This page contains details that some people may find useful. If you're a nerd, you'll love it. If not, you'll probably be bored to death.
Softwrights doesn't believe in littering your valuable hard disk. That's why there's only 5 compact files on the You'll Soon Be Typing disk. All the following files were created from scratch by Softwrights to ensure fast performance and compact size.
Note: If you have doubts about Softwrights'superior software engineering, take a look at the tiny size of this installation program (don't forget there are two programs in one file) as well as the other files above ... Hardly anybody makes programs this efficient.
The You'll Soon Be Typing program supports the following graphics modes:
Before the program starts, it automatically detects the highest resolution mode supported by your video equipment (up to VGA, 640 by 480). This mode is set, unless auto detection was overridden with a video mode startup option. For more info, see Startup Options.
To improve readability, the default 8 by 8 ROM font is not used when the program runs in EGA (8 by 14 font used) or VGA (8 by 16 font used).
To improve visibility, especially in laptop computers, the custom graphics cursor is drawn thicker than one pixel (screen dot) in VGA modes.
2-color EGA/VGA modes are available for those with monochrome monitors that don't support gray shading or color. Or for those who prefer pure black & white, instead of gray shading or color. In 2-color modes, all graphics (except for screen keyboard) are outlined. Solid color areas are ignored, instead of being dithered. Dithering (patterns to represent colors) looks grotesque on CGA equipment.
In EGA and VGA 16-color modes, the color palette is customized to improve screen appearance. The more flexible VGA palette is customized to display the six shades of gray used on the more-attractive VGA screen keyboard.
The colors used on the screen keyboard are subdued to minimize distraction and to focus the user on the work at hand (text to read and drills to type).
Older program prototypes also customized the background colors of several screens. The rich burgundy, deep blue, and other custom-mixed colors looked beautiful on the development computer's monitor. Unfortunately, those colors looked merely OK on many other monitors ... And even lookedatrocious on some monitors. So these colors were changed to less dramatic, but more consistent, standard colors.
Softwrights abhors the popular trend of, slow-as-molasses-in-Antarctica, bloated, programs & disk files. Our programs were crafted in the C programming language for peak performance, compact size, control, and portability. C++ was not used since appropriate tests on the leading C++ compiler available at language-selection time produced programs that were bigger and slower than C.
For fast performance and old/new computer support, DOS was selected as the target environment. A Graphical User Interface (GUI), like Windows® was not used. For programs like word processors a GUI has many advantages, like comprehensive printer support, fonts, clipboard, etc. But those aren't needed for a typing program. Furthermore, an equivalent program made to run under a GUI would be much bigger, much slower, and not run on old computers ... Goooeeey!
Thanks to tight coding, the whole executable program fits in RAM ... No DLL'S ... No program overlays. To conserve your valuable disk space, most files are compressed, and remain compressed on disk. They are de-compressed in RAM, as needed.
For fast performance and compiler portability, appropriate parts of the excellent, 100% assembler-coded, GX Developer's Pak from Genus Microprogramming, Inc. were linked in to draw low-level graphics (lines, rectangles, etc.) to display customized fonts, draw on off-screen buffers, and display screen transition effects.
Softwrights' compact, CAD-like data structures allow all graphics, including the 12 keyboard layouts, to reside within the program in RAM ... No waiting for disk reads. Any graphic can be instantly displayed at any time. That's why YEDIT lets anybody add/delete animations anywhere ... with no performance penalty!
Softwrights' custom, no-fat, graphics/animation engine swiftly converts the vector-oriented, scalable, data into the pictures you see. Easy-to-use, but slower world coordinates are not used. For maximum performance, the program mathematically transforms all graphics coordinates to screen coordinates at the beginning of the program. A few extra graphics tweaks and font changes complete the up-front work. That's why so many different screen resolutions can be supported ... No stooping to the puny common denominator of 320 by 200 resolution or bulky bit-mapped files.
Photo-realistic bit-mapped graphics were not used. Line drawings are often more instructively effective than realistic pictures which contain pretty, but distracting noise (unnecessary details). Massive amounts of your disk space would also be squandered, especially to support several video modes. And you'd have to wait for the program to read big, bloated, bit-mapped files.
For high-performance and efficiency ... C ... not inefficient C++ and direct calls to the Windows API... instead of using inefficient Foundation Classes resulted in a Windows Setup program that is one of the fastest, smallest programs of that type ever made. The DOS version of the Setup program was written in C and Assembler ... Again one of the fastest, smallest ever made. The two programs are bundled together in one executable file ... Making it one of the easiest, most-scalable (runs on nearly any computer) Setup programs ever made.
If you doubt these claims, look at the the file size of any other Setup program on any disk that you have and keep in mind that Softwrights' Setup contains two programs in one ... You'll see the difference that Softwrights' fine craftsmanship makes. Then try to run the other Setup programs under both Windows and DOS ... Most likely they will not run under both environments like our Setup program does.
If there is enough conventional RAM in your computer, it is automatically used as off-screen buffers to display fancier special effects for the introduction screens, the first screen of lessons, and the exit (egress) screen. Using RAM allows effects to be displayed in any video mode ... Instead of only those like EGA that have buffers on the graphics board itself.
If there is not enough conventional RAM, no buffers are created. The program, including all graphics looks the same ... With one exception ... Screen transitions are not as fancy ... Just displays a solid color (instead of pieces of the actual screen), followed by a screen drawn in real-time. The size of the buffers depends on the graphics mode that the program is running in:
Note: The techinfo startup option shows how much memory (if any) is being used for effects buffers. The nobuffers startup option forces the program to not create special effects buffers, even if you have enough conventional RAM. For more information, see Startup Options.
Expanded or extended RAM is not automatically used by the program. That's because many older computers process this type of RAM quite slowly. But you can use the expanded or extended startup options to force the program to use expanded or extended memory for the effects buffers (if enough is available). Do this only if your computer doesn't have enough conventional RAM to hold the special effects buffers. But if the program runs too slow, don't use it.
The programs gracefully handle most errors that can occur. All the programs were designed to catch most errors that can possibly happen. This includes critical errors that normally result in confusing Abort,Retry,Fail prompts (SETUP doesn't catch these). Instead, the informative explanations (some full screen) that appear can usually help you solve the problem ... Without leaving the program.
To increase performance, error checks are not made for functions with a very low probability of failure, such as screen I/O. But they are made for functions that have a higher probability of failure, such as disk I/O.
Instead of the normal action of breaking-out of a program, Break key taps are intercepted by the YEDIT, and the You'll Soon Be Typing programs. The Break key tap is then treated as if ESC was tapped or a function key Exit command (or Alt key alternative) was issued.
A break can be issued with either of these key combinations: Ctrl-Break or Ctrl-C.
On screens where the F2=Exit prompt appears, an Exit Options menu appears that gives you the option of: exiting from the program, going back to the same screen you just exited from, or another option ... Like going to the Table Of Contents (Main Menu).
A few special screens don't display the F2=Exit prompt. Here, tapping any of the above keys usually takes you back to the previous screen.
Note: Due to technical reasons, for DOS versions lower than 3.0, Ctrl-Break or Ctrl-C exits immediately without displaying the Exit Options menu. In You'll Soon Be Typing, this means that if you are a registered user, your records will not get updated (records get updated only with a normal, F2=Exit command).
The You'll Soon Be Typing program handles the CapsLock key in different ways that depend on where your are in the program.
During practice drills, the keyboard is continuously scanned. If CapsLock is on, an informative prompt appears and the user must turn CapsLock off by tapping the CapsLock key (as shown on the screen).
Beginners may get confused if CapsLock is allowed to be on. They can easily think they are tapping the correct key(s) when they aren't (due to Caps Lock being on). This also avoids the development of a bad habit ... Bumping into the key, by mistake.
During tests and while using the Type Anything You Want practice option (word processor simulator), the CapsLock key is treated the same as in word processors. An indicator light at the top of the screen shows the current state of Caps Lock.
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