Re: 8-bit unzip utility

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <jZSdncqOR-VMo-fbnZ2dnUVZ_hisnZ2d@comcast.com>,
Michael J. Mahon <mjmahon@aol.com> wrote:

> Paul Schlyter wrote:
> 
>> There is a command line on the Apple II, but it doesn't take arbitrary
>> arguments.  Any argument which doesn't follow the prescribed syntax
>> are treated as syntax errors - and those arguments which do follow the
>> prescribed syntax aren't passed by the program, but are consumed by
>> the "shell" (i.e. DOS 3.x or ProDOS).
> 
> I have several times had a need to pass a small integer to a program
> and thought it would be most convenient to pass it on the command line
> that invoked the program.
> 
> ProDOS parses, converts, and ignores the "V" (volume) specifier after a
> program name (which is interesting, since it should probably give a
> syntax error).
> 
> This opens the possibility of passing a single-byte value, since values
> of 0-255 are acceptable.
> 
> Unfortunately, ProDOS discards the value after converting it to binary,
> so the program will have to re-scan the "V" parameter out of the input
> buffer ($200) and re-convert it, but at least it's possible.

Quite similar to CP/M-80, which stored the command line at address 80H.
But it didn't pre-scan it or do anything else with it except storing it
there - then it was up to the application to do whatever it wantede with it.


> -michael
> 
> NadaNet file server for Apple II computers!
> Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
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