STAMP Function Library Reference Manual
          functions for morphological transfer and synthesis
                             version 2.0b1
                               July 1998

                          by Stephen McConnel

                 Copyright (C) 2000 SIL International

Published by:
Language Software Development
SIL International
7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road
Dallas, TX 75236
U.S.A.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
file provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved in all copies.

The author may be reached at the address above or via email as
`steve@acadcomp.sil.org'.

Introduction to the STAMP function library
******************************************

Only the outline of this manual has been written - it needs a LOT of
work!!

Variable and function naming conventions
****************************************

The basic goal behind choosing names in the STAMP function library is
for the name to convey information about what it represents.  This is
achieved in two ways: striving for a descriptive name rather than a
short cryptic abbreviated name, and following a different pattern of
capitalization for each type of name.

Preprocessor macro names
========================

Preprocessor macro names are written entirely in capital letters.  If
the name requires more than one word for an adequate description, the
words are joined together with intervening underscore (`_') characters.

Data structure names
====================

Data structure names consist of one or more capitalized words.  If the
name requires more than one word for an adequate description, the words
are joined together without underscores, depending on the
capitalization pattern to make them readable as separate words.

Variable names
==============

Variable names in the STAMP function library follow a modified form of
the Hungarian naming convention described by Steve McConnell in his
book `Code Complete' on pages 202-206.

Variable names have three parts:  a lowercase type prefix, a
descriptive name, and a scope suffix.

Type prefix
-----------

The type prefix has the following basic possibilities:

`b'
     a Boolean, usually encoded as a `char', `short', or `int'

`c'
     a character, usually a `char' but sometimes a `short' or `int'

`d'
     a double precision floating point number, that is, a `double'

`e'
     an enumeration, encoded as an `enum' or as a `char', `short', or
     `int'

`i'
     an integer, that is, an `int', `short', `long', or (rarely) `char'

`s'
     a data structure defined by a `struct' statement

`sz'
     a NUL (that is, zero) terminated character string

`pf'
     a pointer to a function

In addition, the basic types may be prefixed by these qualifiers:

`u'
     indicates that an integer or a character is unsigned

`a'
     indicates an array of the basic type

`p'
     indicates a pointer to the type, possibly a pointer to an array or
     to a pointer

Descriptive name
----------------

The descriptive name portion of a variable name consists of one or more
capitalized words concatenated together.  There are no underscores
(`_') separating these words from each other, or from the type prefix.
For the STAMP function library, the descriptive name for global
variables begins with `Stamp'.

Scope suffix
------------

The scope suffix has these possibilities:

`_g'
     indicates a global variable accessible throughout the program

`_m'
     indicates a module (semiglobal) variable accessible throughout the
     file (declared `static')

`_in'
     indicates a function argument used for input

`_out'
     indicates a function argument used for output (must be a pointer)

`_io'
     indicates a function argument used for both input and output (must
     be a pointer)

`_s'
     indicates a function variable that retains its value between calls
     (declared `static')

The lack of a scope suffix indicates that a variable is declared within
a function and exists on the stack for the duration of the current call.

Function names
==============

Global function names in the STAMP function library have two parts: a
verb that is all lowercase followed by a noun phrase containing one or
more capitalized words.  These pieces are concatanated without any
intervening underscores (`_').  For the STAMP library functions, the
noun phrase section includes `Stamp'.

Examples
========

Given the discussion above, it is easy to discern at a glance what type
of item each of the following names refers to.
`SAMPLE_NAME'
     is a preprocessor macro.

`SampleName'
     is a data structure.

`pSampleName'
     is a local pointer variable.

`writeSampleName'
     is a function (that may apply to a data structure named
     `SampleName').

STAMP data structures
*********************

STAMP global variables
**********************

STAMP functions
***************

Bibliography
************

  1. McConnel, Stephen. 1998.  `STAMP Reference Manual'.  SIL
     International.

  2. McConnel, Stephen. 1998.  `OPAC Function Library Reference Manual'.
     SIL International.

  3. Weber, David J., H. Andrew Black, and Stephen R. McConnel. 1988.
     `AMPLE: a tool for exploring morphology'.  Occasional Publications
     in Academic Computing No. 12.  Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of
     Linguistics.

  4. Weber, David J., H. Andrew Black, Stephen R. McConnel, and Alan
     Buseman. 1990.  `STAMP: a tool for dialect adaptation'.
     Occasional Publications in Academic Computing No. 15.  Dallas, TX:
     Summer Institute of Linguistics.


Index
*****

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