Counting since 9.11.2005 <http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~ts/garbinfo/garb3010.html> Copyright © 1996-2010 by Prof. Timo Salmi Last modified Wed 21-Jul-2010 19:58:01

Could I have your Turbo Pascal program's source?

It is very nice of you to find my programs interesting enough to ask for their sources. Even if the answer is no, I hope that you will find the tips below of use in solving your programming problem.

My programs' source code? Sorry. No way. I never reveal my sources :-). But seriously. If it is Turbo Pascal sources and tricks in general that you would like to have, take a look at the extensive Turbo Pascal textbook references in tsfaqp.zip. There is a veritable gold mine of useful material in those books. Besides tsfaqp.zip itself contains a lot of useful, carefully explained and documented source code. Furthermore, there is much useful source code e.g. in Garbo's /pc/turbopas/ directory like bonus507.zip, ifp1s158.zip, and the huge SWAG collection. You can see from the index file 0turbopa.zip what files the packages in that directory contain. For further links outside Garbo archives see http2.html#programming . And don't forget the demos that come with the Turbo Pascal compiler on the distribution disks.

Besides, the sources of my programs would not be as useful as you might think. Although my programs are outwardly in English, all the variables and routine names, and the program comments are in Finnish. Furthermore, the code would not necessarily be even very instructive, since when not written for public consumption, no specific attention has been paid to ensure easy understanding. I am not about to release in public half-cooked source code that I have not prepared for distribution.
 
I am also interested in your email password system  and your procmail recipes . Could you please send me your own procmail filter rules file, so I could learn and adapt from it.
 
Sorry, the answer is the same. Please make do with that publicly available material. The contents of my private filter-rules files are strictly that. Private!

Please do not be offended, but such requests are unreasonable. If I consented to process and send my own and other material from Garbo archives on a personal basis I soon would have time for little else. The same goes for personal requests of programming advice. In fact, my most downloaded package tsfaqp.zip "Frequently Asked Turbo Pascal Questions and Timo's Answers" specifically states: "Comments and corrections are solicited. But if you wish to have individual Turbo Pascal consultation, please post your questions to a suitable Usenet newsgroup like comp.lang.pascal.borland. It is much more efficient than asking me by email. I'd like to help, but I am very pressed for time. I prefer to pick the questions I answer from the Usenet news. Thus I can answer publicly at one go if I happen to have an answer. Besides, newsgroups have a number of readers who might know a better or an alternative answer. Don't be discouraged, though, if you get a reply like this from me. I am always glad to hear from fellow Turbo Pascal users."

Sigh. Some people can't graciously take a no for an answer. Disappointment I can understand, but first asking for a favor and then attacking! This fortunately happens very rarely, but some users actually become hostile and even outright abusive after I have refused to serve them individually.
Pressuring me will not get anyone anywhere. If this tone continues, I will have to block the offending access to me. Besides, try to understand. I have released a lot of code on the Internet for the benefit to the readers. That material is readily available. But I am not going to do customized extracting and processing or sending of code that I have not first properly prepared for public consumption. If one wants commercial level service and consultation, one should find and pay someone who is willing to do that instead of minimizing what I already am doing. Even if I try to provide useful material on the net in a friendly manner, I refuse to be abused.