A Dangerous Discovery and HP's Swift Response by Joe Horn & Bill Wickes. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� � A Cautionary Tale for HP 48 Programmers � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� (Comp.sys.handhelds) Item: 3374 by _joehorn at hpcvbbs.UUCP Author: [Joseph K Horn] Subj: HP 48 Faster PGDIR Date: Wed Jun 05 1991 FPGDIR, a FAST PGDIR, by Joseph K Horn. Makes PGDIR obsolete. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� �[NO, NO, NO IT DOESN'T! 20/20 Hindsight. Read On... -jkh-]� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� When you use PGDIR on a very large directory, it can take a long time to finish. For example, I just used Donnelly's XTIME function to time PGDIR on a big directory, and it took a painful 50 seconds! Bill Wickes explains why in his excellent book, "HP 48 Insights": "PGDIR removes a directory specified by name. It does this by recursively executing CLVAR and PURGE recursively on each subdirectory until the original directory is empty. (This process can take a relatively long time if the directory is large.)" [Part I, page 96] Guess what! There's a better way! [No there isn't! Read on... -jkh-] Those of you with HP-41CX's will remember the CLRALMS command that cleared all the alarms out. If you had a lot of alarms, it took a long time to finish, because it looped through the alarm buffer clearing each one individually. But a much better way was to treat the entire buffer as one object, and clear it in one fell swoop. This was possible with the buffer clearing functions available in several plug-in ROMs. For example, with the Extended-IL ROM, just execute 10 CLRBUF, and instantly the entire alarm buffer gets cleared, no matter how large it is. It turns out that there is a similar trick for purging directories on the HP 48. Rather than painfully looping through them, clearing their contents, we can treat the whole thing as a single object and PURGE it in one fell swoop. Here's the trick. The HP 48 Owner's Manual says: "Once a directory is empty, you can purge it like any other variable -- put its name on the stack and execute PURGE." [Volume 1, page 123] But "empty" means "when VARS == { }". And VARS == { } when all the vars are "hidden" behind a null-named object (see NULLNAME.DOC on Goodies Disk #1). So the quick way to purge a directory is: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 �[DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS! Read on... -jkh-]� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 (1) Put its name on the stack; (2) Get into that directory: DUP EVAL; (3) Unhide everything (just in case): '' PURGE; (4) Hide all its vars: 0 '' STO; (5) Go back to the parent directory: UPDIR; (6) Purge the "empty" directory: PURGE. This process is automated by the following replacement for PGDIR: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� �[DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM! Read on... -jkh-]� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� ---------------------< FPGDIR >--------------------------------- %%HP:T(1); \<< IF DUP TYPE 6 == THEN IF DUP VTYPE -1 == THEN DROP ELSE IF DUP VTYPE 15 == THEN DUP EVAL 0 # 15777h SYSEVAL DUP PURGE STO UPDIR PURGE ELSE 515 DOERR END END ELSE 514 DOERR END \>> ---------------------------------------------------------------- Except for its improved speed, its action is exactly like PGDIR. It even generates the same error messages as PGDIR in case of bad arguments. Nonexistent names simply get dropped (like PGDIR does). To use: place name of directory on stack, and run it. It does full argument type checking, so it should be idiot proof. 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� �[Unless the idiot is the author! Read on... -jkh]� 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� I keep it assigned to my blue-shifted DEL key. That way it takes only three keystrokes to delete a directory (tic, menu, FPGDIR). It should be in "system RPL" ... but that's left as an exercise for the reader. :-) -- Joseph K Horn -- Peripheral Vision, Ltd. -- ---------- Resp: 1 of 4 by billw at hpcvra.cv.hp.com. Author: [William C Wickes] Date: Thu Jun 06 1991 An extra benefit of Joseph's method is that it can not only blow away a directory instantly, but it can also blow away everything in main RAM at no extra charge. > Except for its improved speed, its action is exactly like PGDIR. Not quite. PGDIR is safe. In my excellent book I explained what PGDIR does, not WHY it does it. Guess what! There isn't a better way! What? you mean there's a reason that PGDIR goes through all that agony? Well, yes: directories are not composite objects, and thus a directory in temporary memory, such as might be created by PURGE, must not contain referenced objects. Garbage collection is doomed by such references, so PGDIR's labor is to remove the directory without leaving any references to any of its innards. PURGE doesn't bother with such niceties, so it's not allowed to handle directories. Fooling it with null-named variables is courting disaster. FPGDIR may work safely most of the time if you execute a system halt (ON-C) first, but even that's not 100% bulletproof. In case the above is too subtle for anyone, just take it that using FPGDIR (i.e. creating a null-named variable, then purging a directory) is NOT a good thing to do. Bill Wickes HP Corvallis ---------- Resp: 2 of 4 by _joehorn at hpcvbbs.UUCP Author: [Joseph K Horn] Date: Thu Jun 06 1991 Bill Wickes writes that Joe Horn's FPGDIR is too dangerous to use. Please post an example of how to lose memory with its use. I've tried, and haven't been able to. Thanx! -- Joe Horn -- ---------- Resp: 3 of 4 by billw at hpcvra.cv.hp.com. Author: [William C Wickes] Date: Fri Jun 07 1991 Joe Horn requests: > Please post an example of how to lose memory with its use. I've tried, > and haven't been able to. Using FPGDIR gives the 48 a chance to execute code at a random address; what will actually happen is hard to predict--most of the time you just get a system halt, but you can get Memory Clear (it's just like executing SYSEVAL with random addresses). The easiest way to see the danger is to recall some objects from a directory you are going to purge, then execute FPGDIR. Everything looks fine, but now execute MEM and see your recalled objects turn to Externals. Try executing one, if you're brave. In a running program, of course, this can be disastrous--one example is to insert a MEM into FPGDIR after the directory PURGE, then use FPGDIR to purge the subdirectory that contains FPGDIR. I tried this on my HP48 (with everything archived, of course), and got a system halt. Another way is to use FPGDIR to purge a directory containing a suspended program, then execute MEM and CONT. (The use of MEM in these examples forces a garbage collection, which otherwise might happen most anytime, like a ticking time bomb.) > Thanx! Yer welcome! Bill Wickes HP Corvallis ---------- Resp: 4 of 4 by _joehorn at hpvvbbs.UUCP Author: [Joseph K Horn] Date: Sat Jun 08 1991 Bill Wickes writes that running my FPGDIR after recalling objects from the target directory to the stack can cause problems. Wow! That's for sure! I just tried it, and the very first attempt tanked everything in the machine. Rats. The moral here is twofold: (1) The obvious: don't use FPGDIR unless you KNOW FOR SURE that there are no references to objects that will be left floating in limbo. (2) Less obvious: Be Careful When You Hide Objects In Directories! Many articles and programs about "hiding" things have floated down this bitstream, and not once did anybody mention that hiding things in directories can send the 48 out to lunch. But if ALL the items in a directory are hidden, it's an accident waiting to happen. Because then simply PURGEing the directory (if there are any memory references to its contents) will cause problems at the next garbage collection. The first moral is worded with "unless" because the situation is exactly the same for the new 256K and 512K bankswitched cards now available for the 48. I just played with a 512K card tonight at the 48 Club meeting in L.A., and it has a BANKN function that allows you to bank switch WITHOUT PERFORMING A SYSTEM HALT. The owner's manual clearly states that doing this while there are any memory references to objects in the bank being switched out will "at best cause unpredictable results." The reason this is so is the same as the reason that FPGDIR is dangerous. If Tripod can sell an item with functionality that's dangerous to use and assumes that the user takes proper precautions, then I hope I can give away FPGDIR for free with the same danger and assumptions. What scares me, however, is the second moral. People are hiding things gleefully, without any idea that Memory Clear awaits them if they don't know the pitfalls of PURGE on directories whose contents are all hidden. EduCALC Goodies Disk #5 will, of course, have all this documented, hopefully to make up for the blissful endorsement of using null-named objects that has been on previous Goodies Disks. [You're reading it! -jkh-] Thanx, Bill, for warning us of the dangers here, before my "wonderful new discovery" (*sigh*) proliferated too far. -- a crestfallen jkh -- 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� �[If nothing else, this should teach the reader the value of participating� 쿶n the activity on the Hewlett Packard Bulletin Board System! -jkh-] � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴�