small things

doc/gf2-highlights.html

@@ -6,11 +6,11 @@
 
 <h1>Grammatical Framework Version 2</h1>
 
-Highlights, preliminary version
+Highlights, version 2.0
 
 <p>
 
-13/10/2003 - 25/11 - 2/4/2004
+13/10/2003 - 25/11 - 2/4/2004 - 18/6
 
 <p>
 
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Highlights, preliminary version
 
 <h2>Syntax of GF</h2>
 
-An accurate <a href="DocGF.ps.gz">language specification</a> is now available.
+An accurate <a href="DocGF.pdf">language specification</a> is now available.
 
 
 <h2>Summary of novelties</h2>
@@ -32,19 +32,22 @@ An accurate <a href="DocGF.ps.gz">language specification</a> is now available.
      <tt>concrete</tt>, and <tt>resource</tt>.
 <li> Replaces the file-based <tt>include</tt> system
 <li> Name space handling with qualified names
-<li> Hierarchic structure (<tt>extend</tt>) + cross-cutting reuse (<tt>open</tt>)
+<li> Hierarchic structure (single inheritance <tt>**</tt>) + 
+     cross-cutting reuse (<tt>open</tt>)
 <li> Separate compilation, one module per file
 <li> Reuse of <tt>abstract</tt>+<tt>concrete</tt> as <tt>resource</tt>
-<li> New module types:
+<li> Parametrized modules:
      <tt>interface</tt>, <tt>instance</tt>, <tt>incomplete</tt>.
 <li> New experimental module types: <tt>transfer</tt>, 
      <tt>union</tt>.
 
+
 <h4>Canonical format GFC</h4>
 
 <li> The target of GF compiler; to reuse, just read in
 <li> Readable by Haskell/Java/C++/C applications
 
+
 <h4>New features in expression language</h4>
 
 <li> Disjunctive patterns <tt>P | ... | Q</tt>.
@@ -56,76 +59,94 @@ An accurate <a href="DocGF.ps.gz">language specification</a> is now available.
 <li> Pattern variables can be used on lhs's of <tt>oper</tt> definitions.
 <li> New Unicode transliterations (by Harad Hammarström).
 
-<h4>New shell commands</h4>
+
+<h4>New shell commands and command functionalities</h4>
 
 <li> <tt>pi</tt> = <tt>print_info</tt>: information on an identifier in scope.
 <li> <tt>h</tt> = <tt>help</tt> now in long or short form, 
      and on individual commands.
-<li> All commands have both long and short names (see help). Long names
-     are a handy way to make scripts more readable.
+<li> <tt>gt</tt> = <tt>generate_trees</tt>: all trees of a given
+     category or instantiations of a given incomplete term, up to a
+     given depth.
+<li> <tt>gr</tt> = <tt>generate_random</tt> can now be given
+     an incomplete term as an argument, to constrain generation.
+<li> <tt>so</tt> = <tt>show_opers</tt> shows all <tt>ope</tt>
+     operations with a given value type.
+<li> <tt>pm</tt> = <tt>print_multi</tt> prints the multilingual
+     grammar resident in the current state to a ready-compiles
+     <tt>.gfcm</tt> file.
+<li> All commands have both long and short names (see help). Short
+     names are easier to type, whereas long names
+     make scripts more readable.
+<li> Meaningless command options generate warnings.
 
 
 <h4>New editor features</h4>
 
-<li> Active text field (forthcoming, by Janna Khegai)
-<li> Clipboard
+<li> Active text field: click the middle button in the focus to send
+     in refinement through the parser.
+<li> Clipboard: copy complex terms into the refine menu.
+
 
 <h4>Improved implementation</h4>
 
-<li> Haskell source code organized into subdirectories.
-<li> BNF Converter used for defining the languages GF and GFC, which also
+<li> Haskell source code is organized into subdirectories.
+<li> BNF Converter is used for defining the languages GF and GFC, which also
      give reliable LaTeX documentation.
-<li> Lexican rules sorted out by option <tt>-cflexer</tt> for efficient
+<li> Lexical rules sorted out by option <tt>-cflexer</tt> for efficient
      parsing with large lexica.     
+<li> GHC optimizations and strictness flags are used for improving performance.
 
-<h4>New parser (forthcoming)</h4>
 
-<li> By Peter Ljunglöf, based on MCFG
-<li> Much more efficient for morphology and discontinuous constituents
-<li> Treatment of cyclic rules
+<h4>New parser (work in progress)</h4>
+
+<li> By Peter Ljunglöf, based on MCFG.
+<li> Much more efficient for morphology and discontinuous constituents.
+<li> Treatment of cyclic rules.
 
 
 
 <!-- NEW -->
 
-<h2>Status (24/3/2004)</h2>
+<h2>Status (18/6/2004)</h2>
 
-Grammar compiler, editor GUIs, and shell work.
+Grammar compiler, editor GUIs, and shell work for all platforms
+(with restrictions for Solaris).
 
 <p>
 
 The updated <tt>HelpFile</tt> (accessible through <tt>h</tt> command)
-marks unsupported but expected features with <tt>*</tt>.
+marks unsupported features present in GF 1.2 with <tt>*</tt>.
+They will be supported again if interested users appear.
 
 <p>
 
-GF1 grammars can be automatically translated to GF2 (although result not as good
+GF1 grammars can be automatically translated to GF2 (although the
+result is not as good
 as manual, since indentation and comments are destroyed). The results can be 
-saved in GF2 files, but this is not necessary.
+saved in GF2 files, but this is not necessary. 
+Some rarely used GF1 features are no longer supported (see next section).
 
 <p>
 
-It is also possible to write a GF2 grammar back to GF1.
+It is also possible to write a GF2 grammar back to GF1, with the
+command <tt>pg -printer=old</tt>.
 
 
 <p>
 
-Example grammars and resource libraries are have been
-converted. There is a new resource API with
-many new constructions. The new versions lie in <tt>grammars/newresource</tt>.
+Resource libraries 
+and some example grammars and have been
+converted. Most old example grammars work without any changes.
+There is a new resource API with
+many new constructions.
 
 <p>
 
 A make facility works, finding out which modules have to be recompiled.
-There is some room for improvement.
 
 <p>
 
-<tt>transfer</tt> modules have to be called by flags.
-
-<p>
-
-
 Soundness checking of module depencencies and completeness is not
 complete. This means that some errors may show up too late.
 
@@ -134,15 +155,23 @@ complete. This means that some errors may show up too late.
 Latex and XML printing of grammars do not work yet.
 
 
+
 <!-- NEW -->
 
 <h2>How to use GF 1.* files</h2>
 
 Backward compatibility with respect to old GF grammars has been
 a central goal. All GF grammars, from version 0.9, should work in
-the old way in GF2. The main exception is the <tt>package</tt> system
-introduced in GF 1.2, which would interfere too much with the new
-module system.
+the old way in GF2. The main exceptions are some features that 
+are rarely used. 
+<ul>
+<li> The <tt>package</tt> system introduced in GF 1.2, cannot be
+     interpreted in the module system of GF 2.0, since packages are in
+     mutual scope with the top level.
+<li> <tt>tokenizer</tt> pragmas are cannot be parsed any more. In GF
+     1.2, they are already replaced by <tt>lexer</tt> flags.
+<li> <tt>var</tt> pragmas cannot be parsed any more.
+</ul>
 
 <p>
 
@@ -212,10 +241,6 @@ with a variant where the last letter is replaced by <tt>Z</tt>, e.g.
 <tt>instance</tt> is replaced by <tt>instancZ</tt>. This method is of course
 unsafe and should be replaced by something better.
 
-<p>
-
-The <tt>package</tt> format of GF 1.2 is made obsolete
-by the module system. It is not handled properly by GF2.
 
 
 
@@ -334,10 +359,13 @@ first left bracket (<tt>{</tt>). The header gives
 File name extensions:
 <ul>
 <li> <tt>gf</tt>: GF source file (uses GF syntax, is type checked and compiled)
-<li> <tt>gfc</tt>: canonical GF file (uses GFC syntax, is only read in; produced 
-from all kinds of modules)
+<li> <tt>gfc</tt>: canonical GF file (uses GFC syntax, is simply read
+in instead of compiled; produced from all kinds of modules)
 <li> <tt>gfr</tt>: GF resource file (uses GF syntax, is only read in; produced from
 <tt>resource</tt> modules)
+<li> <tt>gfcm</tt>: canonical multilingual GF file 
+(uses GFC syntax, is only read in; produced 
+from a set of <tt>abstract</tt> and <tt>conctrete</tt> modules)
 </ul>
 Only <tt>gf</tt> files should ever be written/edited manually!
 
@@ -359,6 +387,16 @@ Inside the GF shell, also time stamps of modules read into memory are
 taken into account. Thus a module need not be read from a file if the
 module is in the memory and the file has not been modified.
 
+<p>
+
+If the compilation of a grammar fails at some module, the state of the
+GF shell contains all modules read up to that point. This makes it
+faster to compile the faulty module again after fixing it.
+
+<p>
+
+Use the command <tt>po</tt> = <tt>print_options</tt> to see what
+modules are in the state.
 
 <p>
 
@@ -374,6 +412,29 @@ To force compilation:
 
 <!-- NEW -->
 
+<h2>Module search paths</h2>
+
+Modules can reside in different directories. Use the <tt>path</tt>
+flag to extend the directory search path. For instance,
+<pre>
+  -path=.:../resource/russian:../prelude
+</pre>
+enables files to be found in three different directories.
+By default, only the current directory is included.
+If a <tt>path</tt> flag is given, the current directory
+<tt>.</tt> must be explicitly included if it is wanted.
+
+<p>
+
+The <tt>path</tt> flag can be set in any of the following
+places:
+<ul>
+<li> when invoking GF: <tt>gf -path=xxx</tt>
+<li> when importing a module: <tt>i -path=xxx Foo.gf</tt>
+<li> as a pragma in a topmost file: <tt>--# -path=xxx</tt>
+</ul>
+A flag set on a command line overrides ones set in files.
+
 <!-- NEW -->
 
 </body>