.he 'HELP''Page %'
.fo 'Aaron Sloman'- % -'14th Dec, 1977'
.ce2
THE HELP FACILITY
-----------------

The macro HELP is designed to enable users to ask the POP11 system
for information about the meaning of a "mishap" (error) message, or about a
function or other variable.

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Expanded error messages
POP11 error messages are very brief, for example:
 	MISHAP 12 MISSING SEPARATOR

This is fine when you have already had some experience with the
type of error in question. However, you may prefer a longer
explanation when the error is a new one to you.

Commands are of the form:

 	: HELP
<number>

To get a full explanation of the type of error corresponding
to the <number>. So if you get the message

 	MISHAP 11 UNEXPECTED (OR MISSING) CLOSING BRACKET

then type

 	: HELP 11

to get a more complete explanation.

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Information about functions and variables

You can also get information about system or library functions,
sometimes. For example
 	: HELP TL
.br
will print out information about the function TL.
.br
The general format is
 	: HELP <word>
.br
which will cause the macro to find out if there is a demos file on
the word, and if so print it out. Otherwise it gives as much information
as it can about the syntactic properties of the word, and informs you
whether it is defined in the POP11 library or not.
