The version function

Description

The version function returns the version number of the interpreter running the program. The version number returned by this function is constructed of four bytes in little-endian format as follows:

  1. The first byte contains the least significant verion number, and is changed when very minor changes are made to the interpreter (e.g. minor bug fixes).
  2. The second byte contains the minor version number, and is changed when significant changes are made to the interpreter (e.g. support for new features are added).
  3. The third byte contains the major version number, and is changed when major changes are made to interpreter (e.g. the format of executable is changed).
  4. The fourth byte is currently undefined and always contains zero.
The type of the value returned by this function is always integer.

The version number returned by this function is not related to the version of the Irie Pascal compiler or the version of the operating system.

Currently you will probably not need to use this function, however this function is provided because each new version of the interpreter is likely to add support for new features. Therefore programs in the future may need to know which version of the interpreter they are running on to determine whether a particular feature is available (see the supported function for a better way to do this).

Parameter

None.

Example

   version  currently returns the following bytes 00 05 02 00

So, the major version number is five, the minor version number is two, and the least significant version number is zero.

Portability

Operating Systems: All
Standard Pascal: No