This file is part of FAST (Fast PC Compiler). FAST is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. FAST is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with FAST. If not, see . FAST - Fast PC Compiler ======================= (c) Peter Campbell Software 1988-1994 Introduction ------------ Fast was written about 1986-1988 using assembly language. Fast is loosely based on Basic, Pascal, C and Assembler. The programs produced by Fast are very small and very fast. Over the past 6 years many enhancements have been made (in the form of increased speed, new commands and functions, more include files etc). A new version should be available by mid-1995 which incorporates full 32 bit support, fast graphics and memory management + plus increased optimisation for speed and program size. Getting Started --------------- The easiest way to get started with Fast is to compile some of the 80+ example programs, run them then edit/view the source code. Some of the main programs include: DEMO.F is a simple demonstration program. EDIT.F is a dos command line editor with popup window of last DOS commands. FASTCHK.F is a disk/operating system check program. FBMENU.F is a menu program, uses approx 10K memory. FBSHOW.F is a file viewer (25*80, 50*80 and 60*132 characters). LAND.F is an example game using the sprite library. MIS.F is a simple tank missile game. PCSOFT.F is a one finger type program, press one key at a time: alt/ctrl etc. PU.F is a tsr popup for selecting printer functions. PHONE.F is a terminal emulator with support for file transfer. SPRITE.F is a sprite editor. STICK.F is a communications package - connects to STICKR. STICKR.F is the resident communications package - like carbon copy. QSORT.F is a qsort program to sort large files. WT.F is a multi-file editor with colour and many editing functions. Aswell as Fast's extended commands and functions several include files are here to increase the functionality: CMD_LINE - command line functions COLOUR - colour selection DATE24 - 24 hour date fixer DISKC - disk caching EXTINPUT - extended keyboard input FAST32 - 32 bit print routines FHELP - fast help files FINDBIN - binary searching FSORT - small file sorting KEYS - key routines for games MOUSE - mouse support (graphics and text) QSORT - quick sort for large files SAVER - screen saver SAVER2 - screen saver (strange sentences) SAVER3 - screen saver (strange sentences, rude) SPRITE - sprite routines STICK - stick communications library VGA - vga routines (320*200 256 colours) XMS - xms memory functions You should find many of the example programs included very useful in their own right - aswell as providing examples of how the Fast language is used.