Introduction

To be able to program in GIPSY, it is required that the programmer has a good understanding of how GIPSY is used. Having used GIPSY for some time would be an excellent starting point.

Programming languages

Programming languages supported by GIPSY are Sheltran, Fortran 77 and ANSI C. Sheltran (or S77) is a simple Fortran pre-compiler language which enables the programmer to write structured programs. It is strongly recommended to program in Sheltran instead of programming directly in Fortran.
Programming in C requires more experience, but if this experience is available, C is an excellent language to program in.

The examples in this guide are written in Sheltran.

Compilation

In GIPSY, programs are normally compiled using the program compile. Compile is usually called by the alias ``p'', e.g. the program clean (in Sheltran) is compiled with the command:

    p clean.shl

Compile does then everything which is needed to compile the program into an executable: run the Sheltran pre-compiler, the Fortran compiler, link with the necessary libraries.

Compile recognizes a number of source file types. The type of a source file determines which actions are performed. See compile.doc.

Template task

The GIPSY task CODER allows the user to create task code (in C) which can be used to build a complete application.

Installation

Users who have developed software which can be generally useful, are encouraged to install it in GIPSY or have it installed by the GIPSY manager. A requirement for installing software in GIPSY is that it is properly documented. See documentation.doc.

Not every user can install software in GIPSY directly. To be able to do so, the GIPSY manager must have entered the user's identification in the list of ``licensed'' developers.