
				KETMAN MAXIMASTER V3.4
				______________________


October 2002

Students doing formal programming courses should go immediately to the final section of this README file, called "Cautionary Notes for Students". It could save you some wasted time.


GETTING STARTED
---------------

You are reading this because you have already unzipped the package, and if you are sensible you will have given it a directory of its own. Apart from the zip file and README.TXT, you have these files:
 
KETMAN.EXE
DEMO.EXE
MANUAL.EXE
RIDERS.EXE
BIGNUMS.EXE
ARITH.WIN

You have nothing to do except run DEMO.EXE. That's the starting tutorial, and everything you need to know about how to proceed, and in what order, is contained therein.


_________________________________________________________________________________________

REGISTRATION

If you want to pay by credit card, the exact price of registration depends upon which currency my registrations service pegs its prices to. I have changed my registration services before, and might change them again. But it will be approximately 36 sterling, or $50 US, or 50 Euros (I can't be more exact because exchange rates between those three currencies are always fluctuating). To get more up-to-date info, go to my web page at http://www.btinternet.com/~btketman which will be revised more often than this README file would ever be. There will be a link near the bottom of the page that will take you to the product page at the registrations service's site.

If you want to pay some other way than by credit card, e.g., by cheque or money order, the approximate prices quoted above should be taken as the exact prices. But contact me first, and tell me where you live. We can work something out.

Queries to: btketman@btinternet.com 
_____________________________________________________________


Cautionary Notes for Students:
------------------------------

As a result of some enquiries from people doing college courses I have had to think a little more carefully about who should be encouraged to try Ketman, and who should be warned off it.

Ketman has a pared-down assembler. I mean that in two senses. First, it limits itself to the real-mode instruction set. It doesn't yet provide for protected-mode. Neither does it recognize floating-point instructions. Second, it is pared down in its use of assembler directives. It doesn't either demand or recognize those familiar formalities like PROC, ENDP, PUBLIC, MAIN and so forth. That is not merely because Ketman attracts a lot of beginners, who wouldn't thank me for making their learning curve steeper than it has to be, but also because I myself consider so much of it to be unnecessary. I am not too familiar with the popular A86 assembler, but I infer that the author takes a similar view, because his program allows the user to dispense with them. But A86 does at least recognise those directives if you insist on using them, and is therefore compatible with rival assemblers on that point at least. But Ketman is not. You cannot import/export source files to/from other assemblers. Or not without some messy modifications anyway.

I have never taken a college course myself, but I would guess that a course tutor would always expect submitted work to be in a format familiar to him. In that case I couldn't recommend Ketman to you as a platform for delivering finished source text. You'd probably get it thrown right back at you.

That doesn't mean that I don't think Ketman would be of any value. On the contrary, there is no better platform for testing your algorithms, for which in many cases you don't need an assembler at all (as you would find out). But I have to discourage you from buying the registered program if you are doing so in the belief that it will help you win good grades. Ketman is designed essentially for people like me, people who don't have to submit their work to anyone for approval. We can use any format we like. As long as our programs are clear to us, and work as want them to, that's all we care about.

But by all means use Ketman as an auxiliary tool in your studies. The demo version is free. If you like it, I will accept your good opinion as payment.

END OF README FILE
                              
