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Data file handler for the Commodore 64

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COMPUTE!'s Data File Handler for the Commodore 64 is a 1985 book by Blaine D. Standage, John L. Darling and Kenneth D. Standage, published by COMPUTE! Publications of Greensboro, North Carolina. ISBN 0-942386-86-8.[1] The Library of Congress record gives the extent as vii, 271 pages (call number QA76.8.C64 S718 1985).[2]

The book is the listing and manual for a type-in database manager for the Commodore 64, the Data File Handler (DFH). The system stores, sorts, merges, splits, extracts and prints records of up to 20 fields, and comes with a sequential file editor, four machine language subroutines and a set of disk commands. The cover and foreword say the programs also run on the Commodore PET/CBM.[3] The listings use COMPUTE!'s "Automatic Proofreader" checksum program for typing them in; a disk of the programs was sold separately.[4]

Contents

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Page numbers are from the book's contents list.[4]

  • Foreword, p. v
  • Author's Preface, p. vii
  • Chapter 1: Getting Started with DFH, p. 1
  • Chapter 2: Operating DFH, p. 25
  • Chapter 3: File Manipulation, p. 51
  • Chapter 4: The DFH Editor, p. 75
  • Chapter 5: Disk Use, p. 93
  • Chapter 6: DFH Applications Examples, p. 111 (a magazine cardfile and a genealogy file)
  • Chapter 7: File Conversion, p. 129
  • Chapter 8: The ML Subroutines, p. 145
  • Chapter 9: Entering the Programs, p. 163
  • Chapter 10: Program Listings, p. 179 (machine language programs, p. 181; BASIC programs, p. 209)
  • Index, p. 269
  • Coupon for ordering disk, p. 273

What this book does not contain

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It is an applications book. It has no schematics, parts lists or component values; for those use the Commodore 64 / 64C Service Manual.

Download: Computes Data file handler for the Commodore 64.pdf

References

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  1. ↑ Blaine D. Standage, John L. Darling and Kenneth D. Standage, COMPUTE!'s Data File Handler for the Commodore 64 (COMPUTE! Publications, 1985), title page and copyright page (PDF pp. 3-4).
  2. ↑ Open Library, Compute!'s data file handler for the Commodore 64, record OL2615717M, from Library of Congress catalogue data (LCCN 85-180529). Retrieved 2026-10-01.
  3. ↑ Standage, Darling and Standage, Data File Handler, front cover and Foreword, p. v (PDF pp. 1, 7).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Standage, Darling and Standage, Data File Handler, Contents (PDF pp. 5-6).
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