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The British APL Association Public Domain Software Library

Vector 3:3, page 133

APL community

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 133

Public Domain Software Library

The BAA Public Domain Software Library is now up and running. The library will be managed by the BAA as a non profit-making service for the APL community worldwide, although a discount is offered to BAA members. At the end of April 1986 the scheme will be re-evaluated and changes may be made to its operation.

The library catalogue will be printed regularly in VECTOR, and we hope also to run reviews of popular and interesting software.

So, where does the software come from? You guessed it – the PDSL can only work if you send us your software. The DOS format disk is used as the exchange medium, although this does not mean that the software has to run on the PC. We encourage mainframe users also to share their VS APL, APL2, Sharp APL, APL*PLUS (and any other) utilities or even complete systems. We make absolutely no restrictions on the target machine – provided you can download the software onto a disk, then the library can accept it.

Please think back over the last year or two. That little APL system you developed, those utility workspaces or even that database. It doesn’t even have to be APL software, although we do stipulate that it should be ‘of interest’ to the APL user, programmer, educator or student. When you have something to send us, fill in the PDSL Submission Form (overleaf) and send it off with the software. Before making a submission, remember that if you are not the software owner you should first get permission from that person. You must sign the submission form in order to allow us to distribute the software on your behalf.

Although donors may not sell submitted software to the library, we have taken the decision to permit donation of free demonstration disks, that is software that provides a taste of a commercial product. Software operating under the ‘shareware’ concept will likewise be allowed, provided that this is explicitly stated on the submission form. At this early stage of the service we do not undertake to distribute paper documentation or any other non-disk materials.

If you are ordering software (use the PDSL Order Form) please understand that we can make no claims or promises whatsoever regarding the software, but we will endeavour to ensure that contributions behave as described by their donors. Furthermore, we cannot accept responsibility for any damage or legal liability caused by using library software. If you do have any positive or negative comments though, let us know and we will take appropriate action.

Finally, please help us get this worthwhile project off the ground by sending us some software, earlier rather than later. You never know, you might even win the prize for donating the most popular disk.

Software Submission Instructions

The numbered points on this sheet of instructions correspond to items on the SOFTWARE SUBMISSION FORM, which must be filled in and included with with each disk you submit.

  1. The donor’s name will be made publically available as a part of the software library catalogue. If you wish to make an anonymous donation, please supply your name anyway, but place an asterisk within the parentheses.
  2. Please supply a daytime telephone number at which you can usually be contacted. This will not normally be used, and will not be released.
  3. The address will not be released. If you wish to make your address available it must be included in an appropriate file on the disk.
  4. Please supply any electronic mailbox codes by which you may be contacted. They will not be released.
  5. The disk title should be a single short sentence or list by which the disk can be uniquely identified, and which expresses the purpose of the disk.
  6. Please supply a short description of the overall purpose of the disk, which may be used as a part of the software library catalogue.
  7. List target machines. PC DOS format diskettes are the exchange medium for library software. NO restrictions are made on the final destination of software. Therefore appropriate responses might be: ‘IBM PC’, ‘PC and clones’, ‘Mainframe with APL2’ or ‘Any machine running Sharp APL’.
  8. List additional software required to use the disk. For example, specifiy the APL interpreter needed if the disk contains APL workspaces.
  9. Indicate special hardware requirements. For example: ‘640K memory needed’, ‘Hercules graphics board needed’ or ‘Math co-processor recommended’ etc.
  10. Indicate special software requirements. For example: ‘APL*PLUS PC release 6 needed’, ‘APL2 release 2 needed’ or ‘Best results with DOS 3’ etc.
  11. Indicate if suitable documentation is provided on the disk. A positive response indicates that documentation exists on the disk or that none is necessary. If you are supplying any APL workspaces, you are strongly encouraged to provide variables containing summary descriptions of the primary functions.
  12. The British APL Association does NOT at this time undertake to distribute or otherwise make available any paper documentation, or other non-disk materials. You may however choose to submit such material for review purposes – we plan to review library software periodically in VECTOR, the journal of the BAA.
  13. Indicate if documentation or other non-disk materials is available to the software user directly from yourself. If so, you must remember to include the details and a contact address ON THE DISK itself.
  14. Does the disk include a request for payment? If your response is YES, the software library catalogue will indicate that the software is ‘USER SUPPORTED’. This warns potential users that the author requires payment under certain specified conditions, eg for privileges available to ‘registered’ users of the software, such as documentation or future releases.
  15. If the target environment is NOT a PC or PC clone running DOS, you are advised and encouraged to provide the necessary instructions to help the user to move the software from such a machine to the target environment.

  16. Please specify the file name, extension and short description of EACH file on the disk. To ensure accuracy and to save us extra work, please enter these details into a file named \<CAT>, with no file extension, on the submitted disk. You can then print the file \<CAT> and affix to the submission form.

    The preferred format for the \<CAT> file is ‘filename/extn//desc’ where the / represents a space, filename as an 8 character filename, extn is a 3 character file extension and desc is a 66 character description. Use a new-line character to delimit these entries.

    If you are submitting APL workspaces, you are strongly encouraged to include variables containing summary descriptions of the primary functions. 17. Specify the approximate amount of space that the disk files occupy. 18. Signature. A submission cannot be accepted without the signature of the software donor.