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From: maniac@arrakis.nevada.edu (ERIC SCHWERTFEGER)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: A variation on overlays, suggestions wanted.
Message-ID: <1016@unsvax.NEVADA.EDU>
Date: 13 Nov 89 19:42:57 GMT
Sender: news@unsvax.NEVADA.EDU
Reply-To: maniac@arrakis.nevada.edu.uucp (ERIC SCHWERTFEGER)
Organization: Univ of Nevada System Computing Services - Las Vegas
Lines: 28

[Do line eaters have a right to life?]

        I've got an interesting programming problem, and I'd like
to see if anyone can help.  What I need is something similar to overlays.
however, I want the option of loading all of the "overlays" in at one
time, so if there is enough memory, I can avoid going back to disk
in order to read in another overlay.
        I've figured out one way of doing this, by loadseg()ing files,
but the problem is, I want to have the entire program in one file so
that a new user can grab one icon, drag it onto another disk, and still
have the program work.
        I also thought of a very complex version of segment splitting
where I would release the chunks I don't want, but then I can't load
them later unless I find the path name of the original file, load the
entire file, etc.  Not a good way to go.
        Just for a little background information, I'm working on a
freeform database/notepad combination (electronic postit notes),
and I'm considering adding modules for scripting, ARexx interface,
reminder/alarm functions, and such. Since this is the kind of program
that people might want in their startup sequence, I want to keep
memory consumption to a minimum (the base unit is functional at 15K).
	also as a side note, I agree with the poster that said that 
programs should look in the current directory, then in an assigned
directory, then in a system directory.  In fact, my program does just
that, and I don't see why more programs don't do it.  that trick took
100-200 bytes.

Eric J. Schwertfeger, UNLV   maniac@arrakis.nevada.edu