Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

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andrewferguson
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Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by andrewferguson » Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:25 pm

The slanted AE is a unicode character, I believe. I think that as long as the underlying filesystem supports unicode, then it should display just fine. It is possible that the file system on the 1.44MB floppy disk does not support Unicode property. All the filesystems I used to extract the file (GNU/Linux, Mac OS X 10.4 / 10.6) support unicode, so the AE remains preserved.

It is unfortunate that the menubar syntax is unsupported by LiveCode... I wonder how hard it would be to write a interface layer that understand HC menu commands and creates a LiveCode menubar? If only I had more free time!

Anyway, good luck on getting this to work in LiveCode. Keep updating us, and when I have more time I will try and convert some stacks as well.

capellan
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Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by capellan » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:15 pm

Hi Lagi,

Many, many thanks for uploading these files. :)

When I opened the compressed zip folder, I noticed that all Macintosh files
are damaged because the Resource Fork split from their Data Fork.

The only way to avoid this damage is compressing the folder inside a Macintosh,
using any of these compression utilities: Stuffit, Compac Pro or Zip It.

Fortunately, Stuffit Expander could open and decompress the file
named !SEA (Data Fork only)

This decompressed !SEA file produced a folder that contains all the stacks.
All of them as good as when they where created 23 years ago. :D

Here is Dropbox public download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/935gzrqwgxwn6 ... s.zip?dl=0
(Thanks a lot Mark Wieder for detailed instructions about Dropbox! :D)

Here is a public download link from weTransfer: https://we.tl/AEUCJ1FGFm
(Thanks a lot Stephen Barncard for detailed instructions about weTransfer! :D)

After you download the stacks, you will notice that you need the book.
Without the book explaining how to use them, these stacks are not useful.

You could buy an used (and out of print) book from AbeBooks and Amazon:
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchR ... 6969-_-all
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing ... d&qid=&sr=
AEFolderAndHome.jpg
Last edited by capellan on Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:34 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Lagi Pittas
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Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by Lagi Pittas » Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:37 pm

Hi

Yep that's why I also included the .sea file I assumed the fork would vanish.
Thanks for the files - stuart sent permission yesterday so all is good with the world ... at least here


Thanks again

capellan
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:09 pm

Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by capellan » Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:30 pm

Hi Lagi,
Yep that's why I also included the .sea file I assumed the fork would vanish.
Thanks for the files - stuart sent permission yesterday so all is good with the world
... at least here
Great! now I just have to wait to the midnight to start reading the book
without getting interrupted every five minutes... or less :shock:

Have a nice weekend!

Al

andrewferguson
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Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by andrewferguson » Sun Oct 02, 2016 4:07 pm

capellan wrote: When I opened the compressed zip folder, I noticed that all Macintosh files
are damaged because the Resource Fork split from their Data Fork.
The LiveCode files I uploaded and liked to on Friday should not have this problem because I used the original .SEA file and converted the stacks to LiveCode on a Mac that supports resource forks. If there is an issue with the files that I linked to, let me know.

capellan
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:09 pm

Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by capellan » Sun Oct 02, 2016 5:34 pm

Hi Andrew,

The LiveCode Stacks that you uploaded works great. Many, many thanks for converting them. I hope to find time to help update the scripts. If this script update is successful, LiveCode Teachers will have an extraordinary useful addition to their library of resources for teaching.

This book is probably one of the few College Programming books, if not the only one, that used an xTalk Language for their practical exercises.

Now that this book is out of print, maybe (just maybe) we could convince the copyright owners to re-release this book with a creative commons license. In this way, we could adapt the content to reference LiveCode instead of HyperCard. Other teachers could use this creative common license to adapt book's content to their platform of choice: Python, Javascript, Lua, Swift, etc...

By the way, How a small 168k HyperCard stack (named "Very Resourceful") after conversion becomes a 168mb LiveCode stack? I found this amazing and see a real opportunity for enhancements in this HyperCard to LiveCode conversion process.

Have a nice week!

Alejandro

capellan
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Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:09 pm

Re: Analytical Engine - An Introduction to Computer Science

Post by capellan » Fri Oct 07, 2016 2:19 am

I asked Mr. Stuart Hirshfield if he have plans
to update his book and he answered:

Stuart Hirshfield wrote:
> Thanks again for your interest in our beloved project.
> For a number of reasons we have no plans for
> releasing updated materials. First and foremost,
> I am on the road to retirement.
> Second, there are now other texts (and other
> software packages) that have built upon our
> original ideas, some of which are very well done.
> Check out the following links:

https://www.amazon.com/Balanced-Introdu ... 977&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Science ... th+edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_man_computer

http://www.cburch.com/logisim/

http://ais.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/t ... loads.html

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