional breakpoint. Restrictions on conditions are as in the Mesa 5.0 debugger. The interpreter evaluates conditions at attach time in the context of the breakpoint.

ATtach Loadstate [imageFile] attaches the initial loadstate of an image file rather than the current loadstate. This command is for wizards only. Don’t worry if you don’t understand.

CLear Break [BreakPoint#] clears breakpoints by number. Typing <return> instead of a number will clear the current breakpoint, i.e. the one that got you into the debugger.

CLear Condition [BreakPoint#] changes a conditional breakpoint into a normal breakpoint. Typing <return> acts the same as in Clear Break.

CLear Keystrokes [BreakPoint#] undoes ATtach Keystrokes. Typing <return> acts the same as in Clear Break.

Type REAL is supported for output only. You cannot type in or do arithmetic on REALs.

Variables declared in nested blocks are shown indented according to the nesting level in display stack mode.

"?" in a variable display now uniformly means that the value is out of range; ". . ." is used to indicate that there are additional fields which cannot be displayed due to lack of symbols.

The method for invoking scrollbars remains the same but, the scrollbars themselves are twice as wide and you can "see through" them.

The keyset edit functions are now also available on the keyboard as control characters:

Ctrl-C-- Cut
Ctrl-F-- Paste
Ctrl-K-- Replace/Next
Ctrl-N-- Next
Ctrl-R-- Replace
Ctrl-S-- Stuff

There is a new command in "//" mode to aid in collecting data for reporting debugger problems:

ARs reporting debugger problems that result in uncaught signals or entering "//" mode for any other reason should be accompanied by a debug log which includes the output of this command.