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Twenty Years Ago Today: 1988
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Written by Craig
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Saturday, 02 August 2008
I spent most of 1988 implementing the Logos Bible Processor -- the program that would eventually become QuickVerse. This is the first in a series of articles that dredges up some artifacts from those days. I hope to continue this series as the year goes on with more trivia from my very early days of writing Bible software. The earliest design document I have for the program that would become QuickVerse is a description of the binary file format of the Bible file from March 17, 1988. It is reproduced below.
There aren't any secrets given away in this document. It's for a version of QuickVerse before it was QuickVerse and doesn't exactly match any version of QuickVerse that ever shipped.
Packed Bible File Format
March 17, 1988
COPYRIGHT 1988 CRAIG RAIRDIN
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
0 0 [Strongs #] 0 0 U I C 0 0 0
OPCODE: 00
DEFINITION: Strong's 47
EXPLANATION: This is one of the 47 words that Strong left out of his
concordance. The meaning of the second byte (flags) is defined below.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
0 1 Punct'n B A
OPCODE: 01
DEFINITION: Punctuation
EXPLANATION: Represents a punctuation symbol. The B bit is set when a space is
to be inserted before the punctuation character. The A bit is set when a
space is to be inserted after the punctuation character.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 ... 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
1 0 Word# HIGH Word# LOW 1 0 U I C 0 0 0
OPCODE: 10
DEFINITION: Subsequent occurence in same verse.
EXPLANATION: The word has occurred previously in the same verse. No need to
repeat the link information here. Flags are described below.
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 7 ... 0 7 ... 0 7 ... 0 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
1 1 Word# HIGH Word# LOW Verse# HIGH Verse# LOW Opc U I C 0 0 0
OPCODE: 11
DEFINITION: Normal word occurrence, first in verse.
EXPLANATION: This is the representation for a normal word (first occurrence in
a verse). The Verse# field points at the next verse containing the word.
The flag bits are explained below.
FLAG BYTE:
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Opc U I C 0 0 0
U bit is set if the first character of this word is to be in Upper case.
I bit is set if this word appears in Italics in the verse.
C bit is set if ALL the letters in this word are UPPER case.
The high order two bits of the flag byte always repeat the opcode. In this
way, the opcode for the previous word can be determined by looking at the top
two bits of the previous byte, regardless of the length of the previous record.
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This ad ran in the September, 1988 edition of Pulpit Helps magazine. It was the first ad for the Logos Bible Processor, the program that would become QuickVerse. (Note the address and phone numbers are no longer valid.)
Finally, this was my business card at the time. Creative Computer Systems was actually a company I formed with two other Rockwell employees to create a high-tech shape analysis program for a couple of physics professors at the University of Iowa. By the time Logos came along we were done with that project. Using the company name for my Bible program saved me the trouble of forming a new corporation.
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Saturday, 02 August 2008 ) |
