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Annotation of lucent/sys/man/1/bc, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .TH BC 1 
        !             2: .SH NAME
        !             3: bc \- arbitrary-precision arithmetic language
        !             4: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             5: .B bc
        !             6: [
        !             7: .B -c
        !             8: ]
        !             9: [
        !            10: .B -l
        !            11: ]
        !            12: [
        !            13: .I file ...
        !            14: ]
        !            15: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            16: .I Bc
        !            17: is an interactive processor for a language that resembles
        !            18: C but provides arithmetic on numbers of arbitrary length with up
        !            19: to 100 digits right of the decimal point.
        !            20: It takes input from any files given, then reads
        !            21: the standard input.
        !            22: The
        !            23: .B -l
        !            24: argument stands for the name
        !            25: of an arbitrary precision math library.
        !            26: The following syntax for 
        !            27: .I bc
        !            28: programs is like that of C;
        !            29: .I L
        !            30: means letter
        !            31: .BR a - z ,
        !            32: .I E
        !            33: means expression,
        !            34: .I S
        !            35: means statement.
        !            36: .TF length(E)
        !            37: .TP
        !            38: Lexical
        !            39: .RS
        !            40: .HP
        !            41: comments are enclosed in
        !            42: .B /* */
        !            43: .HP
        !            44: newlines end statements
        !            45: .RE
        !            46: .TP
        !            47: Names
        !            48: .IP
        !            49: simple variables:
        !            50: .I L
        !            51: .br
        !            52: array elements:
        !            53: .IB L [ E ]
        !            54: .br
        !            55: The words
        !            56: .BR ibase ,
        !            57: .BR obase ,
        !            58: and
        !            59: .B scale
        !            60: .TP
        !            61: Other operands
        !            62: .IP
        !            63: arbitrarily long numbers with optional sign and decimal point.
        !            64: .RS
        !            65: .TP
        !            66: .BI ( E )
        !            67: .TP
        !            68: .BI sqrt( E )
        !            69: .TP
        !            70: .BI length( E )
        !            71: number of significant decimal digits
        !            72: .TP
        !            73: .BI scale( E )
        !            74: number of digits right of decimal point
        !            75: .TP
        !            76: .IB L ( E , ... ,\fIE\fP)
        !            77: function call
        !            78: .RE
        !            79: .TP
        !            80: Operators
        !            81: .RS
        !            82: .HP
        !            83: .B "+  -  *  /  %  ^\ "
        !            84: .RB ( %
        !            85: is remainder;
        !            86: .B ^
        !            87: is power)
        !            88: .HP
        !            89: .B "++  --\ "
        !            90: .TP
        !            91: .B "==  <=  >=  !=  <  >"
        !            92: .TP
        !            93: .B "=  +=  -=  *=  /=  %=  ^="
        !            94: .RE
        !            95: .TP
        !            96: Statements
        !            97: .RS
        !            98: .br
        !            99: .I E
        !           100: .br
        !           101: .B {
        !           102: .I S
        !           103: .B ;
        !           104: \&...
        !           105: .B ;
        !           106: .I S
        !           107: .B }
        !           108: .br
        !           109: .B "print"
        !           110: .I E
        !           111: .br
        !           112: .B "if ("
        !           113: .I E
        !           114: .B )
        !           115: .I S
        !           116: .br
        !           117: .B "while ("
        !           118: .I E
        !           119: .B )
        !           120: .I S
        !           121: .br
        !           122: .B "for ("
        !           123: .I E
        !           124: .B ;
        !           125: .I E
        !           126: .B ;
        !           127: .I E
        !           128: .B ")"
        !           129: .I  S
        !           130: .br
        !           131: null statement
        !           132: .br
        !           133: .B break
        !           134: .br
        !           135: .B quit
        !           136: .br
        !           137: \fL"\fRtext\fL"\fR
        !           138: .RE
        !           139: .TP
        !           140: Function definitions
        !           141: .RS
        !           142: .br
        !           143: .B define
        !           144: .I L
        !           145: .B (
        !           146: .I L
        !           147: .B ,
        !           148: \&...
        !           149: .B ,
        !           150: .I L
        !           151: .B ){
        !           152: .PD0
        !           153: .br
        !           154: .B auto
        !           155: .I L
        !           156: .B ,
        !           157: \&...
        !           158: .B ,
        !           159: .I L
        !           160: .br
        !           161: .I S
        !           162: .B ;
        !           163: \&...
        !           164: .B ;
        !           165: .I  S
        !           166: .br
        !           167: .B return
        !           168: .I E
        !           169: .LP
        !           170: .B }
        !           171: .RE
        !           172: .TP
        !           173: Functions in 
        !           174: .B -l
        !           175: math library
        !           176: .RS
        !           177: .TP
        !           178: .BI s( x )
        !           179: sine
        !           180: .TP
        !           181: .BI c( x )
        !           182: cosine
        !           183: .TP
        !           184: .BI e( x )
        !           185: exponential
        !           186: .TP
        !           187: .BI l( x )
        !           188: log
        !           189: .TP
        !           190: .BI a( x )
        !           191: arctangent
        !           192: .TP
        !           193: .BI j( "n, x" )
        !           194: Bessel function
        !           195: .RE
        !           196: .PP
        !           197: .DT
        !           198: All function arguments are passed by value.
        !           199: .PD
        !           200: .PP
        !           201: The value of an expression at the top level is printed
        !           202: unless the main operator is an assignment.
        !           203: Text in quotes, which may include newlines, is also printed.
        !           204: Either semicolons or newlines may separate statements.
        !           205: Assignment to
        !           206: .B scale
        !           207: influences the number of digits to be retained on arithmetic
        !           208: operations in the manner of
        !           209: .IR dc (1).
        !           210: Assignments to
        !           211: .B ibase
        !           212: or
        !           213: .B obase
        !           214: set the input and output number radix respectively.
        !           215: .PP
        !           216: The same letter may be used as an array, a function,
        !           217: and a simple variable simultaneously.
        !           218: All variables are global to the program.
        !           219: Automatic variables are pushed down during function calls.
        !           220: In a declaration of an array as a function argument
        !           221: or automatic variable
        !           222: empty square brackets must follow the array name.
        !           223: .PP
        !           224: .I Bc
        !           225: is actually a preprocessor for
        !           226: .IR dc (1),
        !           227: which it invokes automatically, unless the
        !           228: .B -c
        !           229: (compile only)
        !           230: option is present.
        !           231: In this case the
        !           232: .I dc
        !           233: input is sent to the standard output instead.
        !           234: .SH EXAMPLE
        !           235: Define a function to compute an approximate value of
        !           236: the exponential.
        !           237: Use it to print 10 values.
        !           238: (The exponential function in the library gives better answers.)
        !           239: .PP
        !           240: .EX
        !           241: scale = 20
        !           242: define e(x) {
        !           243:        auto a, b, c, i, s
        !           244:        a = 1
        !           245:        b = 1
        !           246:        s = 1
        !           247:        for(i=1; 1; i++) {
        !           248:                a *= x
        !           249:                b *= i
        !           250:                c = a/b
        !           251:                if(c == 0) return s
        !           252:                s += c
        !           253:        }
        !           254: }
        !           255: for(i=1; i<=10; i++) print e(i)
        !           256: .EE
        !           257: .SH FILES
        !           258: .B /sys/lib/bclib
        !           259: mathematical library
        !           260: .SH SOURCE
        !           261: .B /sys/src/cmd/bc.y
        !           262: .SH "SEE ALSO"
        !           263: .IR dc (1), 
        !           264: .IR hoc (1)
        !           265: .SH BUGS
        !           266: No
        !           267: .LR && ,
        !           268: .LR || ,
        !           269: or
        !           270: .L !
        !           271: operators.
        !           272: .br
        !           273: A
        !           274: .L for
        !           275: statement must have all three
        !           276: .LR E s.
        !           277: .br
        !           278: A
        !           279: .L quit
        !           280: is interpreted when read, not when executed.

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