ZTERM
This section is presented in the format of a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
Why the name "ZTERM 2000"?
A long time ago (in a galaxy far way), a DOS program called ATERM was written - it emulated a Wyse 350 terminal and was written in Pascal. Because the Wyse 350 is a field terminal and Pascal was interpreted, the performance of ATERM was awful.
ATERM was eventually re-written in assembler for DOS and was renamed ZTERM, because A and Z are at the opposite ends of the alphabet - ZTERM was the opposite of ATERM - it was much faster.
ZTERM 2000 is quite obvious. When ZTERM was re-written to run on Windows PCs, it became ZTERM for Windows. Now that it's cool to add the year to the name, we thought ZTERM 2000 sounded like a cool name!
What tools are used to build ZTERM 2000?
ZTERM is written in C using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.
Some of the functionality in ZTERM 2000 was inherited by using libraries and tools from other developers. We used the following:
| • | Serial/Modem communications - COMMDRV/LIB from Willies Software |
| • | Setup program - InstallShield Express from Sterling Software |
| • | FTP file-transfer - WININET.DLL from Microsoft |
| • | Help system - Help Magician Pro from Software Interphase |
From scratch through to ZTERM 2000, the project took about 4 years to develop.
Is the source code available?
Yes, but the exact amount is a large six figure number with the decimal place where you'd expect! If you want to incorporate the functionality of ZTERM 2000 in your application, you should look at the ActiveZTERM ActiveX control. Details of this ActiveX control are available at http://www.coolstf.com/
