SYNTAX$\backslash$

        SYNTAX of SIC commands

    The SIC syntax is the following :
        [LANG\]COMM [Arg1 [Arg2 [...]]] [/OPT1 [p1 [...]] [/OPT2 [...]]
    where [] indicates optional fields.

    Language,  command  and  options  can be abbreviated. The language field
    (LANG\) is optional but may help resolve ambiguities.

    First, the line is stripped of duplicate separators  (spaces  or  tabs).
    Character  strings (entities included between double quotes) are not af-
    fected by this formatting.

    Then symbols (entities included between simple  quotes,  plus  the  lan-
    guage-command  field)  and  tokens  (macros  parameters 1 2 etc...)  are
    translated, even within character strings.

    Finally, the line is analysed for ambiguities and the language,  command
    and  option names are expanded. An option is a word beginning by a slash
    (e.g. /OPT1 is an option in the above example).

    All arguments can be character or mathematical variables or expressions,
    depending on the type required by the program. Character expressions can
    be concatenated with implicit formatting of variables  and  mathematical
    expressions, such as in
        "The real number PI is equal to "'ACOS(-1.0)'
    Variable  and expressions are not evaluated during the parsing, but only
    during the execution.  Character  variables  must  be  included  between
    quotes for translation, e.g.
        DEFINE CHARACTER C*6
        LET C 3.14159
        DEFINE REAL A
        LET A 'C'/PI
        EXAMINE A
        A       =    0.9999705