User manual

Version 2.1 (English)

(C) 1997-2011 Simone Zanella Productions

http://www.szp.co

All rights reserved.
 
All trademarks appearing in this manual are registered by the respective owners and appears for the sole purpose of documenting the product.

This manual is organized in the following chapters:

1. introduction
2. installation
3. command line
4. Proteus Center
5. startup
6. syntax of a Proteus program
7. comments
8. variables
9. constants
10. methods
11. expressions
12. directives
13. functions
14. library functions
    1. string functions
    2. date calculations
    3. functions on integer and floating point numbers
    4. logical functions
    5. file functions
    6. system functions
    7. data structure functions
    8. interactive functions (console)
    9. ISAPI calls
    10. DAO functions
    11. other Win32 functions
15. user defined functions (UDF)
16. linking external functions to Proteus
17. regular expressions
18. Proteus versions
19. examples
20. using Proteus for auto-id problems
21. programming style
22. debugging and common errors
23. Proteus Plus
24. protecting Proteus programs
25. other text processors
26. TIFF 4.0 compression
27. glossary
28. bibliography
29. index

Proteus

In the Greek mythology, Proteus was a God of the sea, son of Oceanus and Thetis, who took care of Neptune's crowd and gave responses; he was renowned for being able to transform himself, assuming different shapes.

Proteus - the text processor - does the same things on a little scale: it gives responses and transforms input into output.

Proteus stands for PROcessor for TExt Easy to USe; actually, one of the fundamental point of strength of the language is being very easy to use; as opposed to other text processors, the syntax of a Proteus program is linear and easy to comprehend - even if you don't know the language, you can understand what the program is supposed to do and follow execution. Moreover, besides being useful for text processing Proteus can be used as well for manipulating binary files and solve thousands of other problems.

The main features of this language are:

• interpreted language: Proteus is an interpreter which pseudo-compiles the scripts to memory, checking their syntax and subsequently executing them against the input;
• multi-language support: Proteus is available in several languages;
• no data types: all variables can be used as integer numbers, floating point numbers or strings; variables are interpreted according to the functions being applied - Proteus keeps different representations of their values between calls, to decrease execution time in case of frequent conversions between one type and the other;
• no pre-allocated structures: all data used by Proteus are dynamically allocated at execution time; there are no limits on: recursion, maximum data size, number of variables, etc.;
• no operators: Proteus is a completely functional language - there are no operators; thus, there is no ambiguity when evaluating expressions and parenthesis are not needed;
• large library of predefined functions: Proteus is not a toy-language, it comes with hundreds of library functions ready to be used for working on strings, dates, numbers, for sorting, searching and so on;
• advanced data access (DAO), pipes, Windows™ sockets, serial ports: in the Windows™ version, Proteus includes hundreds of system calls which are operating system-specific; 
• clear and comprehensible syntax: the names of the library functions resamble those of corresponding functions in C, Clipper™/Flagship™ and Assembly; by using medium-length keywords, Proteus programs are very easy to understand;
• native support for high-level data structures: arrays, queues (single or double), stacks, bit maps, sets, AVL trees are already available in Proteus and do not require additional code or libraries to be used;
• ISAPI DLL and Windows™ Service versions: Proteus is available as a Windows™ service or as an ISAPI DLL (for using together with Microsoft® Internet Information Server™);
• user libraries: it is possible to write user defined functions (UDF) in separate files, and include them (even conditionally and recursively) inside new programs; UDFs can be referenced before or after the definition;
• native support for Ms-Dos™/Windows™, Macintosh™ and Unix™ text files (all versions);
• three models for dates (english, american, japanese), with functions to check them and to do calculations according to gregorian calendar;
• epoch setting for 2-digit-year dates;
• support for time in 12 and 24 hour format;
• supporto for simple (Dos-like) and extended (Unix™-like) regular expressions, in all versions;
• debug function to verify variable status during execution.

The versions of Proteus accompanying this manual could be one or more of the following:

• Proteus Dos: it works on Ms-Dos™ 5.0 (or greater) and supports long file names under Windows™ 95/98/ME/2000/XP; it does not include all Windows™-specific functions (sockets, DAO, pipes, etc.);
• Proteus Win32: it works on Windows 98™ or greater (Windows 95™ is supported with a special version);
• Proteus Service: it works on Windows™ NT/2000/XP; it can be installed as a service;
• Proteus ISAPI: similar to Proteus Win32, it can be used through Microsoft® Internet Information Server™;
• Proteus Unix™: similar to Dos version (does not include console functions).

The interpreter can be compiled (on request) with keywords and messages in Italian or English; this version has English keywords and messages.