Since the first Ketman version in 1997 its assembly-language interpreter has proved itself well liked and well used. So I have been half expecting a rival product, but thus far it hasn't materialized. Good in a way, because it leaves Ketman unchallenged in that field, and I'm bound to be happy about that. Not so good in another way, because it means I have to continually explain what an interpreter is, why it isn't the same thing as a debugger, and why the low-level kind makes just as much sense as the high-level kind.
That makes me either a pioneer or a crank. In my worst moments I imagine myself as that old geezer I used to see sprinting his bicycle down the long asphalt paths of one of London's extensive parks, dressed in what looked like a WW1 trench-coat and flying- goggles. His intentions became clear once you were able to tear your eyes away from his antiquated outfit and noticed the wooden blades rotating just above his head, driven by a Byzantine plexus of chains and pulleys, and making a noise like a flock of pigeons fighting over a discarded sandwich. He was unchallenged in his field too.
Obviously you have to worry when no one copies your design. But my helicopter does at least take off, and is therefore "low-level" in a completely different sense from his. But launching myself into an eloquent justification of the interpreter is not something I'm going to do here, because Ketman makes its own case by immediate demonstration. Once you've seen it working you'll know why it's a good idea.
This will be the last major upgrade of the real-mode-only Ketman. The next version might be itself a Windows program, or it might not, but it will in any case provide a platform for writing Windows programs, or programs that employ the protected-mode instruction set.
In the meantime, Ketman has a new title, though to preserve continuity I have stuck to the existing number sequence, numbering the opening version as 3.0, the latest (January 2003) being 3.6. Strictly speaking, the new title, "Maximaster" might not be an amalgamation of the titles taken by previous versions, "Schoolmaster" and "Codemaster", but it is supposed to imply a convergence of their functions. There is still an extensive programming tutorial for starter programmers - more than 20,000 words - but this time it is kept quite separate from the tutorials on the tool-kit, and is a separate download. Generally, the tutorials are more rationally organized than before, and make for easier referencing.
As well as the interpreter, there is an editor, assembler, debugger and a whole boxful of other tools. They make an integrated set. Which isn't just another way of saying they all come in the same box, because you can put plastic ducks, African jack-fruit and brass angle-brackets in the same box without having the right to call them an integrated set. The Ketman tools are integrated in the very functional sense of being in memory simultaneously, sharing information and operating in an inter-dependent way. That's a fancy way of saying they work in harness.
The only difference between the demo version and the registered version is that the demo version does not allow you to load/save text files. But all other tools work uncrippled, and there is more than enough in the package to allow you to properly evaluate Ketman. By the time you are ready to register, you'll know exactly what it is you are buying.
To register the Ketman Maximaster costs $50 U.S. That's a one-time registration fee, and it covers all future upgrades, major or minor, including the 32-bit version, when it arrives. (And if you are one of the 20% of my present list of registered users whose email addresses have gone defunct in the last two years, please contact me to get your unlock program for V3).
My credit card orders are processed by NorthStar Solutions, who peg their prices to US currency. Exchange rates fluctuate, but the price in Euros would be about the same - 50 Euros. In British currency, it would be around £36.
