readme for Taxy 1.05
This file and all files mentioned below are copyright 1993-1995 by
Nathan Wilson.  Permission is given to duplicate and distribute
this files on a not for profit basis as long as this file accompanies
any such distribution.  In addition, permission is given to expand
and revise the database "fungi.db" and the files contained in the
directory "Comments".  The software and databases included come with
ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.


Welcome to Taxy 1.05!

Taxy is a database system for helping with biological taxonomic
identification.  For those of you who didn't understand the last
sentence think of it as a computerized field guide.

There is still a great deal of work to be done on the database and
help system in order to make the system truely useful.  Anyone who has
created entries based on the previous versions of the fungi database
should get in touch with me about converting their work to the new
feature set.

The goal of the current version is to get people to play with the
system and hopefully to work on creating a database of mushroom species.  
All work done with the system is expected to remain freely available in 
keeping with the goal of the project to create a system for sharing 
fungal information freely and to permit easy database expansion and 
interchange by interested users.  This project was part of my computer 
science masters thesis which I am continuing to work on as time permits.

The 1.05 release includes:

- Various bug fixes

- 30% speed increase in database loading

The 1.04 release includes:

- Simplified feature names.  Significant changes were made to the database
        to support this.


The 1.03 release includes:

- Various bug fixes

- Data entry can be done by entering just enough of the desired option
        to uniquely determine the correct value.

- The ability to automatically add values to a feature has been removed
        to support the above improvement.  Feature ranges can still be
        extended, but it requires more work.


The 1.02 release includes:

- Bug fixes


The 1.01 release includes:

- Added FeatureCompare, DescriptionCompare and DatabaseCompare.


The 1.0 release includes:

- A Taxy database emphasizing macroscopic characteristics.  This database
  currently has 173 features and 80 descriptions containing partial
  information for 57 species of fungi.

- An identification system that allows the user to decide between the
  various descriptions.  The identification system is similiar to a
  standard synoptic key.  The system can sort features to help the user
  decide which feature to provide values for next.

- Support for creating, browsing and editing Taxy databases.
  Taxy is designed to support any type of taxonomic information so,
  for example, it should be possible for an interested person to create
  a database of bird or plant descriptions.  The support for this is
  very low level.  Anyone interested in such work should get in touch
  with me.

- An on-line help system including a glossary of terms used in the
  fungi database as well as help on the various commands.

- Two sample runs of the system showing how to identify a species and
  how to enter new information on a species.

- An ASCII text copy of my master's thesis.  This is the most complete
  form of documentation currently available and for the most part is
  still correct.  The Introduction describes the goals and vision behind
  the project.  Of particular interest for using the system is the
  Interface chapter.

- Executables for the Apple Macintosh, Sun SPARC, SGI, and IBM PCs (Windows
  only).

  All versions are available for anonymous ftp from the machine:
        d2.com
  in the directory:
        pub/taxy

  Updates to any files are in the directory 'update'

  The following files provide information about Taxy.  These are
provided for people who wish to learn more about the project without
downloading the actual software.  All of these files are included in
the various machine specific archives below.  These files are
formatted to be displayed in a monospace font (e.g. Courier) in a font
size small enough to fit 80 characters per line.
        readme          - This file
        thesis.tty      - An ASCII text version of my Master's thesis
        id              - Example log of using Taxy to identify a species
        editing         - Example log of using Taxy to enter a new species

Machine specific archives:
        Taxy.sit.hqx    - Macintosh version in a binhexed, StuffIt archive.
                          Can be unpacked using the shareware utility
                          'StuffIt Classic'.
                          Procedure: Select Other->BixHex->Decode BinHex File...
                          which creates the file Taxy.sit.  Now select
                          File->Open Archive... once the archive is open,
                          select the folder 'Mac Dist' and finally click the
                          UnStuff button.

        taxysun.tar.gz  - SPARC version in a gzipped, tar archive.
                          Can be unpacked using the free utility 'gzip' and
                          the standard utility 'tar'.
                          Command: gzip -d taxysun.tar.gz ; tar xf taxysun.tar

        taxysgi.tar.gz  - SGI version in a gzipped, tar archive.
                          Can be unpacked using the free utility 'gzip' and
                          the standard utility 'tar'.
                          Command: gzip -d taxysgi.tar.gz ; tar xf taxysgi.tar

        taxypc.zip      - IBM PC version in a pkzipped archive.
                          Can be unpacked using the shareware utility 'pkunzip'.
                          Command: pkunzip -d taxypc.zip


This release does *not* include, but some future release will (in approximate
order of priority):

- More efficient file loading and memory usage.

- Textual and pictorial description files.

- Features for describing the microscopic aspects of fungi and a more
  complete treatment of features related to Ascomycetes and Gasteromycetes.

- Direct DOS support

- Automatic merging functions for combining multiple existing databases.

- Graphical user interface

- A general scripting system for creating database specific commands for
  entering information.


If you are interested in participating in any way please drop me a
note via email or call me at: (310)314-2939.  If you wish to help
extend the database, please contact me so we can arrange a set of
species for you to work on so effort is not duplicated.

   -------------------------    _________
         Nathan Wilson         <_________>
  nwilson@collectivesource.com    _|_|_       It is no dream!
                                  \___/    Matsutake are growing
       Minister Emeritus           | |        On the belly of the mountain.
Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz    \_/ *83--                -Shigetaka