
				Welcome to ACE!
				---------------

This is version 2.3 of the FreeWare Amiga BASIC compiler, ACE. 

See the "Notes" section below for important information about specific 
files in the archive and changes to the distribution material with each
revision of the compiler.

To get an overall impression of ACE's capabilities, have a look at ref.doc 
which is a command and function reference for the language.

Once you've set up your environment as specified in the INSTALLATION file,
try compiling a program from the prgs directory (or wherever you've put
the example programs), eg:

	Workbench:ACE> copy prgs/fractals/lorenz.b ""
	Workbench:ACE> bas -O lorenz
	Workbench:ACE> lorenz

Selecting Quit from the Project menu will get you out of this program.

You might also like to compile each of these programs: hi.b, tclock.b 
welcome.b and ifs.b (the source code for each is viewable from Workbench).

At this point, it's up to you. I'd suggest having a closer look at the 
docs, especially ace.doc to get a better idea of what ACE's capabilities 
are.

The history file may also be of interest since it details the development
of ACE since the last version.

Whatever you do, enjoy yourself!

Regards
David Benn, Tasmania, October 1994


Notes
-----

*** v1.0 ***

31/1/93		-	If you didn't unarc ace.lha with lha's -a option
			then the bas script won't have its "s" flag set. 
			To set it, type: PROTECT bas +s ADD.

3/2/93		- 	Please note that due to copyright restrictions,
			no bmap files have been included in the distribution.
			See "Shared library function calls" in ace.doc for 
			more.

*** v1.01 ***

19/2/93		-	Version 1.01 corrects a number of problems with the
			first version and adds a few new minor features.
			See the entries in the file docs/history for an 
			update on the changes to ACE from v1.0 to v1.01. 
	
		- 	There is a new, somewhat nicer ACE executables icon
			in the icons drawer. See also the readme file in that
			drawer. Thanks goes to Byron Montgomerie for his work
			on the icon.

20/2/93		-	I have received the Commodore copyright documents
			and licensing agreements etc and so hope to be able 
			to resolve the issue of copyright of bmap files soon. 

		-	For v1.01 I have included the source code and docs 
			for a Tiny BASIC interpreter written in ACE.

*** v1.02 ***

18/4/93		-	Commodore Australia have told me that they can't 
			see any legal problems with distributing .bmap 
			files with ACE, but I'll wait until I receive word 
			of this in writing before I include them in the 
			archive.

		-	There is a new include file called julian.h which
			contains functions for converting dates into days 
			elapsed since epoch 1900 and the latter back to
			the former. See days.b for an example. 

		-	Another new include file called fexists.h contains
			a single subprogram: fexists(X$) which returns a
			value of -1 or 0 depending upon whether the file
			X$ exists.

		-	See docs/history for new features and bug fixes
			in v1.02. 	

*** v1.1a ***

20/6/93		-	include/sys_req.h has been modified because of
			changes in the way ACE deals with string value
			parameters.

		-	prgs/gadget.b has been modified to accomodate
			the fact that an ACE screen's borderless window
			now handles Intuiticks.
 			
29/6/93		-	Note that the file "exists" is no longer required
			in the ACE bin directory for use by the "bas" script.
		
		-	See docs/history for changes, additions and bug 
			fixes in v1.1a.

10/7/93		-	Note that because I am still awaiting a formal
			reply from Commodore Australia re: the copyright
			of .bmap files, this archive does not yet
			contain the bmaps. Hopefully by the next release
			I will have permission to distribute them.

		-	I anticipate that the next version will only be a 
			month or two away, but the current archive contains
			a sufficiently modified and enhanced ACE to warrant
			the release you now have. 

		-	There's a couple of new programs in the prgs drawer:
			BST.b and Messier.b. The first lets you create and
			manipulate binary search trees, viewing the results
			graphically. The second lets you interrogate the 
			Messier catalog of astronomical objects in various
			ways. 

1/9/93		- 	In order to fit the ACE files onto a single floppy
			disk, the TinyBASIC drawer has been included as a
			.lha archive.

*** ACE v2.0 ***

12/12/93	-	See utils/fd2bmap for an ACE .bmap creator. Thanks
			goes to Harald Schneider for his program fd2bmap.b.
			Send all bug reports/comments related to this program 
			to me. 

25/12/93	-	Note (as per ace.doc and ref.doc) that in order
			to use ACE's new FileBox$ function under Wb 1.3
		 	you must have arp.library in your LIBS: directory.

3/1/94		-	See the AIDE drawer for an Integrated Development
			Environment written in ACE. This program currently
			only runs correctly under Wb 2.04 and higher. The
			source code is provided for anyone wishing to get
			it working under Wb 1.3. See AIDE/AIDE.doc for more.

9/1/94		-	There's a stack of new features in version 2.0 of
			ACE, so take the time to browse through the docs.

10/1/94		-	As of this version, most of the example programs are 
			in a separate archive to let you choose where to put
			them (eg: onto a separate floppy or in with the other
			programs in the prgs directory) depending upon your
			Amiga's storage capabilities.

16/1/94		-	See the utils directory for a program (ab2ascii) 
			which converts files saved in AmigaBASIC's compressed
			format into ACE-readable ASCII files. Thanks goes to
			Stefan Reisner for this utility.

17/1/94		-	See the utils directory for a simple program called
			pager.b which is designed to let you easily print the
			ace.doc file. See the comments at the top of the
			program source, compile and run the program, then 
			just follow the prompts.

*** ACE v2.29 (beta) ***

18/9/94		-	See ACE:utils for more utilities (UppercACEr, a-a).
		-	ReqTools.bmap is now included in ACEbmaps: for use 
			with prgs/library/reqtools.b.
		- 	See ACE:docs for the new Example.guide file.
		-	See ACEinclude: for some new include files.
		-	This archive also contains a new version of AIDE.
		-	Note that the AmigaGuide documents in ACE:docs are 
			all at various stages of completion. However, the 
			text docs (ref.doc, ace.doc, aide.doc, history) are 
			all up to date.

*** ACE v2.3 ***

2/10/94		-	Note the inclusion of a line continuation character 
			([~] - see "General comments" section in ace.doc).
		-	Please see docs/history for the latest bug fixes and
			additions since the beta release of 18/9/94.
		-	See ACE:bin/1.3 if you are using Workbench 1.3.

15/10/94	-	FD2BMAP has been modified such that it seems to work
			correctly for all FD file formats (Wb 1.3 & 2.x/3.x).
		-	UppercACEr now expects to find the (sorted) ACE 
			reserved word file (UppercACEr.Reserved) in the s: 
			directory.

			Note: both UppercACEr and FD2BMAP are found in 
			      ACE:utils.

22/10/94	-	The AmigaGuide files in ACE:docs are now all up to
			date for this new release. The same is true for
			AIDE.guide in ACE:AIDE.
