WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SEED7
=============================

    This are the release notes to the Seed7 package. Read them
  carefully, as they tell you what this is all about and in
  which files the rest of the information is.


WHAT IS SEED7?

    Seed7 is a general purpose programming language. It is a
  higher level language compared to Ada, C++ and Java. In Seed7
  new statements and operators can be defined easily. Functions
  with type results and type parameters are more elegant than
  the usual template or generics concept. Object orientation is
  used when it brings advantages and not in places when other
  solutions are more obvious. Although Seed7 contains several
  concepts of other programming languages it cannot be seen as
  direct descendant of another programming language. To get a
  general overview over the language read: doc/manual.txt
  (Chapter: Introduction).


WHAT IS CONTAINED IN THIS PACKAGE?

    The Seed7 package contains the hi Interpreter in source besides
  documentation files, include files and program examples. The
  following subdirectorys exist:

    src    The source of the interpreter
    prg    Program examples
    lib    Include files
    doc    Documentation files
    bin    Executables and runtime libraries

  Using the extension several files can be distinguished:

    *.txt  Documentation files
    *.sd7  Program example files
    *.s7i  Include files
    *.dna  Include file for the dna program
    *.c    C source file
    *.h    C include file


HOW TO COMPILE THE INTERPRETER?

    For Linux this is quite simple (to compile under other
  operating systems see 'seed7/src/read_me.txt'). The 'makefile'
  is prepared for Linux. First make sure that gcc, make and the
  development packages for X11 and ncurses are installed. Then
  go to the 'src' directory and type:

    make depend
    make

  After the compilation the interpreter is linked to the file
  'seed7/prg/hi'. The file 'seed7/src/read_me.txt' contains a
  detailed explanation of the compilation process.


HOW TO COMPILE UNDER OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS?

    Seed7 supports several operating systems such as Windows,
  Mac OS X and various Unix variants. How to compile under
  this operating systems is explained in the file
  'seed7/src/read_me.txt'.


HOW TO EXECUTE A PROGRAM?

    After compiling the interpreter you can make the first test.
  Switch to the 'prg' directory and type:

    ./hi hello

  This executes the hello world program which is in the
  'hello.sd7' file. Every file with the '.sd7' extension can be
  executed with the 'hi' interpreter.

  A list of the program files with a short description can be
  found in the file: prg/files.


WHAT TO DO WHEN THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH THE COMPILATION?

    There is a read_me.txt file in the seed7/src directory which
  discusses the compilation process with more detail.


HOW TO SEND A PATCH?

    If you want to participate, you are always welcome.
  I would be glad to receive patches in the unified diff format:

    diff -urN oldseed7dir/ newseed7dir/ > patch.diff

  If you send a patch, it is assumed that this patch is released
  under the GPL (or LGPL for librarys) license.


Greetings Thomas Mertes
