The Biferno language online reference guide ("Biferno: Reference Guide" document) can be viewed online by accessing the Biferno home page. A copy of the Biferno language online reference guide is also installed automatically on your machine when you install the Biferno software.

Once Biferno and bifernoadmin (the latter is automatically installed with the Biferno software) are correctly installed, the online documentation can be accessed locally pointing the browser to the URL:

     http://www.yourserver.com/bifernoadmin/bfdoc/index.bfr
    

The name or IP address of the server where Biferno has been installed should replace the www.yourserver.com string.

The Biferno Reference Guide contains the detailed description, completed by usage examples, for all classes and predefined functions of the language, and is a key tool for the developer, both during the initial language learning phase and during the development of complex applications.

The Biferno installation procedure is described in the "Biferno: Installation and Administration Guide" document for all supported platforms.

The online documentation system installed with Biferno is described in the "Biferno: bifernoadmin Guide" document.

The goal of this document is to support the learning process for the Biferno scripting language in a simple and progressive fashion by using a large number of examples and clear simple language, even when necessarily technical.

The level of the presentation of the various topics is adequate for a reader who has basic knowledge of computer science and programming concepts. The reader who already knows how to use a structured programming language such as C or, even better, an object-oriented language such as C++ or Java, will encounter no difficulty in the materials presented in the following chapters. A good knowledge of HTML and of specific Internet/Web topics is an advantage but not a must.

This document uses the following conventions to highlight and separate different parts of the text.

All Biferno code examples are highlighted using a light gray background and a monospaced font, as in the following example:

<?
	print("Welcome to the Biferno User Manual")
?>
     

All keywords and code fragments within the normal text are highlighted using the same monospaced character font (e.g. the print keyword).

The results of script processing are shaded in the same light gray color that reminds of a terminal window and are printed in the a monospaced character font, as in the example below:

Welcome to the Biferno User Manual
    

From time to time specific notes are inserted into the text to highlight and provide details on specific topics, introduce advance programming techniques, provide suggestions and tricks. The notes are indented to the right with respect to the main text under a "Tip" heading, as in the following example:

Finally, tables and figures are numbered with the number of the Chapter they appear in, followed by a progressive number.