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From: cloos@acsu.buffalo.edu (James H. Cloos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Explorations of a wierd data type (HP48sx)
Message-ID: <68130@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 1 Apr 91 17:33:43 GMT
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I did find the routine at 371d listed in my symbol tables (from Jake).
Looks like it was contributed to the collective list be Rick Grevelle.  He
called it get_1array2short.

Based on how the other routines work, it would be safe to say that all this
routine does is take the array, jump ahead to the arry_type field, put that
into a register, jump ahead to the first element, skip (short - 1)
elements, and make an object out of the stored prolog and the data it finds
at the (short)'th element.  (It would most likely figure out how far to
skip for each previous element based on the prolog: if the prolog is of a
fixed size object, that many nybbles would be skiped each time, otherwise
the size field for each element in turn would be read and that many nybbles
skipped each time; the same criterion would be used to determine how many
nybbles make up the wanted element.  Please note that I HAVE NOT (yet)
looked at the dissassembly of this routine & for that matter don't even
know if it is in ML or RPL.)  What this means is that any data could be
used for this routine, allowing the programmer to, ah, have some fun, as it
were.  ;^)

(BTW, Conrad, even though it has been previously documented, and a handful
of us would think it obvious (I refuse to use trivial w/o the original
src!), the net at large is grateful for the tutorial; the more of these we
can get "out there," the more fun and interesting programs we will find
available to us!  Danke.)

Happy hacking!

-JimC
--
James H. Cloos, Jr.		Phone:  +1 716 673-1250
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