General applications

SuperC provides many features for general applications and all types of users.

General users can:

Compare two files that have been reformatted. Reformatted files contain such differences as indentation level changes, or inserted or deleted spaces.
SuperC detects and classifies reformatted lines as special changes. You can list these lines in the output, along with the normal insert/delete changes, or eliminate them from the listing. Reducing the number of flagged lines may help focus on real, rather than cosmetic, changes.
Determine whether two groups of files have corresponding like-named "components".
Components absent from one group but present in the other are listed, as is all change activity between like-named components. The comparison can show changes caused by creating or deleting components of file groups.

Writers and editors can:

Detect word changes within documents.
SuperC finds word differences even if the words have been moved to adjacent lines.
Verify that only designated areas are changed.
SuperC comparison results show all areas affected. Changes made to restricted areas may be invalid. Unintended changes can therefore be detected so that a complete document need not be checked for errors again.
Use SuperC to automatically insert SCRIPT/VS or BookMaster revision codes.
The UPDREV process option can be used with either the WORD or LINE compare type to put either SCRIPT/VS (.rc) or BookMaster (:rev and :erev) tags before and after the changed lines.

Programmers and systems administrators can:

Generate management reports that show the quantity and type of changes in program source code.
SuperC can count the changed and unchanged lines of code in an application program. Comparison results could be used, for example, to summarize the changes between different versions of a program.
Retain a record of change activity.
SuperC listing files can be collected and retained as a permanent record of the changes made before a new program is released. Source code differences can help detect regressions or validate the appropriateness of any code modifications.
Modify a listing output file, including additional headers or change delimiters.
Some SuperC listings may need to be rewritten before you accept the results. For example, some installations may require security classifications. Others may require a listing created using the WIDE process option to have box delimiters surrounding changed sections.
Compare files across unconnected systems.
SuperC can generate a 32-bit hashsum per file using the FILE compare type. Files compared on an unconnected processor, using SuperC, should have the same hashsums if they are identical. A FILE comparison on any file to determine a hashsum can be done by specifying the same file as both new and old.
Develop additional uses for update files.
SuperC produces general results with generalized listings. However, your installation may have unique requirements. There are many specialized update files that you can use to produce listings that match these requirements. Normal SuperC listings may not fit this type of application, but the update files are more structured and should be easier to use as data input. See Update files for explanations and examples of the update files.