What is Graphar?

Graphar is a simple language used for telling the computer instructions. The group of instructions are called programmes or somtimes (sic) spelled programs. To form these programmes you must know the Graphar language which will be looked at in this manual. Graphar is not a very powerful language and it was initially made to teach people how computers carry out instuctions. (sic) You don't need any previous knowledge of computers to use Graphar.

How do you load Graphar?

To start using Graphar you must insert the disk into your drive A. If you do not know which is drive A then just place it carefully into any drive and never take the disk out when the drive is being used. Once you have placed the disk in the disk drive you now can turn on the monitor (and the printer if you want to use it). After you have turned on the monitor and the printer you can turn on the computer. After a few seconds the start-up screen will appear, this screen consists of a small rectangle at the top of the screen with the words 'Graphar 7.00' inside. Read the box and then press any key to go to the work screen. To get a menu of the things that Graphar can do you type MENU and a menu should appear on the right hand side of the screen. Once the menu has appeared you can choose an option by typing in the option number and then pressing ENTER or RETURN. To get anything acknowledge by the computer the command or instruction must be in capitals, must be a Graphar command and you must tap ENTER or RETURN at the end of each command.

What are the commands and how do I use them?

The Graphar commands are all High-Level commands. That means that they are very much lik eEnglish. For example, if you want to add two numbers you use the ADD command. Before I explain the commands I shall first describe Graphar's way of working. Graphrar works on two variables A and B. These variables can only store numbers but there also is a variable which can be used to store a word or a command. To do maths functions you first must define A and B by typing INPTA which stands for input a number for A. Once you type that in and press ENTER or RETURN you should see "A?". That means the computer wants you to type in a number which will be stored as number A. You can type in any number in A. Once you have defined A you must define B  to do that you type INPTB which stands for input a number for B. Once you type that in you press ENTER or RETURN you should see "B?". That means the computer wants you to type in a number which will be stored as number B. If you don't want the computer to ask you for A or B and you just want to enter the information in one line what you do is type $A n. n can be any number you want, so if you want A to be 35 you type $A 35. To let B be entered in the same eway you type $B n and n is just the same as n in $A n so if you want B to be 56 you type $B 56. To check what A and B are you type SHOW. To perform a mathmatical (sic) function after you have defined A and B you simply type the first three letters of the function for example if you want to times A by B you type TIM to devide A by B you type DIV to add you type ADD and last of all to minus you type MIN. You may notice that the answer does not appear on the screen after you type in the function that is because the answer is stored in the computers memory. To obtain the answer of the previous function you must tell the computer whether to put the answer in A's spot or into B's spot to tell the computer where to put the answer you either type ANS to put the asnwer in A's spot or ANSB to put the nswer in B's spot. Once you have defined the position of the answer you must display the answer by typing DSPA to show the contents of A or DSPB to show the contents of B. To increase the value of A by one you type INCA and to increase B you type B if you want to decrease A you type DECA to decrease B you type DECB.

How do I define the other variable?

The other variable is not a number variable like A and B instead it is a variable for storing words and commands. To define this variable you type #word/command. To define the variable as hello you type #hello to see the stored word of command you type MESS which stands for message. The main purpose of the command is to be used in conjunction with the IF A IS and then IF B IS commands. These commands rae used by first defining A or B and if the command is true then it will use the command stored in memory so if I set A as 47 and the variable as MENU and I typed IF A IS 47 then it would show the menu.

Can Graphar only do maths?

No. Graphar is a versatile language which uses maths as a base for programmes. Graphar can draw pictures by using the PLT command this command is used to draw a line from the last line drawn to the current A,B. That may sound slightly confusing so I will explain it in more detail. The computer screen of monitor is made up of tiny dots called pixels and there are 639 pixels going across and 199 pixels going down to tell the computer where you want to draw a line to you must define A as being the grid reference for across and B as being the grid reference for down. So if you want to draw a line to position 319,99 you type $A 319 then press ENTER or RETURN and then you type $B 99 and then press ENTER or RETURN. Those two commands defined the grid references so now all you have to do is draw the line by typing PLT which is short for plot. After you have typed PLT you tap ENTER or RETURN. Whenever you switch on Graphar the lastline drawn is always at position 0,0. To change the start point you define A and B to your new start points and then you type SET to set the new start point. Now you know that Graphar can do maths, draw pictures and now you can learn to be a Beethoven by using the SNA and the SNDB commands. To use these commands, like most other commands you must define the variables but in this command you only need to define one variable which will tell the computer the frequency of the sound you want to make. So to make the computer play a note at 1000 htz you type $A 1000 and then you tap ENTER or RETURN and then you type SNDA. To do the same thing but using B you define B and then type SNDB.

Can I use Graphar as a word processor?

Yes but only as a very simple word processor where you can only make files, see files and print them but unlike most word processors you can't edit or add things onto a file. To make a file you type MAKE and then press ENTER or RETURN and then the computer will ask you for a name of the file so you can type any name you want as long as it is shorter than ten letters long. Then you can type you file (sic) but you can't use commas!! because if you do you can ruin the file!! To end a file and save it in the computers memory you type END. To see a file you type LOOK and then you tap ENTER or RETURN and then the computer will ask you for the file's name and then you will see the file. To print a file you type PRINT and then you tap ENTER or RETURN as usual. If you just want to print every line as you go you type TYPE and then you tap ENTER or RETURN, to quit this function you type END.

Can you store programmes in memory?

Yes you can store programmes in memory by using the make programme functino listed on the menu. Once you have chosen number 7 it will ask you for the name of the new programme and you type it in in the same way as if you were using the MAKE command. You will notice that the computer does not preform (sic) each command after it is entered because instead it is being stored on the disk. Once you have finished typing the programme you type END to indicate to the computer that it is the end of the programme. When writing programmes you can use two commands that cant be used in the normal mode they are EXT which stands for exit and it allows you to exit from a programme half way through. The other command is RPT which stands for repeat so when the computer gets up to that command it goes back to the start of the programme. To load the programme once you have saved it you use the 8 command on the menu.

Is that all there is to Graphar?

No. Graphar contains 44 commands and they couldn't all be covered in this manual but don't worry all the commands can be found by typing HELP  and them (sic) tapping ENTER or RETURN. You also can find help on commands in the command dictionary at the start of this manual.


Joshua Reich josh@dataserve.org