reynaldo@athena.mit.edu (Rey Villarreal) (05/05/91)
I am interested in learning C. I am wondering what is a good way of going about doing this. Specificly what is the best PD C compiler and what is the difference between a Pd compiler and say lattice C. Anyway advice on what I need to get started would be well received.
zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) (05/05/91)
In article <1991May4.202624.7055@athena.mit.edu> reynaldo@athena.mit.edu (Rey Villarreal) writes: > >I am interested in learning C. I am wondering what is a good way >of going about doing this. Specificly what is the best PD C compiler >and what is the difference between a Pd compiler and say lattice C. >Anyway advice on what I need to get started would be well received. The best way to learn C is to take a class in it. Your address at MIT would seem to indicate that you have a few schools in the area that could offer one of these classes. C is a somewhat complex, obscure language, so it would be better to learn some other, simpler language first. Pascal is a common choice, since it has structure similar to C. When taking the class, you will be able to use a home compiler to work on the same programs you get in class. C is very portable in that manner. The generally accepted "best" publically redistributable C compiler package is DICE (Dillon's Integrated C Environment). Redistributable packages can not have proprietary information in them, so if you want to use the special features of the Amiga, you'll need to get the Commodore header files from somewhere else. You can still do a lot without them. Commercial packages come with nice things like source debuggers, editors, graphical user interfaces (if Lattice), and other support utilities. They also have optimizers built in to the compiler. They also come with a telephone number so you complain about bugs/ask for help during regular business hours. If you are going to be doing a lot of compiling, it is really nice to have a fast hard disk or a lot of memory. You can use the memory as a RAM disk, to make up for the lack of a hard disk. You do a lot of fooling around with files when compiling. Dan Zerkle zerkle@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu (916) 754-0240 Amiga... Because life is too short for boring computers.
andrewsr@steely.rutgers.edu (Rich Andrews) (05/05/91)
Don't forget to check out the CManual on the current fish disks. It has good examples and well-written chapters. It is geared more toward the Amiga than the C language, but it couldn't hurt to check it out. -Rich -- // Rich | "But maybe it's not too late...You can still cheat the hands \X/ Andrews | of fate...Just roll the dice and play the game... - Wendy O