A Brief History of ABC2NW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

0.1b - Beta Version  (October '97)

        Supports notes, dotted notes, grace notes, staccato notes, 
        sharps, flats, double-flats, naturals, cross-bar tying, chords, 
        major keys, minor keys, trills, bars, beaming, and a few other
        things.


0.2b - Beta Version

        Support for first and second repeats added.

        Support for up-bow and down-bow symbols ("u" and "v"). They
        make a "V" symbol and a downward-pointing bracket symbol above
        the notes.


0.3b - Beta version

        Now supports highland bagpipe music key signatures of HP and
        Hp. Both make all note stems point down, but Hp will produce
        a key signature of C sharp, F sharp, and G natural.

        The program no longer prints the time signature on every staff
        like it did previously. It will now print it on the first staff 
        only, or on whatever staff it is changed on in the middle of 
        the song.

        Some improvement made to the quasi-intelligent note beaming
        routine. It will now beam notes no matter what, and does a
        better job of it than some programs I've seen.

        Justification improved - if the last object on the last staff
        goes more than 3/4 the way to the end of the staff, the entire
        staff will be fully justified. This makes sure the music looks
        good and the last staff is (sometimes) the same size as the rest.
        If the last staff isn't justified, the staff itself will be
        shrunk to fit.

        Support for tying/slurring added. (Use with parenthesis.)

        Support added for common time M:C and cut time M:C|

        Tuplets added. Currently works best with odd-numbered tuplets.
        I don't even want to see what happens with an even-numbered one.
        (Don't ask.)  [Fixed in version 0.5b]


0.4b - Beta version

        ABC2NW will correctly process songs with names like
        "Hamster, The". I didn't like always having to move the
        "The"'s around manually inside the song files.

        It will place the composer on the top right of the page with
        the origin in parenthesis after it.  [Changed in version 1.2]

        Clef types can be defined with the S: option. (See the
        documentation for more on this.)

        Guitar chords in quotes can now be used, which will be printed 
        above the staff.


0.5b - Beta version

        All notes formed by an upper or lowercase letter followed 
        by a ' or , can be used.  (Previously it only worked with the
        notes specifically described by the ABC documentation.)

        Modes can now be used as part of the key signature.

        Placement of numbers for tuplets has been improved, including
        fixing the problem with even-numbered tuplets.

        Broken rhythms:  A<B C>D
        (Only with single < or double << pointy brackets - not triple, 
        since Noteworthy doesn't support triple-dotted notes.)


1.0 -  ABC2NW now understands "m" as standing for "minor" in the
       key signature field.

       A tempo key will be placed in the upper-left corner of the music.
       (Or above the staff where it is changed.)

       Fixed a bug with object alignment in the first staff.

       Fixed alignment of special characters (violin bowing and trill)
       so they will not write over high notes.  They now have a fixed
       location above the staff unless the note below it goes above
       a certain threshold, at which point it will be moved upwards.


1.1 -  Fixed a "division by zero" error when there is only one object
       on the staff. (For instance, when a "variation" is mentioned
       on a separate line of ABC. ABC2NW produces a blank staff as a
       divider in this situation.)

       Now supports double sharps: ^^A  (Puts an "x" before the note.)

       Supports note length multiplication with fractions, such
       as:  A3/2  Previously it only supported division only or
       multiplication only.


1.2 -  (Started February '98)

       Grace notes will have small accidental symbols in front of them
       instead of giant ones.

       Alternative barlines such as :|| I've found used in some songs
       are now understood.

       The composer and origin in the upper-right corner has been made
       to look better.  They now use separate lines, and the rhythm
       will also be printed.


1.3 -  (Started June '98)

       The first letter of the rhythm is capitalized. ("Reel" instead
       of "reel.")  Just slightly annoying.

       Fixed a small bug - if there was a line entirely composed of a
       comment (a line which starts with a %), the program would produce
       a blank staff at the end of the music.  Now it just ignores it
       like it should.

       Accented characters now supported using two methods - putting
       a \' before the vowel to be accented, or putting a / after.
       (These are two common methods.)  Vowels will only appear
       accented inside the Noteworthy file; not on the screen as
       ABC2NW is running.
