SuperSorter
Version 1.0
(C) Copyright 1987
Doctor Debug/Steel City Software

DESCRIPTION
SuperSorter is an intelligent general-purpose sort program which
is an effective replacement for the slow, inadequate DOS SORT
program distributed with IBM DOS. SuperSorter is Intelligent
because it will sort any text file of up to 1,000,000 text lines,
using all of your computer's available memory in doing so.

COMMAND SYNTAX
The syntax for invoking SuperSorter is:
SSORT file1 [file2] [/D] [/Snnn] [/Ennn] [/X]
Where:
file1 is the original file to be sorted
file2 is the optional output filename
(defaults to input name)
/D specifies sort in descending order
(defaults to ascending order)
/Snn Start sort comparison at character position nn
(defaults to 1)
/Enn End sort comparison at character position nn
(defaults to end of record)
/X Extract only the subrange specified by /E /S
to output file.

By specifying a subrange with /S /E it is simple to base
your sort on criteria other than the very first characters in
each record. The /X switch used along with the /S /E allows
simple extraction of a specified subrange.

PERFORMANCE
SuperSorter is very fast, outperforming the DOS SORT program by a
factor of over 3. The time needed to sort about 40,000 records
(over 600K of data) was less than 10 minutes on an AT and under a
half hour on a standard PC. Of course, if you use SSORT on a
floppy the time needed to read and write the temporary files will
increase this total sort time. If you can perform your sorts on a
RAMdisk, the sorting time will go down.

Sorts of files which will fit entirely into available memory will
be much faster; a 90K (5000 record) file took 33 seconds on at
AT; 103 seconds on a PC.

FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS
The following features are being added to SuperSorter. The
enhanced SuperSorter will be sent (at no charge) only to
registered users of SuperSorter V1. To see how you can register,
see the end of this document.















SuperSorter 2.0 will:
- allow line lengths of more than 80 characters
- speed up multi-file sorts by about 10%
- allow the following new switches:
- support fixed length records (i.e. database files)
- support extraction without sorting
- allow multiple subfield sort ranges

There's more, but that should pique your interest.

ADVERTISEMENT
If you use SuperSorter a few times and throw it into the scrap
disk pile, thanks a lot for trying it. If you had any criticisms
or comments, feel free to let me know; perhaps I can improve the
product with your help.

If, however, you grow fond of SuperSorter and find it invaluable,
a payment of $10.00 is requested. This $10.00 will not only make
you a registered user of SuperSorter, it will entitle you to
SuperSorter Version 2, as noted above. It will also get you a
current product listing for Steel City Software and put you on
our mailing list. (Big thrill there!) You will also win the
undieing gratitude of myself and my wife, Lady Debug. You may
even help to get Baby Debug a badly needed pair of shoes. Who
knows, if you're ever in Pittsburgh the Doctor might even invite
you over to chat. Rarely can you do so much with your money.

In addition, if you like the feel of SuperSort and would like to
include the program in your own routines, the well documented
Turbo Pascal source code is available for $25.00. With the code
you get a license to use and modify the routines in your own
creations. I'll even throw in a free pair of "Junior Bugman"
training wings for your effort.

You can send the checks, made out to Steel City Software, to:

Steel City Software
1 Windsor Road B-6
Pittsburgh, PA 15239
Voice (412) 733-4842

If you wish to leave the Doctor any comments, suggestions,
criticisms, or idle chatter, he can be contacted on the following
Bulletin Board systems:

SoundingBoard Fido 129/26 (412) 571-0472
Astral Board Collie 804/12 (412) 681-9464

Both of these boards always have the latest shareware creations
of Doctor Debug and Steel City Software.

Good Day!