A call may be preceded by concepts, which modify the action of the call. These may be nested (stacked) to any reasonable depth.
When using the completing reader, just type the concept you want. The completing reader will operate in the usual way. Nearly all concepts may be entered in a natural way, on the same line as the call that they affect. As discussed previously, this means that you can type things like
grand swing thru ENTER
or
boys 1/2 stable split the difference ENTER
or
random tandem swing thru ENTER
Whether you typed concepts separately or together, the result is the same, and the output file will look the same. For example, the following are all legal and equivalent.
reverse random tandem swing thru ENTER
reverse random ENTER tandem swing thru ENTER
reverse ENTER random ENTER tandem ENTER swing thru ENTER
In the output file, they will all be shown as reverse random tandem swing thru.
Occasionally some ambiguous situations can arise. What if you wanted
the boys to do 1/2 of a stable split the difference? The phrase
boys 1/2 stable split the difference is ambiguous. Whenever Sd
is confronted with an ambiguity, it chooses the option that nests concepts least deeply.
A single application of the 1/2 stable concept is less deep (simpler) than
an application of the 1/2 concept followed by an application of the
stable concept, so it chooses the former. If you really want to tell
the program to do the latter, you must make clear that you mean the 1/2
concept by itself. The way to do this is to enter each concept separately, pressing
ENTER
after each one. That is, type
boys ENTER 1/2 ENTER stable ENTER split the difference ENTER
When using the mouse with Sd, you must click on exactly the
concepts that you want. To get the boys concept, you must click on
<ANYONE> and then make the appropriate selection.
To get the 1/2 concept, you must click on
<N>/<N> and then make the appropriate selections.
If you want the 1/2 stable concept instead, click on <N/4> stable,
and then select 2.
When Sd resolves an ambiguity, it shows how it did so through
the judicious use of commas. For example, the preceding operation will
be printed as
boys, 1/2, stable, split the difference, as opposed to
boys, 1/2 stable, split the difference. Do not type the commas in.
Whenever you run into trouble typing concepts, try typing each one separately, pressing ENTER after each one.
The concepts twice, <N> times, and 1-<N>/<N> will be displayed
and printed after the call rather than before it, unless doing so would be
ambiguous. You still type the concept before the call. For example,
you type 1-1/2 swing thru. The result will appear as swing thru 1-1/2.
The program will sometimes use parentheses to prevent ambiguity.
Some concepts require two calls (e.g., checkpoint and interlace).
You must enter such concepts by themselves. That is, you must press
ENTER
after typing any of these concepts. You can't type
checkpoint ah so by recycle ENTER
nor
boys trade (while the others) u-turn back ENTER
You must type
checkpoint ENTER ah so ENTER recycle ENTER
or
boys (while the others) ENTER trade ENTER u-turn back ENTER
After choosing such a concept, enter the first call, preceded by whatever concepts apply to it. The program will then prompt you for the second call. A complex tree of concepts and calls can thus be constructed.
Some concepts require a numeric designator (e.g., interrupt after the 3rd
part) or a people designator (e.g., girls are stable). The handling
is the same as for calls that require these.
The program recognizes the level at which concepts are legal, but lets you
override this if you wish. The toggle concept levels command toggles
(turns on or off) the state of off-level concept permission.
See section Changing Modes, and section Using Off-Level Concepts.
When you select any concept, the universal call menu replaces whatever special call menu may have been presented, since the set of legal calls becomes highly unpredictable.
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