fmgst@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Filip Gieszczykiewicz) (06/15/91)
Greetings. I am writing this about the EditSCH program that was recently posted in sci.electronics. No, it's not a flame about wasting the bandwidth with a global post instead, of what should have been done: ask who wants it and mail it to only those people. I consider this to be a "review" of the program. Basicly: it sucks. There are more bugs in this program than in most public domain programs that I have seen. I don't see how posting of a program of this low quality can help with the poor opinion people have about ShareWare. Here is my list of what I hope I don't see in Rev 3.0 and why I think this program is not worth a dime: (I ran this on my 486/25, SVGA, 200MB 11ms drive) #0 Screen update sooooo ssssllloooowwwww (even on my machine) #1 SETUP -> GRID -> 0,0 -> divide error (dumps you to dos!!!!!) #2 FILE -> CLEAR -> NO (save) Why does the program take the time to redraw the screen if it will be next cleared? #3 FILE -> LOAD -> any .SCH Why does the program not give an option to either append or erase old and load new file? #4 COMPONENT -> SAVE Pull-down menu is in the way of a message in the opened window... #5 SETUP -> DIRECTORIES -> MY MAJOR COMPLAINT: Check the validity of the directory! If it does not exist, this program will dump in 4 different ways! #6 DRAW -> BUS -> (click to make a diagonal buss) -> EDIT -> I get a gray bar in the pull-down menu! -> DELETE -> (click on buss) depending on angle, there may be dots left on the screen!) -> DRAW -> I get a "Delet" on the first line of the menu (it's from the next pull-down menu to the right....)) #7 FILE -> QUIT -> YES -> CANCEL Selecting CANCEL should not exit you out, it should return you to the drawing screen. #8 FILE -> QUIT -> YES (select OK without selecting a filename and having a non-existent subdirectory in #5 (see above) BLOWS YOU AWAY! #9 COMPONENT -> LOAD -> OK (wrong subdirectory in #5) I get one of 3 things after this one: o COMPLETE freeze - requires power off/on o Shows some kind of red menu for 1ms and shows me the LOAD window - when I click on anything, it just hides it and returns me to the drawing window. o Kills the drawing - I need to redraw (slow and a general pain) Now, the purpose of a Schematic entry program is to make matters simpler. This program is not only full of bugs, it's SLOW, it's unreliable, it's a pain to work with - quite frankly, I prefer paper and pencil. Take care. P.S. I hope the author of this program has some sense and fixes these errors. A word of advice: Don't use BASIC for the display routines... get some real assembly programmers to do a good job. Even better, buy the excellent ShareWare assembler, A86, and recode the screen routines with it! -- _______________________________________________________________________________ "The Force will be with you, always." It _is_ with me and has been for 11 years Filip Gieszczykiewicz "... a Jedi does it with a mind trick... " ;-) FMGST@PITTVMS or fmgst@unix.cis.pitt.edu "My ideas. ALL MINE!!"
winefred@b11.ingr.com (Winefred Washington) (06/18/91)
In article <139483@unix.cis.pitt.edu>, fmgst@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Filip Gieszczykiewicz) writes: > > Greetings. I am writing this about the EditSCH program that was > recently posted in sci.electronics. No, it's not a flame about > wasting the bandwidth with a global post instead, of what should > have been done: ask who wants it and mail it to only those people. Good Idea. I'll do that next time. > > I consider this to be a "review" of the program. I thinks a review would give a little more information about the complete program not just it's faults. > Basicly: it sucks. Please see comments in end of article. > > (I ran this on my 486/25, SVGA, 200MB 11ms drive) > > #0 Screen update sooooo ssssllloooowwwww (even on my machine) Mr. Filip Gieszczykiewicz I have a 385SX 16Mhz and it appears to run fine in my opinion how long does it take to update. > #1 SETUP -> GRID -> 0,0 -> divide error (dumps you to dos!!!!!) I never though anyone would do this. thanks for the info. > #2 FILE -> CLEAR -> NO (save) > Why does the program take the time to > redraw the screen if it will be next cleared? The program is written in C++ and is programmed using event-driven techniques. Creation and destruction of dialog boxes automatically cause screen redraws in areas where the display is covered. > #3 FILE -> LOAD -> any .SCH > Why does the program not give an option to either > append or erase old and load new file? Good suggestion. > #4 COMPONENT -> SAVE > Pull-down menu is in the way of a message in > the opened window... I don't understand this comment since all windows can be resized and moved. > #5 SETUP -> DIRECTORIES -> > MY MAJOR COMPLAINT: Check the validity of the > directory! If it does not exist, this program > will dump in 4 different ways! Good suggestion. > #6 DRAW -> BUS -> (click to make a diagonal buss) -> EDIT -> I get > a gray bar in the pull-down menu! -> DELETE -> (click on buss) > depending on angle, there may be dots left on the screen!) -> DRAW -> > I get a "Delet" on the first line of the menu (it's from the next > pull-down menu to the right....)) You are not exiting each command properly please hit the Right button when you are done with a command. Please email if you want to more details. > #7 FILE -> QUIT -> YES -> CANCEL > Selecting CANCEL should not exit you out, it should > return you to the drawing screen. Good suggestion. > #8 FILE -> QUIT -> YES (select OK without selecting a filename and > having a non-existent subdirectory in #5 (see > above) BLOWS YOU AWAY! > #9 COMPONENT -> LOAD -> OK (wrong subdirectory in #5) I get one of > 3 things after this one: > o COMPLETE freeze - requires power off/on > o Shows some kind of red menu for 1ms and shows me the LOAD > window - when I click on anything, it just hides it and returns > me to the drawing window. > o Kills the drawing - I need to redraw (slow and a general pain) I'll make a change to verify the directory before accessing commands in the next version. Thanks for you diligent testing of EditSCH. > > P.S. I hope the author of this program has some sense and fixes > these errors. A word of advice: Don't use BASIC for the display EditSCH is written in Borland C++, as for the speed problems I'll have to investigate it further. In the future, I will query people to see who's interested in any software I may think would be of interest to people in this newsgroup. I am new to the network and do not know all of the rules and procedures. EditSCH V2.0 is the result of work from several people. It's companion program is EditPCB, and PCB layout program. While I appreciated Mr. Gieszczykiewicz's suggestions, I am personally offended by the comment "EditSCH sucks." EditSCH is a GUI-based program and includes PRINTDM allowing a person to print schematics on EPSON 9 & 24 pin, Postscript, and HP LaserJet. If you were to registered (but you probably would not after Mr. Gieszczykiewicz comments) you would receive a library of 100+ components, User's Guide in a 3-ring binder, and PrintHP, utility to plot schematics on HPGL compatible plotters for only $25. EditSCH was not written to compete with Orcad, Tango, Autocad, etc. It was written to provide a low-cost way of generating schematics that almost anyone could afford. I'm sorry for posting this response on the net;however, I do feel some of Mr. Gieszczykiewicz comments were too harsh, and omited some of EditSCH good points. If anyone has any suggestions are comments, please email them directly to me and I'll see would I can do. If anyone would like to try either EditSCH or EditPCB for themselves, both programs are available by calling: Softronix (205)851-7945 8:00 AM to 4:30PM (central) At 6:00PM the BBS is enabled and you may download the programs by calling the same number. Winefred Washington P.S. Softronix is looking for a few good beta testers. (Mr. Gieszczykiewicz, how about it? ) :-).