barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (04/15/91)
Have you read the article "UNIX and the Amiga: An Introduction to
UNIX, for the Amiga Programmer, Part I" in Amazing Computing's Tech magazine,
issue #2?
IMHO, this article is terrible. It is riddled with errors and
misconceptions about UNIX. (One example: "Ed, an ... editor, is found for
the Amiga and UNIX. Both AmigaDOS and UNIX also have the EDIT line editor
commands....") Also, this is a tech magazine, and the article was almost
completely devoid of technical content. It read like a syntax description
for 80% of its text. ("The Amiga ECHO has this syntax. The UNIX syntax
is different....") All in all, a very poor "Introduction for the Amiga
Programmer."
If I were to make a guess, I'd say that the author (Mike Hubbartt)
has used UNIX lightly for 1 year or less. Who is he? Does he have an e-mail
address? I'd like to send him some constructive comments. (No, the above
flames are not "constructive comments." :-))
Dan
DISCLAIMER: They say that you aren't supposed to criticize something
unless you could do a better job yourself. I feel justified
because my job includes teaching UNIX programming to novices.
Maybe I'll write an article for AmigaWorld Tech Journal.
//////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University |
| INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | |
| COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP |
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (04/24/91)
In article <7985@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes: > Have you read the article "UNIX and the Amiga: An Introduction to >UNIX, for the Amiga Programmer, Part I" in Amazing Computing's Tech magazine, >issue #2? > IMHO, this article is terrible. It is riddled with errors and >misconceptions about UNIX. I was under the impression that both Tech Journals, the Amazing and the AmigaWorld versions, would subject any submissions to some kind of expert review committee. Sounds like they screwed the pooch on that one, at least. I was persuaded to write an article for the AmigaWorld version, and it made me wonder if the original premise of these magazines would really last long, especially with two of them launched at basically the same time. A good portion of the people capable of writing really hard core technical articles are also generally overextended as it is. In any case, any article full of errors would be inexcusable in Amazing or AmigaWorld proper. In these new tech journals, it's worse. I haven't seen either of them yet, but if such an article made me annoyed, I would probably write a colorfully angry letter back to them. >| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.
schweige@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) (04/24/91)
In article <20892@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: <In article <7985@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes: < <> Have you read the article "UNIX and the Amiga: An Introduction to <>UNIX, for the Amiga Programmer, Part I" in Amazing Computing's Tech magazine, <>issue #2? < <> IMHO, this article is terrible. It is riddled with errors and <>misconceptions about UNIX. At first glance, I heartily agree! I almost get the impression that the author might be better off reading someone else's introduction to Unix, as opposed to writing one. <I was under the impression that both Tech Journals, the Amazing and the <AmigaWorld versions, would subject any submissions to some kind of expert <review committee. Sounds like they screwed the pooch on that one, at least. <I was persuaded to write an article for the AmigaWorld version, and it made <me wonder if the original premise of these magazines would really last long, <especially with two of them launched at basically the same time. A good <portion of the people capable of writing really hard core technical articles <are also generally overextended as it is. Looking at both of the journals, the AmigaWorld Tech Journal states that it does make use of a peer review process, but AC's Tech does not. My subjective evaluation is that the AmigaWorld entry has a better 'feel' to it. I recognized the names of more of the AmigaWorld Tech authors than I did of the AC's Tech authors, although Jeff Glatt (dissidents software) has already appeared in both journals. <In any case, any article full of errors would be inexcusable in Amazing or <AmigaWorld proper. In these new tech journals, it's worse. I haven't seen <either of them yet, but if such an article made me annoyed, I would probably <write a colorfully angry letter back to them. Get out your pen, Dave. This article is a bit too much off base. The author, Mike Hubbartt, obviously put a lot of effort into writing the article, but I don't see evidence suggesting a similar effort into researching and understanding Unix. He also managed to add to the confusion in one section where he discussed Intel 80x86 machines and putting SCO UNIX or Xenix and MS-DOS on the same machine (to be blunt, who cares, the article is for an Amiga audience). <>| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | < < <-- <Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" < {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy < "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M. -- ******************************************************************************* Jeff Schweiger Standard Disclaimer CompuServe: 74236,1645 Internet (Milnet): schweige@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil *******************************************************************************
passaret@copernicus.crd.ge.com ("Mr. Mike" Passaretti) (04/24/91)
In article <20892@cbmvax.commodore.com> daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: # #In article <7985@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU #(Dan Barrett) writes: #> #> Have you read the article "UNIX and the Amiga: An Introduction to #>UNIX, for the Amiga Programmer, Part I" in Amazing Computing's Tech magazine, #>issue #2? # #> IMHO, this article is terrible. It is riddled with errors and #>misconceptions about UNIX. # # I was under the impression that both Tech Journals, the Amazing and the # AmigaWorld versions, would subject any submissions to some kind of expert # review committee. Sounds like they screwed the pooch on that one, at least. # I was persuaded to write an article for the AmigaWorld version, and it made # me wonder if the original premise of these magazines would really last long, # especially with two of them launched at basically the same time. A good # portion of the people capable of writing really hard core technical articles # are also generally overextended as it is. # # In any case, any article full of errors would be inexcusable in Amazing or # AmigaWorld proper. In these new tech journals, it's worse. I haven't seen # either of them yet, but if such an article made me annoyed, I would probably # write a colorfully angry letter back to them. I'm doing just that for the AmigaWorld version. I don't remember the exact name of the article, but it was something about going to the metal for better joystick response, and how it didn't have to make things less "friendly" or "portable". They supplied two example executables, one "correct" and the other "to the metal". They do NOT behave the same on my 3000. The "correct" one gives appropriate responses, and the other is just terribly confused. Maybe I've missed something, but it seems to me that somebody ought to have at least checked.... followups from this message are redirected to .programmer as this has nothing to do with unix per se. # #>| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | # -- # Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" - MM P.S. Incidentally, Dave... Thanks for the 3000. I don't work at that level of design and implementation most of the time, but I can tell good design and appreciate it, and I do. I can't wait 'till the developer specs show up so I can read about things more directly instead of using a loupe on the schematics in my manual and scratching my head a lot :-). -- passaretti@crd.ge.com {whatever}!crdgw1!brahe!passaret
giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere) (04/24/91)
Well, I don't know about the A/C Tech mag, but I DO know that the "peer
review board" over at the AmigaWorld Tech Journal does indeed exist. I have
an article coming up in #2 and I did receive some comments on it from the
review board when I got the proofs.
--
Eric Giguere giguere@csg.UWaterloo.CA
Unlike the cleaning lady, I have to do Windows.