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Annotation of os2sdk/demos/apps/life/read.me, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: This is a OS/2 implementation of the game of Life.  It is designed to be bound
        !             2: to allow it to operate in both the protect mode of OS/2 and in earlier MS-DOS
        !             3: versions.  The program uses a mouse if one is installed, but one is not needed.
        !             4: If no mouse is installed, the F9 and INS buttons act as if they were the
        !             5: left mouse button and the F10 and DEL buttons act as the right mouse buttons.
        !             6: The cursor keys move the mouse pointer.
        !             7: When not in the active screen group, Life does not print to the screen and
        !             8: can thus execute in the background.
        !             9: 
        !            10: Life was invented by mathematician John Conway.  Life is played on a grid
        !            11: that contains cells which are either on or off.  At the start, a pattern of
        !            12: cells are turned on in the grid.  The following three rules are then applied to
        !            13: the entire grid simultaneously.  One full aplication of the rules to the grid
        !            14: is called a "generation." The three rules are:
        !            15: 
        !            16:        1)  If a cell has two neighbors (counting both cells immediately
        !            17:            adjacent and diagonal from the one in question), the cell
        !            18:            remains in its current state (on or off).
        !            19: 
        !            20:        2)  If a cell has three neighbors, it is turned on (or remains on
        !            21:            if that was already its state).
        !            22: 
        !            23:        3)  If a cell has one or fewer or four or more neighbors, it is
        !            24:            turned off (or remains off if that was already its state).
        !            25: 
        !            26: The history of Life and many patterns of cells which produce interesting
        !            27: results, including those contained here, can be found in the Scientific
        !            28: American articles that introduced the game (October 1970 and February 1971) and
        !            29: the book The Recursive Universe, by William Poundstone (Contemporary Books:
        !            30: Chicago, 1985).
        !            31: 
        !            32: ******************************************************************************
        !            33: 
        !            34: Files:
        !            35:        LIFE.C     - main Life program source code
        !            36:        LIFE2.ASM  - fast assembler routines called by LIFE.C
        !            37:        MOUAPI.C   - real mode mouse calls to simulate protect mode calls
        !            38:        INT33H.ASM - short routine to call mouse real mode API, used by MOUAPI
        !            39:        MOUAPI.LIB - library created from MOUAPI for linking with BIND to LIFE
        !            40:        LIFE       - directions for MAKE.EXE to build LIFE.EXE
        !            41:        LIFE.EXE   - the executable program built from the files listed above
        !            42:        *.LIF      - sample files which can be read by LIFE.EXE
        !            43: 
        !            44: ******************************************************************************
        !            45: 
        !            46: This program illustrates the following concepts used in OS/2 programs:
        !            47: 
        !            48:        * Binding programs for use in both OS/2 and earlier versions of MS-DOS
        !            49: 
        !            50:                Tools:  BIND.EXE, API.LIB, LIB.EXE
        !            51: 
        !            52:        * Calling OS/2 functions from C and assembler
        !            53: 
        !            54:        * Screen graphics in protect mode
        !            55: 
        !            56:                Calls:  VioGetMode, VioSetMode, VioGetPhysBuf, VioScrLock,
        !            57:                        VioScrUnLock, VioGetFont
        !            58: 
        !            59:        * Mouse support in protect and real graphics modes
        !            60: 
        !            61:                Calls:  MouOpen, MouSetDevStatus, MouReadEventQue, MouSetPtrPos
        !            62:                        MouGetNumQueEl
        !            63:                        Int 33h functions 0, 3, and 4
        !            64: 
        !            65:        * Memory allocation and reallocation
        !            66: 
        !            67:                Calls:  DosAllocSeg, DosReAllocSeg
        !            68: 
        !            69:        * Keyboard input
        !            70: 
        !            71:                Calls:  KbdCharIn, KbdPeek
        !            72: 
        !            73:        * File input and output
        !            74: 
        !            75:                Calls:  DosOpen, DosRead, DosWrite, DosClose
        !            76: 
        !            77:        * Signal handling
        !            78: 
        !            79:                Calls:  DosSetSigHandler
        !            80: 
        !            81:        * Other functions
        !            82: 
        !            83:                Calls:  DosExit, DosBeep

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