"Country" is designed to allow easy numeric comparisons 
between the features of a number of countries. This 
includes currencies, size, population and income figures 
for over 60 countries.



How to install it:

Copy the file Country.OPL to any OPL directory and the file 
Country.DBF to a DAT directory. Open the OPL file (using 
the Program key) and use Psion-T to translate it. 
Subsequently you need only keep the OPO and DAT files on 
your Organizer.



Conditions of use:

Country is Shareware; you can use it and distribute it as 
much as you like, provided the credits are kept. You are 
not permitted to sell it without my written permission. All 
I ask if you like it is to send me a picture postcard of 
somewhere need your home with a few words about yourself! 
For a little money I will keep the currencies up to date 
and supply you with any improvements - see below.



How to use it:

The basic mechanism is for exchange rates. When start it 
presents a dialogue looking like this:

	Calculator	<-Currency->
	UK @29/3/92 £ 		0.80
	France @10/3/93 FF		6.60
	Germany @10/3/93 DM		1.94
	Belgium @10/3/93 BEF	39.98
	USA @29/3/93  $		1.19
	Change any item and hit    <Enter>

Country basically acts like a generalised spreadsheet. If you 
change any of the currency values (use the arrow keys to get to 
the right line, type the new value and then Enter), all the others 
are adjusted to suit. So itÕs easy to convert in either direction 
and to make comparisons with your home country at the same time. 
The dates after the currency name are to remind you when you last 
updated them. (There ainÕt no magic!) The initial values reflect 
the built-in currency, which is, as distributed, ECUs, the would-
be currency of the European Community, which is rather more stable 
than pounds or dollars with respect to most others.
Do remember however that you always drop a few percent when 
changing money! ThereÕs no built-in allowance for that.

To quit the program simply hit the Escape key.

You may not like the comparison countries. ThatÕs what the 
ÒCountriesÓ option is for. If you select it you get the 
following dialogue:

	Change any country name   abbreviations are ok
	Country 1		UK
	Country 2		France
	Country 3		Germany
	Country 4 	Belgium
	Country 5		USA
	When finished hit <Enter>

You might move to Country 4 and type ÒLuxÓ to get 
Luxembourg, and change other lines to other countries. When 
you hit <Enter> it will return to the comparison you were 
making, with these countries substituted.
If the new countries you type match those in the database, 
then they are replaced for the rest of the session or until 
you take this option again. Next time you start the 
program, youÕll get the original set. If you want others 
permanently, then simply change the assignments in the 
first procedure of the OPL file.

The top line allows a number of other options. These are:
   Size, Population, Pop Density,  Income, GDP
Suppose you select Area. You get the following display:

	  Calculator		<-Size->
	UK 244,000 km2		100%
	France 549,000 km2		225%
	Germany 357,000 km2		146%
	Luxembourg 3,000 km2	1%
	USA 9363,000 km2		3837%
	  Change any item and hit 	<Enter>

In other words, France is 2 1/4 times larger than UK but 
Luxembourg is only 1% of UK. Just the sort of trivia thatÕs 
fun when travelling! 
Pop Density gives the number of people per square 
kilometre, Income is the average GDP per head, expressed in 
US dollars, and GDP is the total income for the country - 
the gross domestic product.



Updating the database:

The database uses the standard Psion 3 format for 
databases, so you can easily add and update the values as 
long as the formats are respected. However the database 
file must not be open simultaneously with running the 
program: quit one before running the other.

A typical entry looks like this:

	Country:	Australia
	1ECU=:	1.708 @24/2/93 A$
	GDP/hd:	17740 $ in 1990
	Area:	7686 k km2, 6% cult.
	PopulÕn:	17 m Canberra: 286,000
	LangÕge:	English

The format of the entries in the data file should be 
adhered to strictly. Field 1 contains only the name. Fields 
2 to 5 must start with a number followed by a space. The 
rest of line 2 (or as much as possible) is printed out 
after the country name for exchange rates (giving the  date 
to which the information refers and currency name), but the 
text in the remaining lines is ignored and can be filled 
with any other information you want. Details are as 
follows:

1: country name: don't delete the entries for the initially 
named countries!
2: exchange rate: calculated in terms of the ECU as most 
currencies are stabler compared with this (I changed it 
from the pound when we left the ERM). Newspapers which 
print cross-currency tables (e.g. FT, Observer, IHT) 
usually include it these days. Make sure to get values the 
right way round. If you want to use another currency as 
base, you simply have to scale all the values and change 
the label. The date is there to remind you to update it!
3: GDP/hd: i.e. the average income. These figures are in 
US$ using raw exchange rates at the time. It would be 
better to use buying equivalents to calculate these but I 
didn't have the figures available. They are mostly taken 
from a French yearbook. GDP is the Gross Domestic Product, 
which doesnÕt include things like overseas investments.
4: Area: in thousands of square km.
5: Population: in millions, with capital city and size of 
capital.
6: has languages used, but these aren't numeric!



Shareware information:

1. If you like the program, please send me a postcard of 
somewhere near your home and tell me a little about 
yourself. My address is:
	Chris Moss,
	4 Larkfield Rd,
	Richmond,
	U.K.,  TW9 2PF

Now that's not too painful. Why not do it today?

2. If you want updates to the currencies in the database 
(and corrections to any problems) I'm prepared to send you 
an update once every 3 months, for a year, if you send me 
the equivalent of 10 pounds sterling or 15 US dollars (no 
other currencies, please) and give me your email address. 
Other arrangements by negotiation. I'll even add your 
favourite small countries which aren't there.

My email address is cdsm@doc.ic.ac.uk .