Visits to this Web Page to date.
The ESSAYS SYSTEM is distributed in a set of Self-extracting ZIP files.
The programs and supportive data structures (other than essay texts) are in the self-extracting file ESSAYSPG.EXE.
Included in ESSAYSPG.EXE is the self-extracting file ESSAYSRG.EXE which contains information pertaining to the user's status as a SHAREWARE user or as a REGISTERED user.
The self-extracting file ESSAUSED.EXE contains data structures which are changed when a user runs the ESSAYS System. The user should not delete ESSAUSED.EXE.
The texts of essays are in the self-extracting files ESSAyear.EXE within files which have names ESSAyymm.TXT where yymm indicates the year and month of the writing of the text in the file. The text is in DOS ASCII form. Within each file the essays have TITLES which start with a percent sign and end with the date of writing --- in the form yymmdd indicating the year, month, and day of the original writing of the text.
When you use the ESSAYS System --- essays are found via keywords in essay the TITLES --- which are collected together in files ESSAYYMM.yy? where yy is the year of writing. If ? is Y, the file is searched. If ? is N, the file is not to be searched. See the NOVICE Menu to mark what years you want included in searches. If you have not down-loaded the text files for given years --- of course the files are not included in the search.
The ESSAYS System has been developed in a virus free environment which is constantly monitered by Norton Anti-Virus software. Only disks sold by reliable suppliers are used by the author. No virus has ever been encountered.
A few hundred college students have made use of the ESSAYS System over the decade of the development of it. Very few students have requested any in person instructions regarding how to use the system. At most a two page hand-out has been provided to prospective users. On two occasions a student has been hired to systematically check the possible commands, looking for "bugs" and "distracting" and "confusing" responses which might appear on screen.
Diligent efforts have been made to anticipate all possible difficulties in the running of the ESSAYS System, but occasionally a problem will be encountered. For example; if a file has been accidentally erased you may receive a message that the file is missing, or when a run error is encountered by the ESSAYS System it may return to a beginning point in the running of the system, without any explanation --- rather than just remain in a "frozen" condition.
Diligent users who want to report a need for editorial changes can, when reading texts of essays, press the F-Key to type in a comment indicating the need for a change. Such a comment should be typed in with the line where a change needs to be made centered vertically on the screen at the pair of arrows on the left and right. Press the H-Key for help on a TEXT Menu for a reminder of this possibility.