ADULATE.EXE - the program that panders to your ego!

    Author .... : Larry T Cobb

    Created ... : 13:48 Fri 10 Mar 1989
    Last Update : 5/24/89 at 14:35:00
    Release ... : 1.8


    Executive Summary

    In this rat-race of a world it good to have someone (or even something)
    that you can rely on for a bit of obsequious grovelling.  So, if you
    haven't got any sycophantic minions, you can use this program to force
    your poor, unsuspecting PC to bolster your ego.  Call it from your
    AUTOEXEC.BAT for a cringing start to the day's computing, or type
    "ADULATE 20" for a boost during a really bad session.  You'll soon be
    on top of the world again!


    Using the Random Adulation Program:

    Words from four lists of adulating words or phrases are combined
    randomly to form a composite adulation.  The C standard random number
    generator is used to select from the lists.  It is seeded differently
    each run using the system time, so each run will produce an
    unpredictable phrase or set of phrases.


    Usage:      ADULATE [-n or /n] [count]

        If the option '-n' or '/n' is present, the phrase begins with the
        word "o" (lower case) and is not terminated with a newline.

        Otherwise it begins with upper case "O" and is terminated with a
        full stop and newline.  (These are the defaults where no '.fmt'
        file is in use - see below.)

    The count value is a decimal number of phrases to be produced.  A
    default count of 1 is used if the count parameter is not present or
    evaluates to zero or a negative number.

    Arbitrary formats can be specified at run time by including them in a
    text file having the name 'adulate.fmt'.  To be used, this must be in
    the current default directory.  Each line of the file represents an
    alternative format for the output phrases.  These are read into two
    lists in memory, one for formats for use in normal mode, and one for
    formats for the '-n' or '/n' option. If these lists have more than one
    entry, a format for each adulation is selected at random from the
    appropriate list.

    If the format file contains no entries for a particular list, the
    default format for that mode is used.  Otherwise the default formats
    are discarded when a format file is in use.


    The format of each line is:

    <format_mode><format_string>

    where  <format_mode> is the single character 'F' or 'f', signifying
    that the format specification is to be used in normal mode or with the
    'n' option respectively.  If <format_mode> is omitted, it is taken to
    be 'F'.

    <format_string> is the wanted format specified as for 'printf'.  The
    special character specifications '\n', '\t', '\b', '\r','\f' and '\\'
    are recognised, (standard C notation).  Single and double quote
    characters may be included without being escaped since they are not
    used to delimit the format string.

    Note:

        1) The format string should contain exactly one '%s' specification
           for each of the component word lists, or else operation is
           undefined. No other field specifiers should be included.

        2) If the <format_mode> letter is omitted, the <format_string>
           should not begin with 'F' or 'f' or else the first letter of the
           string will be taken to be the <format_mode> and stripped from
           the <format_string>.

        3) If the format file is created using a word processor, make sure
           that no formatting characters are left in the file.


    Examples:

        Format: FWhat is your desire, %s %s of the %s %s?\n
        Phrase: What is your desire, unique wonder of the snappy retort?

        Format: Hail, %s %s of the %s %s!\n
        Phrase: Hail, leafy keeper of the mighty East!

        Format: fsalutations, %s %s of the %s %s
        Phrase: salutations, valiant leader of the unfamiliar palindrome
                [N.B. this last phrase would have no terminating newline]






    Copyright Larry T Cobb, 1989
    CompuServe id: 100016,421


    You are free to copy and distribute this program provided that no
    charge, of any kind, is made for it, the disk, or distribution.  Also,
    this file must be included with the program and the whole must be
    distributed unaltered.  Any other arrangement requires the author's
    written permission.


         ----------------end-of-author's-documentation---------------

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