david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) (08/19/88)
In article <64086@sun.uucp> cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis) writes: [ He says that developers get into trouble becuase of, among others: > - Bugs, code does not work as documented and rather than not use > the broken procedure, the developer uses it the way it currently > works. Not as stupid as above but the better solution is a company > supported work around. Not use the broken procedure? What if the broken OS function is so fundamental (say file handling, or console I/O)? What do you do then? What's the alternatetive? You either hack around the call yourself, stupider than anything you mentioned (but it's been done), or you live with the broken function, or you don't write the program for the broken OS. Oh you could use the "company supportted work around". Yea right. "Oh Malloc doesn't work? Yes we know. Don't use it. GEMDOS console I/O doesn't work either, but you're not allowed to use the BIOS if you want your program to work with I/O redirection. No you can't have a larger than 16MB disk partition. 40-folder bug? Umm.. well... Have a nice day." Anyway I think the funniest thing about this whole discussion is that if the Malloc bug were the worst of the problems with the ST and Atari we'd all be in great shape! -- David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.uucp) | "Don't call me Stupid!" Beckemeyer Development Tools | "No. That would be an insult 478 Santa Clara Ave, Oakland, CA 94610 | to all the stupid people!" UUCP: {unisoft,sun}!hoptoad!bdt!david | - A fish called Wanda
kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher) (08/23/88)
in article <369@bdt.UUCP>, david@bdt.UUCP (David Beckemeyer) says: > [some flaming deleted] "Oh Malloc doesn't > work? Yes we know. Don't use it. GEMDOS console I/O doesn't work either, > but you're not allowed to use the BIOS if you want your program to > work with I/O redirection. No you can't have a larger than 16MB disk > partition. 40-folder bug? Umm.. well... Have a nice day." 1) Most development systems for the ST provide alternatives to the system Malloc call which work just fine. Workarounds were published in one of the earlier Developer Q&A newsletters. (also, see Allan Pratt's recent posting regarding how Malloc has been repaired for TOS 1.4) 2) If you need GEMDOS console I/O that is redirectable in earlier versions of TOS, you can use Fread/write to standard handles. It redirects just fine. (also, GEMDOS console I/O is redirectable in TOS 1.4) 3) No, you can't have a larger than 16MB disk partition. However, when AHDI that supports removable media drives is released, it is possible that close to 32Mb partitions will also be available. 4) Quite some time ago, Atari released to public distribution a program called FOLDR100, which increases the amount of OSPool, and helps relieve nearly all instances of the "40 folder bug" (q.v. Allan Pratt's recent posting regarding how Malloc has been repaired for TOS 1.4). > David Beckemeyer (david@bdt.uucp) | "Don't call me Stupid!" -- Ken Badertscher | Hey, umm, the stuff I said up there Atari R&D Software Test/Support | is, like, what _I_ think, okay? {portal,ames,imagen}!atari!kbad | So, y'know, don't bug Atari about it.