MARKV@UKANVAX.BITNET (NAME) (03/01/90)
> I am in need of some advice. I've just gotten Lattice C 5.0.4 (actually >in Jan, but you don't know that...) and a whole slew of reference books by >Abacus. Ie: Abacus C for Begin/Advanced, Machine Language, Graphics, etc.. >However, these books are not perfect. Not much is, but still, it took me >several days to figure out that they had left the "#include <proto/xxx.h"> Actually, your don't need the #include <proto/xxx.h> statments if you link with amiga.lib. With the proto/foo.h (proto/all.h will cover everything and not take much time) the compiler will generate direct calls to the Amiga libraries, with amiga.lib, the compiler will call a 'stub' which will call the Amiga libraries. >statements out of all their programs. The programs also require alot of >tweaking to get them to even compile, much less run properly. I have a couple of the Abacus books. They give a LOT of information, but aren't long on explanation or doing things the legal way. > I need more info and examples, though! What do you guys suggest? >Are there any good books available for this type of work... >P.S: I've heard the "Includes & Autodocs 1.3" mentioned ALOT in my > reading. Does this arcane tome contain printouts of all the > common #INCLUDEs, or is that too obvious? And, what are > "Autodocs"? I have this stray idea that they are related to the The "Includes and Autodocs" is just (mostly) a bound and printed version of the what's on the "Native Developer's Kit" disks. The Includes are just that, all the Amiga includes. The 'Autodocs' are text files detailing each system function or macro including run-time libraries, amiga.lib, debug.lib. There is also a section on IFF and a sample device. And finally, all the exec level commands for the various .devices. Most of this info is availabe on disk, but it IS nice to have it printed (plus the book costs the same as the disk set so...). But, important to note, this book is primarily just a reference. For instruction, explanation, and examples, look at "Libraries and Devices" which gives good information on Intuition, Exec, and all the other Amiga stuff. Libraries and Devices is organized into topical chapters like "Menus", "Screens", "Console Device", etc. For both of these books make sure you get the NEW (1.3) versions. They are easy to spot, they have blue covers and say they include 1.3 on the cover. The old ones are white (but both sets were/are published by Addison-Wesley). > Should I get this thing now, or wait for the "Includes & > Autodocs 1.4"? (Which I ASSUME will come out after 1.4 is released) No, dont wait. The new 1.3 manuals from 6 months to a year to come out after the release of 1.3 (Libraries and Devices has only been available a couple months.) With 1.4 (2.0? :-) ) several months off, it will be a while before you see the 1.4 manuals (although the "Includes and Autodocs" part will be on disk as part of the "Native Developer's Kit" almost immediately (at least it was with 1.2 and 1.3)). These two books togather will go a long way towards showing you what you need. Other books I can recommend are the "Amiga Programmers Handbook, Vols I and II" which cover the library calls and devices respectivly. They offer a more detailed explanation of each function and have nice graphical diagrams of interactions and linkage of system structures. But these two are less needed now that Commodore has current references available. Inside the Amiga with C (2nd Edition) is a good general book having a more tutorial approach than many books and covering many of aspects fairly well, especially Intuition. >I just got Lattice C v5.04 today, and was wondering what books, utilities, >public domain libraries, front ends, etc should I get? I have some experience >programming in C on Xenix, and Vax C, and was looking for ways to make >Lattice as helpful. Luckily Lattice 5.04 has a good set of Unix like utilities with it. Make sure you have the 5.04a patch applied (actually the compiler is fine, but 5.04a fixes some bugs in the libraries and CodeProbe, mainly floating point problems). Also the library is fairly complete (they even added the vprintf... family finally) and useful. A good editor is essential, I am still searching for a combination I like, but Multitasking helps. If you do any Intuition programming, Power Windows is worth every penny you spend on it. Power Windows lets you interactivly design menus, screens, gadgets, etc and then generates C source code. ARP helps a lot, especially in dealing with DOS. It greatly simplifies and improves the interface and utility of DOS and lets you forget (almost) about BCPL. For now, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Gooderum Only... \ Good Cheer !!! Academic Computing Services /// \___________________________ University of Kansas /// /| __ _ Bix: markgood \\\ /// /__| |\/| | | _ /_\ makes it Bitnet: MARKV@UKANVAX \/\/ / | | | | |__| / \ possible... Internet: mark@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~