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| 7 | <title>Logtalk Glossary</title> |
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| 12 | |
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| 13 | <hr /> |
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| 14 | <h1><a class="back" title="Return to index" href="index.html#glossary">Glossary</a></h1> |
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| 15 | <hr /> |
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| 16 | |
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| 17 | <dl> |
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| 18 | |
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| 19 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="ancestor">ancestor</a></dt> |
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| 20 | <dd>A class or parent that contributes (via inheritance) to the definition of an object. The ancestors of an object are its class and all the superclasses of its class (in class-based hierarchies) or its parent and the ancestors of its parent (in prototype-based hierarchies).</dd> |
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| 21 | |
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| 22 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="category">category</a></dt> |
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| 23 | <dd>A set of predicates directives and clauses that can be imported by any object.</dd> |
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| 24 | |
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| 25 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="class">class</a></dt> |
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| 26 | <dd>An object that defines the common predicates of a set of objects (its instances).</dd> |
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| 27 | |
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| 28 | <dd><dl> |
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| 29 | |
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| 30 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="abstractclass">abstract class</a></dt> |
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| 31 | <dd>A class that can not be instantiated. Usually used to store common predicates that are inherited by other classes.</dd> |
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| 32 | |
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| 33 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="metaclass">metaclass</a></dt> |
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| 34 | <dd>The class of a class, when we see it as an object. Metaclass instances are themselves classes. In a reflexive system any metaclass is also an object.</dd> |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="subclass">subclass</a></dt> |
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| 37 | <dd>A class that is a specialization, direct or indirectly, of another class.</dd> |
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| 38 | |
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| 39 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="superclass">superclass</a></dt> |
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| 40 | <dd>A class from each another class is a specialization (direct or indirectly, via another class).</dd> |
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| 41 | |
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| 42 | </dl></dd> |
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| 43 | |
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| 44 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="directive">directive</a></dt> |
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| 45 | <dd>A Prolog term that affects the interpretation of Prolog code. Directives are represented using the <code>:-/1</code> prefix functor.</dd> |
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| 46 | |
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| 47 | <dd><dl> |
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| 48 | |
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| 49 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="entity_directive">entity directive</a></dt> |
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| 50 | <dd>A directive that affects how Logtalk entities (objects, protocols, or categories) are used or compiled.</dd> |
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| 51 | |
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| 52 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="predicate_directive">predicate directive</a></dt> |
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| 53 | <dd>A directive that affects how predicates are called or compiled.</dd> |
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| 54 | |
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| 55 | </dl></dd> |
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| 56 | |
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| 57 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="encapsulation">encapsulation</a></dt> |
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| 58 | <dd>The hiding of an object implementation. This promotes software reuse by isolating users from implementation details.</dd> |
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| 59 | |
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| 60 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="entity">entity</a></dt> |
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| 61 | <dd>Generic name for Logtalk compilation units: objects, categories and protocols.</dd> |
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| 62 | |
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| 63 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="event">event</a></dt> |
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| 64 | <dd>The sending of a message to an object. An event can be expressed as an ordered tuple: <code>(Event, Object, Message, Sender)</code>. Logtalk distinguish between the sending of a message - <code>before</code> event - and the return of control to the sender - <code>after</code> event.</dd> |
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| 65 | |
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| 66 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="identity">identity</a></dt> |
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| 67 | <dd>Property of an entity that distinguish it from every other entity. In Logtalk an entity identity can be an atom or a compound term. All Logtalk entities, objects, protocols and categories share the same name space.</dd> |
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| 68 | |
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| 69 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="inheritance">inheritance</a></dt> |
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| 70 | <dd>An object inherits predicate directives and clauses from other objects that it extends or specializes. If an object extends other object then we have a prototype-based inheritance. If an object specializes or instantiates another object we have a class-based inheritance.</dd> |
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| 71 | |
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| 72 | <dd><dl> |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="private_inheritance">private inheritance</a></dt> |
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| 75 | <dd>All public and protected predicates are inherited as private predicates.</dd> |
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| 76 | |
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| 77 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="protected_inheritance">protected inheritance</a></dt> |
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| 78 | <dd>All public predicates are inherited as protected. No change for protected or private predicates.</dd> |
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| 79 | |
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| 80 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="public_inheritance">public inheritance</a></dt> |
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| 81 | <dd>All inherited predicates maintain the declared scope.</dd> |
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| 82 | |
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| 83 | </dl></dd> |
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| 84 | |
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| 85 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="instance">instance</a></dt> |
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| 86 | <dd>The same as object. This term is used when we want to emphasize that an object characteristics are defined by another object (its class).</dd> |
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| 87 | |
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| 88 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="instantiation">instantiation</a></dt> |
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| 89 | <dd>The process of creating a new class instance.</dd> |
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| 90 | |
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| 91 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="message">message</a></dt> |
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| 92 | <dd>A request for a service, sent to an object. In more logical terms, a message can be seen as a request for proof construction using an object's predicates.</dd> |
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| 93 | |
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| 94 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="metainterpreter">metainterpreter</a></dt> |
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| 95 | <dd>A program capable of running and modifying other programs written in the same language.</dd> |
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| 96 | |
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| 97 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="method">method</a></dt> |
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| 98 | <dd>Set of predicate clauses used to answer a message sent to an object. Logtalk uses dynamic binding to find which method to run to answer a message.</dd> |
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| 99 | |
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| 100 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="monitor">monitor</a></dt> |
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| 101 | <dd>Any object that is notified when a spied event occurs. The spied events can be set by the monitor or by any other object.</dd> |
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| 102 | |
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| 103 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="object">object</a></dt> |
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| 104 | <dd>An entity characterized by an identity and a set of predicate directives and clauses. In Logtalk objects can be either static or dynamic, like any other Prolog code.</dd> |
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| 105 | |
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| 106 | <dd><dl> |
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| 107 | |
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| 108 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="parametric">parametric object</a></dt> |
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| 109 | <dd>An object whose name is a compound term containing free variables that can be used to parameterize the object predicates.</dd> |
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| 110 | |
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| 111 | </dl></dd> |
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| 112 | |
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| 113 | |
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| 114 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="parent">parent</a></dt> |
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| 115 | <dd>An object that is extended by another object.</dd> |
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| 116 | |
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| 117 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="predicate">predicate</a></dt> |
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| 118 | <dd>Predicates describe what is true about the application domain. A predicate is identified by its name and number of arguments using the notation <CODE><name>/<nargs></CODE>.</dd> |
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| 119 | |
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| 120 | <dd><dl> |
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| 121 | |
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| 122 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="local_predicate">local predicate</a></dt> |
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| 123 | <dd>A predicate that is defined in an object (or in a category) but that is not listed in a scope directive. These predicates behave like private predicates but are invisible to the reflection methods.</dd> |
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| 124 | |
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| 125 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="metapredicate">metapredicate</a></dt> |
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| 126 | <dd>A predicate where one of its arguments will be called as a goal. For instance, <code>findall/3</code> and <code>call/1</code> are Prolog built-ins metapredicates.</dd> |
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| 127 | |
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| 128 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="private_predicate">private predicate</a></dt> |
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| 129 | <dd>A predicate that can only be called from the object that contains the scope directive.</dd> |
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| 130 | |
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| 131 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="protected_predicate">protected predicate</a></dt> |
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| 132 | <dd>A predicate that can only be called from the object containing the scope directive or from an object that inherits the predicate.</dd> |
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| 133 | |
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| 134 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="public_predicate">public predicate</a></dt> |
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| 135 | <dd>A predicate that can be called from any object.</dd> |
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| 136 | |
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| 137 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="visible_predicate">visible predicate</a></dt> |
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| 138 | <dd>A predicate that is declared for an object, a built-in method, or a Prolog or Logtalk built-in predicate.</dd> |
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| 139 | |
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| 140 | </dl></dd> |
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| 141 | |
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| 142 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="profiler">profiler</a></dt> |
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| 143 | <dd>A program that collects data about other program performance.</dd> |
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| 144 | |
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| 145 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="protocol">protocol</a></dt> |
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| 146 | <dd>A set of predicates directives that can be implemented by an object or a category (or extended by another protocol).</dd> |
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| 147 | |
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| 148 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="protocol">prototype</a></dt> |
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| 149 | <dd>A self-describing object that may extend or be extended by other objects.</dd> |
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| 150 | |
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| 151 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="self">self</a></dt> |
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| 152 | <dd>The original object that received the message under execution.</dd> |
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| 153 | |
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| 154 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="sender">sender</a></dt> |
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| 155 | <dd>An object that sends a message to other object.</dd> |
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| 156 | |
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| 157 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="specialization">specialization</a></dt> |
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| 158 | <dd>A class is specialized by constructing a new class that inherit its predicates and possibly add new ones.</dd> |
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| 159 | |
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| 160 | <dt class="glossary"><a name="this">this</a></dt> |
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| 161 | <dd>The object that contains the predicate clause under execution.</dd> |
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| 162 | |
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| 163 | </dl> |
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| 164 | |
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| 165 | <hr /> |
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| 166 | <p class="center"> |
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| 167 | <strong><a href="userman/index.html">User manual</a> | <a href="refman/index.html">Reference manual</a> | <a href="bibliography.html">Bibliography</a></strong> |
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| 168 | </p> |
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| 169 | <p class="center"> |
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| 170 | Last updated on: February 10, 2001 |
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| 171 | </p> |
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| 172 | <hr /> |
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| 173 | |
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| 174 | </body> |
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