THIS UIC CONTAINS SOURCE CODE, OBJECT LIBRARY, AND DOCUMENTATION FOR A
REPLACEMENT FOR THE DEC SORT-11 SORT SUBROUTINE INTERFACE TO BE USED BY
THE DEC FORTRAN PROGRAMMING COMMUNITY.

WHAT THIS SORT IS:

1. A SORT SUBROUTINE INTERFACE SIMILAR TO SORT-11 EXCEPT THAT IT USES FCS
RATHER THAN HIGH-OVERHEAD RMS FOR ITS I/O.

2. A GENERAL PURPOSE SORTING TOOL FOR FORTRAN USERS WHO HAVE SMALL TO MEDIUM
SCALE SORTING REQUIREMENTS. (UP TO, SAY, 100,000 RECORDS)

WHAT THIS SORT IS NOT:

1. A HIGH PERFORMANCE SORTING TOOL. WRITTEN MOSTLY IN FORTRAN (RATFOR) WITH
ONE ASSEMBLY SUBROUTINE, IT IS NOT INTENDED TO COMPETE IN PERFORMANCE
WITH DEC'S SORT-11. TIMING TESTS HAVE SHOWN IT TO AVERAGE ABOUT FIVE
TIMES SLOWER THAN SORT-11, USING AN EQUIVALENT SIZED SORT WORK AREA.

WHY USE THIS SORT, THEN? BECAUSE IT USES FORTRAN FCS I/O, RATHER THAN
RMS. ITS TOTAL ADDITIONAL BURDEN ON A FORTRAN-BASED TASK ALREADY USING
FCS/OTS IS ABOUT 2000 WORDS OF TASK IMAGE SPACE FOR THE CODE, PLUS
WHATEVER SIZE WORK AREA IS SPECIFIED. EXPERIENCE WITH DEC'S (RMS)
SORT-11 SUBROUTINE INTERFACE SHOWS IT TO BE A WONDERFUL TOOL UNLESS,
OF COURSE, YOU HAVE A NEED FOR MORE THAN ABOUT SIX LINES OF APPLICATIONS
CODE TO FIT IN YOUR TASK.


THIS UIC CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING:

SORTS.RAT RATFOR SOURCE FOR THIS SORT
COMP.MAC ASSEMBLY SUBROUTINE USED BY THIS SORT
SORTS.DOC DOCUMENTATION ON THE USE OF THIS SORT
SORTLIB.OLB LIBRARY CONTAINING OBJECT MODULES FOR THIS SORT


GLEN HOFFING
RCA GOV'T COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS
MAIL STOP 10-4-6
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