BrainMaker, a neural network simulation program, has been introduced by California Scientific Software. BrainMaker is a system for designing, building, training, testing, and running neural networks.
Using BrainMaker, users can build networks that do optical character recognition, speech synthesis, and control systems applications. Programmers can also use BrainMaker to investigate research topics such as speech recognition and artificial vision.
BrainMaker runs at up to 500,000 neural connections per second and has I/O facilities for visual or symbolic data manipulation. Menu-driven with color and mouse support, BrainMaker comes with sample neural networks including optical character recognition, speech synthesis, image recognition, image enhancement, and Tic-Tac-Toe.
This product, which sells for $99.95, requires an IBM PC or compatible with 256K memory, a monochrome or color display, and PC-DOS or MS-DOS 3.0 or later. Reader Service No. 20.
California Scientific Software 160 E Montecito Ave., #E Sierra Madre, CA 91024 818-355-1094
Cognitive Software has released two products: Cognitron, Version 1.1, a neural network development tool; and Cognitron Prime 1.0 for use with INMOS T800 transputers. These products are development environments for creating networks of processing units and connections. According to Cognitive Software, neural networks developed on the Cognitron can solve problems such as forms of diagnosis, problems in economics, project planning, best choice, financial analysis, and forecasting.
Features of these products include simulated parallel processing, graphical 3-D modeling window with networking tools, editing window for programming the processing units and weights between units, supporting windows and dialogues, Lisp subset for use in programming units and weights, graphical user interface, and simulation engine.
The Cognitron 1.1 is designed to run on the Macintosh Plus, Macintosh SE, and Macintosh II. Cognitron 1.1 sells for $600, and Cognitron Prime 1.0 is priced at $1,800. Educational discounts and group pricing are available. Reader Service No. 21.
Cognitive Software Inc. 703 E 30th St., Ste. 7 Indianapolis, IN 46205 317-924-9988Software Artistry has released PC Expert, a system development environment for Microsoft C, Turbo C, JPI Modula-2, and Logitech Modula-2 compilers. The name of the product has been changed from Turbo Expert, the original version that supported only Turbo Pascal 4.0. PC Expert consists of a library module containing an inference engine that can be embedded in applications developed with one of the supported compilers.
According to Software Artistry, the inference engine takes up less than 64K of code space yet offers features such as backward chaining, demons, agendas, non-monotonic reasoning, tracing, data and time arithmetic, and communication between the inference engine and the other parts of the program in which it is embedded. Facilities are included to interrupt a consultation when a value is needed, return control to the host program to obtain that value, and then resume the consultation.
Software Artistry also offers a graphics package that can be used to create a graphical front-end for expert systems or other projects. The graphics package includes a memory-resident program that can be used to capture images created with commercial paint programs and then display them during a consultation. The package also includes routines to animate images, display graphical gauges and dials, and add on mouse support.
PC Expert and the add on graphics package are $99.95 each. Reader Service No. 22.
Software Artistry 3500 DePauw Blvd., Ste. 2021 Indianapolis, IN 46268 317-876-3042
C-DOC, a collection of tools that analyze and document C programs, has been introduced by Software Blacksmiths. C-DOC modifies programs to include both caller/called hierarchy documentation and global/local/parameter identifier documentation in each procedure header.
The product also displays caller/ called hierarchy tree diagrams showing interaction of procedures, produces table of contents files versus procedures, documents both procedure and system usage of local/global identifiers, produces both summary and detailed documentation, modifies programs (adjusts indentation) to reflect their logic/control structure (and optionally adjusts comment alignment), and lists programs with optional graphic action diagrams of logic structure.
C-DOC requires an IBM PC or compatible; PC/MS-DOS, Version 2.x or 3.x, 256K memory minimum (640K recommended); and independent of the C compiler used. C-DOC, which includes four programs, sells for $99. Reader Service No. 23.
Software Blacksmiths Inc. 6064 St. Ives Way Mississauga, Ont. Canada L5N 4Ml 416-858-4466Edward K. Ream has begun shipping Sherlock, a productivity tool that works to trace, debug, and profile C programs. Sherlock consists of C language macros and support routines called by these macros. The macros are inserted with a separate tool (included with Sherlock), and the macros contain tracing and debugging code that lies dormant until enabled during the execution of the program.
Sherlock can be used during coding, testing, and maintenance phases of programming and will work with Microsoft, Turbo C, or any full C compiler. Programs containing Sherlock macros may also be debugged using traditional debuggers. Sherlock can also be used with C++ compilers that produce C language output.
Sherlock, which sells for $195, counts how many times each macro is encountered and measures the time spent in functions. It comes with three utility programs: The SPP program inserts macros into a file, the SDEL program removes all Sherlock macros from a file, and the SDIF compares a file containing Sherlock macros to a file without them. Reader Service No. 24.
Edward K. Ream 1617 Monroe St. Madison, WI 53711 800-922-4763SLR Systems has added a linker and debugger to the OPT group of development tools. OPTLINK is a program linker that works with modules in Intel OMF format (.OBJ files), including those generated by the standard SLR IBM as well as Microsoft assemblers and compilers. OPTDEBUG is a source level debugger that provides the programmer with eight display types. These two products are priced at $125 each.
Another new product is OPTLIB/2, an object module librarian that can create and maintain master indexed files or libraries in the OS/2 environment. OPTLINK/R works in the protected mode of OS/2 and generates real mode .EXE files.
SLR Systems has also announced an update to its macro assembler, OPTASM. The new version, 1.6, adds two new utilities: OLINK and ODEBUG. OPTASM, Version 1.6, sells for $125. Reader Service No. 25.
SLR Systems 1622 N Main St. Butler, PA 16001 412-282-0864
The BRAIN simulator, announced by Abbot, Foster & Hauserman for IBM PCs, simulates a neural circuit array on MS-DOS. By emulating a small section of a human brain, the program gives users an understanding of how neuron circuitry works.
Included with the program are several examples of the types of circuitry that can be created with the neural model, including simple switching, memory, and pattern-recognition circuitry. An accompanying booklet explains the operation of biological neurons and describes how they are emulated by the program.
The BRAIN Simulator implements an array of 1,200 neurons using a digital model of the human brain neuron developed by the Neural Network Laboratory. A network of neurons is represented on the CRT; when a neuron fires, its CRT location flashes.
Users can modify the sample networks or define new ones. Using a mouse to indicate a particular neuron, users can display the existing synaptic connections and add or delete new ones. Neurons can be forced to fire the established initial conditions or emulate the input of a visual image. This software is available for $99. Reader Service No. 26.
Abbot, Foster & Hauserman Co. 44 Montgomery St., 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94101 415-955-2711 800-562-0025
Turbo Plus 5.5 for Turbo Pascal 5.0 is now available from Nostradamus. Turbo Plus is a professional development package for Turbo Pascal programmers. One of its new features is display mapping, which allows the user to create entry screens with multiple fields using direct memory-mapping techniques.
The display-mapping procedures include features for I/O control; edit masks, field highlighting with color bars, and insert/overwrite modes; delete key; arrow keys; and home and end keys. I/0 mapping supports all Turbo Pascal data types including extended floating-point numbers. Numeric I/0 fields can be handled as decimal, hexadecimal, or scientific notation format. Version 5.5 also has display map user intervention routines that gain control on every key pressed for user control of exit keys, cursor positioning, keyboard redirection, and keyboard status.
Screen Genie, the screen painter included with Turbo Plus, has been upgraded to include support for screen, window, and menu libraries. Library support is also available to programmers as part of the programming tools.
Turbo Genie --the included source code generator for compiling screens, windows, and menus into the .EXE file--has been upgraded to support libraries. In addition, painted screens, windows, and menus can now be used in bit mapped graphics CGA, EGA, and VGA modes, as well as text modes.
Over 70 new routines have been added to the Turbo Plus package, including new graphics routines for saving and loading .PCX and .PCC files. Turbo Plus 5.5 sells for $149.95; current users of Turbo Plus 5.0 can upgrade for $50. Reader Service No. 27.
Nostradamus Inc. 3191 S Valley St., Ste. 252 Salt Lake City, UT 84109 801-487-9662Logical Systems has released the Transputer Toolset, which provides a C and assembly language development environment for the INMOS transputer family. It works with a single transputer or a transputer network.
The toolset provides optimization facilities and conformance to the ANSI C standard. In addition to supporting features specific to the various models of transputers, the product is provided in source code format.
The toolset facilitates C code generation for programmers developing parallel and embedded system applications. The transputer, a 32-bit parallel processing chip, has been implemented in products such as image systems, computer graphics, industrial control, robotics, workstation and PC accelerator boards, and supercomputers.
The toolset includes a C compiler, assembler, linker, librarian, and both a single processor and network loader. The compiler supports in-line assembly language and optionally generates in-line code for the C functions that map into the transputer instruction set. The compiler can generate code for the 64-bit/32-bit ANSI floating point model or 32-bit only floating-point (or a mixture).
The toolset is portable across MS- DOS, Apple Mac II (under both MPW and LSC), and SYS5/BSD4.3 Unix systems, including Apollo, Sun, and DEC. The C library contains both transputer runtime routines and host interface facilities. Host I/O is provided by three standard servers, which handle file and system I/O.
The $995 price includes six months of support and updates. Reader Service No. 29.
Logical Systems P.O. Box 1702 Corvallis, OR 97339 503-753-9051Cobalt Blue has announced the release of a Xenix version of FOR_C, a Fortran to C translator running under MS-DOS. FOR_C converts standard Fortran-77 into ANSI C, and MILSPEC extensions are supported.
FOR_C, Version 2.1, incorporates improvements to I/O translations; for example, list directed WRITEs are translated to fprintfs and unformatted I/0 is translated to fprtunf and fscanunf, unformatted equivalents to their C counterparts. Do loops are reduced, and function arguments are checked for consistent usage and can be passed either by value or by address.
With C runtime source, FOR_C is priced at $750; with binary runtime (for Turbo C or Microsoft C), the price is $550. The new Xenix version, with runtime source for both ANSI C and Unix System V, is priced at $975. Both packages include six months technical support and free upgrades. Reader Service No. 30.
Cobalt Blue 2940 Union Ave., Ste. C San Jose, CA 95124 408-723-0474The release of REM86, a remote target debugger for the Future86 language, has been announced by Development Associates. The REM86 extension completes the Future86 development environment, and it works in both hosted or targeted environments for 8Ox8x CPU and related CPU families.
REM86 consists of a target monitor (written in Future86) that is less than 2K bytes. The remaining part of REM86 is the host control program that is functionally similar (but extended) to FDT86, the Future86 host debugger.
This product supports a patching assembler, file loading, disassembler, immediate execution assembler, high-level definition creation/execution, single stepping, breakpoints, and symbolic debugging and control.
REM86 is supplied with sample monitor driver source code for both the NEC V25 DDK and the Vesta Technologies Micro 88 boards. Also included is sample application source code. Selling for $479, REM86 requires Future86. Reader Service No. 31.
Development Associates 1520 S Lyon St. Santa Ana, CA 92705 714-835-9512Apex Software has released the Apex Database Library (ADL), a library of functions enabling C programmers to create, access, and update dBase files. ADL features include the ability to access the database at either the field or record level, automatic updating of index files, and a tunable caching algorithm.
With ADL, programmers can retrieve one field from the database record or access the record reformatted into a standard C structure. ADL includes a dBase expression parser for index file support, which allows automatic access to database records based on the key expression of the current index file (with a maximum of nine index files open per database). If database records are updates, the parser evaluates and updates the key expression for all open index files.
ADL's extension parser is provided in three different versions. Support is provided for Microsoft C compilers, Version 4.0 and later, and Turbo C compilers, Version 1.5 and later. System requirements are PC, AT, PS/2, or compatible. The system also must have a minimum of 128K RAM and MS-DOS or PC-DOS, Version 2.0 or later. A hard disk is recommended.
ADL is priced at $395 without source code or $795 with source code. Prices include support and updates for 90 days. Reader Service No. 32.
Apex Software Corp. 4516 Henry St., Ste. 308 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3785 412-681-4343SOFTGRAF, Version 5.0, has been released by Sunrise-Littleton. SOFTGRAF is a menu-driven TSR software driver that "fools" a monochrome PC, allowing it to run CGA color graphics programs and games, without use of a color card or monitor. It does this by setting the system's flags for a CGA environment, intercepting graphics signals sent to the video buffer, and translating video formats so that the monochrome pixel coordinates that of a CGA color system. Colors appear as tones of amber or green.
SOFTGRAF operates from its own startup menu. Other software features include running programs in large 40 character text mode, an AFC feature, and the ability for the user to adjust the screen refresh rate interval from 16 to 1,024 times per second.
The upgraded version commits about 12K of RAM, and it senses to determine if color graphics commands are being sent to the video buffer. If a color-oriented program is detected, SOFTGRAF switches to CGA resolution and then reverts back to the higher Hercules monochrome resolution as soon as the application requiring color is terminated.
SOFTGRAF supports most commercial and public domain software and operates in Hercules compatible or EGA environments. Systems such as a Tandy 1000 and leading edge models are also supported.
Not copy protected, SOFTGRAF sells for $34.95. Reader Service No. 33.
Sunrise-Littleton Technology Corp. 15200 Shady Grove Rd. Rockville, MD 20850 301-963-0341
Copyright © 1989, Dr. Dobb's Journal