Masterscope help command

[pamoroso]

When I execute the HELP command of Masterscope I get this error:

4_ . HELP
Sorry, couldn't parse that!

Is this the correct way of invoking the command?

[nbriggs]

Back in the day, when there was a copy of MASTERSCOPE.SYNTAX, which is what I believe the HELP command would have printed... it would have contained this (from sdf.org) -- but I doubt it's complete/correct, given how old it is:

[KANKAN] PUBLIC:<~>@ type INTERLISP:MASTERSCOPE.SYNTAX.1
meta-phrases are in <angle brackets>; optional phrases in [square brackets]
noise words (i.e. can be omitted) are in lower case
*------------------------------------------------------------------*
|a <command> is:                                                   |
|                                                                  |
|  [RE]ANALYZE <functions>                                         |
|  ERASE <functions>                                               |
|  show PATHS <pathoptions>                                        |
|  <set> {<relation>!IS!ARE} <set>                                 |
|  EDIT where <functions> [<relation> <set>] [ - <edit commands>]  |
|  SHOW where <functions> <relation> <set>                         |
|  CHECK <files>						   |
|  FOR <variable> <set> <i.s. opr> <expression>			   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|a <set> is (at least one of):                                     |
|a determiner  + a type           + a specification                |
|                                                                  |
| THE           FUNCTIONS           [']{atom!list}                 |
| ANY           VARIABLES           @ <pred>                       |
| WHICH         PROPERTIES          IN <expression>                |
| WHO           RECORDS             <relation>ING <set>            |
|               FIELDS              <relation>ED {BY!IN} <set>     |
|               FILES		    THAT <relation> <set>	   |
|				    LIKE <edit-pattern>            |
|				    ON <files>			   |
| 		FIELDS OF <records>				   |
|		<blockword> {ON <files>!OF <functions>} 	   |
| <functions>, <files>, etc. are <set>s whose type is implied.     |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|a <relation> is a verb and optional modifier:                     |
| verbs:                  modifiers (anywhere after the verb):     |
|  CALL            ...    SOMEHOW                                  |
|  BIND            ...    as an ARGUMENT!LOCALLY                   |
|  USE             ...    AS a {RECORD!PROPERTY!record FIELD} name |
|  USE		   ...	  AS a CLISP word		 	   |
|  USE             ...    FREELY!LOCALLY!GLOBALLY                  |
|  SET             ...    FREELY!LOCALLY!GLOBALLY                  |
|  SMASH           ...    FREELY!LOCALLY!GLOBALLY                  |
|  TEST            ...    FREELY!LOCALLY!GLOBALLY                  |
|  REFERENCE       ...    FREELY!LOCALLY!GLOBALLY                  |
|  FETCH							   |
|  REPLACE	*--------------------------------------------------|
|  CREATE	| <blockwords>: ENTRIES, GLOBALVARS, FREEVARS, 	   |
|  CONTAIN	|  SPECVARS, LOCALFREEVARS, BLKFNS or BLOCKFNS	   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| <pathoptions>:          | abbreviations & synonyms:              |
|                         |                                        |
|   FROM <functions>      | FNS = FUNCTIONS  PROPS = PROPERTIES    |
|   TO <functions>        | VARS = VARIABLES                       |
|   AVOIDING <functions>  | (& singular FN, VARIABLE, etc)         |
|   NOTRACE <functions>   | FREE = FREELY    LOCAL = LOCALLY       |
|   SEPARATE <functions>  | GLOBAL = GLOBALLY                      |
|   LINELENGTH <number>   | AMONG = AVOIDING NOT                   |
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  <sets> may be joined by AND or OR or preceded by NOT.           |
|  Any command can be followed by OUTPUT <filename>.		   |
*------------------------------------------------------------------*

[pamoroso]

I was wondering whether Masterscope still supports the HELP command in current Medley. The source contains function MSPRINTHELPFILE which accesses the file MASTERSCOPE.SYNTAX (variable MSHELPFILE) but there's apparently no binding between HELP and the function.

[nbriggs]

Of course there's library/MASTERSCOPE.TEDIT. @masinter might know why/when the HELP command got removed. It likely would have call MSPRINTHELPFILE which just dumped the contents of MSHELPFILE (currently set to <LISP>MASTERSCOPE.SYNTAX). That seems to have been block-compiled as it exists in the image as \MASTERSCOPEBLOCK/MSPRINTHELPFILE, and of course just reports that the help file isn't available.

[masinter]

I don't remember anything about doing this or removing it. I can't imagine anyone else.
I can imagine several courses of action -- fix . HELP, update it, etc.

I think there might have been a movement to move MASTERSCOPE from the Library? There's a DINFO help as well as a MASTERSCOPE.TEDIT. I can easily imagine Venue deciding Mastscope was unmaintainable.