Date   : Tue, 05 Jan 1988 08:41:00
From   : binder%fizbin.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (That's not just *any* racket, it's Brahms' Third Racket.)
Subject: Re: Question

From: D'haese Gratien (DHAESE%BANUIA51.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU).

>         My problem is how eliminating the "include error message (Y/N)"
> when Turbo Pascal is being executed and second how preventing Turbo
> Pascal making a BAK (backup) file ? Can this be done with some patches
> with DDT ?
>         I've got the same problem with Wordstar 3.01P (eliminating BAK).

There was a patch sent around years ago to eliminate the "Include error
messages" prompt.  Sorry, I didn't save it.

Turbo and WordStar do not create .BAK files, so it's *really* tough to get
them not to do so.  In both of these products, the .BAK file is the
previous version of the file you're working on.  When you edit a file with
Turbo, the entire file is pulled into memory.  When you write it out Turbo
renames the old .PAS file to be .BAK.  WordStar does things a little
differently:  As you edit a file, pieces of it are shuffled between the
workspace in memory and a temporary file named <filename>.$$$.  When you
finishe editing, WordStar writes everything out to a new file, deletes the
temporary file, and renames the old file to be .BAK.

I'd guess that you must never have had a system crash while editing with
either Turbo or WordStar, or made a really *bad* mistake in editing that
you wish you could fix back easily.  If you had, you'd be *glad* to have
the backup files around!  I had an Apple ][+ with a SoftCard for a couple
of years, and I have an Apple //e with a PCPI Applicard now; and even with
the tiny 128Kbyte capacity of Apple floppies, it's worth the safety.

Cheers,
Dick Binder   (The Stainless Steel Rat)

DEC Easynet:   FIZBIN::BINDER
uucp:          { decvax, allegra, ucbvax... }!decwrl!fizbin.dec.com!binder
Internet:      binder%fizbin.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM