[Oberon] Project Oberon Emulator Compiling Issue

[Chris Burrows]

> 
> From: Bill Buzzell [mailto:captbill279 at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, 18 February 2015 7:27 PM
> To: oberon at lists.inf.ethz.ch
> Subject: [Oberon] Project Oberon Emulator Compiling Issue
> 
> I am running the Project Oberon emulator on win7 64 and cannot get it
> to compile even the "Blink.Mod". I keep getting "position 5 must
> start with MODULE" if I do ORP.Compile @/s or ORP.Compile @. If I do
> just ORP.Compile I get "new symbol file inhibited" (as expected).
> 
> I have read chapter 12 of the book but can't seem to find where I am
> going wrong. First I select (highlight) the Blink.Mod then I
> interclick ORP.Compile @ command(s). Is there something I am missing.
> I had a similar issue with the FPGA Oberon which seemed due to stray
> selections which was overcome by careful selection order. Nothing
> seem to work with the Oberon emulator, unfortunately.
> 
> Obviously something fundamental I am missing has me stumped. Can you
> assist?
> 

Oberon is a whole new world compared to conventional operating systems. Note the difference between the following two commands:

ORP.Compile @/s
ORP.Compile ^/s

The use of the @ version of the command is probably unfamiliar to you. It allows you to start compiling at any arbitrary point within the text of an Oberon source code file which is currently open. e.g. In the Oberon system you can have a document file with text and pictures and some Oberon source code in the middle of it all. If you open up this file using Edit.Open and select the start of the word MODULE in the text then you can use the @ version of the Compile command to start compiling from that point. 

I suspect you wanted to use the more conventional approach where you select the name of a file and apply the Compile command to that filename. If that is the case you should use the ^ version of the compile command. i.e. select the file name Blink.Mod with the right-mouse button to highlight it and then middle-button click on the command ORP.Compile ^/s to compile that file.

If you are working on a new source code file (Xyz.Mod say) and want to compile it many times during development you may find it convenient to type in a new command into System.Tool (this is just a text file like everything else):

ORP.Compile Xyz.Mod ~

And then you just have middle-button click on the command and it will pick up the name of the file(s) following it until the terminating ~.

If you brain has been pre-conditioned by conventional operating systems it is likely that you may not have any conception of some of the features that are available in Project Oberon so you are unlikely to discover them by trial and error. Look out for a copy of the book: 'The Oberon System: User Guide and Programmer's Manual (ACM Press) Paperback  – May, 1991. ISBN 0-201-54422-9.By Martin Reiser. The first few chapters gives a good overview of what is possible.

Regards,
Chris

Chris Burrows
CFB Software
Astrobe: Oberon Microcontroller Development System
http://www.astrobe.com