worley@ardent.UUCP (John Worley) (09/02/88)
I recently received a letter from the "C Users Group" (CUG), offering
wonderful things if I would consent to join them. Before I send away for
this, I would like any and all opinions on the outfit, especially concerning:
How old is the organization?
Are they a legit and/or sincere users group?
Are there "hidden costs"?
How useful are the publications?
How good is the code you can get? Is it:
Well written & documented?
Portable?
Useful (a faster Towers of Hanoi I don't need)?
Relatively self contained?
Worth the money?
Does the "over 100 distribution formats" include QIC-24 tar/cpio?
Please respond by mail; I will summarize if there is interest.
Regards,
John Worley
hplabs!ardent!worley
uunet!ardent!worleybrianm@sco.COM (Brian Moffet) (09/02/88)
In article <572@ardent.UUCP> worley@ardent.UUCP (John Worley) writes: > > I recently received a letter from the "C Users Group" (CUG), offering >wonderful things if I would consent to join them. Before I send away for >this, I would like any and all opinions on the outfit, especially concerning: I am interested in this information also please. I recieved on of these yesterday (what a subjective term on the net!) and am curious. Thanks very much brian -- 'Evil Geniuses for a Better Tommorrow!' My opinions do not in any way reflect those of my employer or my fish. Brian Moffet brianm@sco.com {ucscc,uunet,decvax!microsof}!sco!brianm -or- (home machine, an amiga) {ucscc,uunet,decvax!microsof}!sco!orac!brian
wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (09/05/88)
In article <840@viscous> brianm@sco.COM (Brian Moffet) writes: >In article <572@ardent.UUCP> worley@ardent.UUCP (John Worley) writes: >> >> I recently received a letter from the "C Users Group" (CUG), offering >>wonderful things if I would consent to join them. Before I send away for >>this, I would like any and all opinions on the outfit, especially concerning: > >I am interested in this information also please. I recieved on of these >yesterday (what a subjective term on the net!) and am curious. > They are a legitimate outfit which grew out of the old (CP/M) BDS C Users Group.The operation is run by Robert Ward, the author of the QUE book, "Debugging C". Much of the code on the CUG disks is CP/M (older disks) and MS-DOS (more recent disks) oriented, but more and more UNIX stuff is appearing. $8/volume. Some sample titles: NRO (a roff-like formatter), MicroSpell, DECUS CPP, Little Smalltalk (for UNIX), etc. They also publish a magazine, which comes with membership, called the "The C Users Journal", with columns by P.J.Plauger and Tom Plum (of Plum Hall). They distribute their disks in a variety of formats, specifically: `We can supply these volumes in almost any MSDOS or CPM soft sectored format (5 1/4" or 8"), or on UNIX tar or cpio archives (5 1/4" only).' (Quoted from their catalog) I suspect that the 5.25" UNIX tar/cpio disks are of the variety written by PC-compatible hardware (i.e. 286/386 UNIX/XENIX versions) -- thus various disk drives in 3Bx or various minis might not be able to read them. They also distribute a wide range of C and UNIX related books, at retail price, which would make them a valuable source for overseas folks who can't get US-published books in their location. They accept Visa/Mastercard, Int'l. Money Orders, and US-$ checks. Hope this helps! Wolf Paul -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: dcs!wnp@killer.dallas.tx.us TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD
rfarris@serene.CTS.COM (Rick Farris) (09/06/88)
In article <840@viscous> brianm@sco.COM (Brian Moffet) writes: >In article <572@ardent.UUCP> worley@ardent.UUCP (John Worley) writes: >> >> I recently received a letter from the "C Users Group" (CUG), offering >>wonderful things if I would consent to join them. Before I send away for >>this, I would like any and all opinions on the outfit, especially concerning: > >I am interested in this information also please. I recieved on of these >yesterday (what a subjective term on the net!) and am curious. > I am a member of the C Users Group. The C Users Group used to be a library of Public Domain 'C' software which they sell for ~$8/disk. When the C Journal went under, they picked up their subscriber list and began publishing the "C Users Journal." It's a pretty good rag. It has columns by P.J. Plauger, Rex Jaeshke, David Fiedler, and Kenneth Pugh. It is edited by Robert Ward, who wrote "Debugging C." My only complaints about the magazine have to do with it's production. Their graphic artist is not one, and the magazine is printed on paper so thin that the opposite side often bleeds through. Also, the listings that they print are often unreadable due to the tiny print, and the poor quality of reproduction, to say nothing of the fact that they (see comment on graphic artist) often find the need to print the listings as black on grey, or black on purple, which makes them even harder to read. They provide a mail order source for most every book about C that was ever written. They are very small, and when you call you get *personal* service. They sell the books at list price. I don't really think you'll find much in the PD library that you won't be able to find on a local bbs. I think that much of their library traffic comes from overseas. I guess I'd give them an "A" for effort, and recommend a membership just for the magazine subscription. My flames about the magazine production are, after all, a product of the "mom & pop" sort of outfit that they run, and it makes them a pleasure to deal with in all other areas. _______________________________ Rick Farris | rfarris@serene.UUCP | Voice (619) 259-6793 POB M | <backbone>!serene!rfarris | BBS 259-7757 Del Mar, CA 92014 |_______________________________| serene.UUCP 259-3704 If carpenters built buildings the way most programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization. . .
bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells) (09/08/88)
In article <199@dcs.UUCP> wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) writes:
: They also publish a magazine, which comes with membership, called the "The
: C Users Journal", with columns by P.J.Plauger and Tom Plum (of Plum Hall).
:
: They distribute their disks in a variety of formats, specifically:
:
: `We can supply these volumes in almost any
: MSDOS or CPM soft sectored format (5 1/4"
: or 8"), or on UNIX tar or cpio archives (5 1/4"
: only).'
According to the latest mag, they can also provide them on
Macintosh disks and, for the Apple, in AppleDOS and ProDOS
formats.
---
Bill
novavax!proxftl!bill