C413887@UMCVMB.UUCP.UUCP (02/07/87)
I'm fairly new to the Atari ST, but am reasonably well versed in programming in general. I'm looking for a language for software development for the ST, and I don't feel like throwing away a lot of money on something shoddy. I am familiar with ForTran, PL/1, and Pascal, so my first choice would be a well-structured language. Could anyone out there suggest a good product to look into? Any comments or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Bill Canning C413887@UMCVMB.BITNET 1417B Rosemary Ln. Columbia, MO 65201
manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (02/10/87)
Bill Canning asks about development systems for the Atari ST. My recommendation is TDI Modula-2, available from TDI Software in Dallas. The system is pretty robust (compilation and linking are much faster than the 2 ST C compilers I've tried, Lattice and Alcyon), and provides full GEM support. There is an included editor, which I don't much care for, but I recently posted an interface that lets you use Micro-Emacs. It's also quite cheap: the base system is US$79.00, though I'd recommend the Developer's Version at US$149.00, which among other things includes the really nice Megamax Resource Editor, as modified for Modula-2. The library source (if you're really devoted) is another US$150.00. TDI are just releasing a new version (V3.0) which claims to have an even faster compiler. I have ordered but not received this update. The only wart is that TDI's documentation doesn't include much on GEMDOS, GEM, and the various Atari ROM packages. One day, Atari will publish that stuff in a reasonable way. Until then, if you don't have a friend who will loan you his or her copy of the Atari Developer's Kit, the best bet is to get a copy of the excellent GEM Programmer's Guide (published by Sybex) and the execrable Abacus books (Atari ST Internals is the only one of real interest). Because GEMDOS is similar to MS-DOS, books on MS-DOS might also be of interest.