#Programming The Amiga
14 messages in this thread
Don't even think about buying Amiga C for Advanced Programers or Inside the
Amiga with C because the former is too complicated with too many listings
and too few explanations and the latter is filled with errors that make no
syntactical sense in C.
Just another Amiga user looking out for my fellow programmer
Scott Litvinoff
Scott,
Thanks for the warning. As a novice programmer it's probably a good idea
to avoid those erroneous and complicated books dealing with C programming.
I probably would have just become frustrated and given up.
Rick Herbert
Vancouver, B.C.
Rick,
The "best" 'C' books to buy are *anything* written by the Waite Group,
although not Amiga specific, they give some very lucid discussions on the
core of the language.
Venturing into the internals of the Amiga is best done by snapping up any
and all source code so that you can see just how to make these little
beasts tick.
-jack-
Usually Waite Group books are good but Inside the Amiga With C is filled
with errors and is from the Waite Group, check it out, it SUCKS!
Scott,
Look on the spine of the book, it wasn't written by the Waite group,
although it does say it on the cover. That alone is a sin, but at least I
know it wasn't really authored by them.
-jack-
OK then, Rick, what do you suggest? From another novice…. any
particularly good educational books geared to Amiga and C?? With decent
examples and good C style? Any help appreciated. Thanks. –jp–
John,
This novice programmer suggests looking at RKM13A.lzh and RKM13B.lzh in DL1
(and probably also in DL9) for a large number of examples of using the
Amiga's features in programming in C. Each little program (including
source) in the two files concentrates on one aspect of the Amiga specifics,
for example:
libraries/graphics/primitives/
AreaInfoExample – Using AreaMove, Draw and End
BoxFill – Three methods of rendering a filled rectangle.
DualPF – Dual-PlayFields Example
HAMExample.c – Hold-And-Modify Example
RGBBoxes – A self-contained example of a single playfield display.
UserCopperExample – User Copper List Example
libraries/graphics/sprite_bob_anim/
ssprite/
ssprite.c – simple sprite example with ON/OFF_SPRITE.
vsprite/
vsprite.c – virtual sprite example with collision detection.
bob/
bob.c – bob example.
anim_ex/
anim_ex.c – short animation example for the manual.
anim/
anim.c – a more complete animation example.
animtools/
animtools.c – tools for the sprite-bob-animation examples.
That is just a small sampling of what is is the two RWK files.
73, Kelly
You downloaded all that? Yikes! I just got a Fish catalog today and the
same material seems to be on disk 344. I think I'll go that route. 🙂
Yes, Jim, I downloaded all that stuff <GRIN>.
I downloaded the first file to see if the info presented would be of value,
it was, so I downloaded the second file the next day.
Some of the information has already been put to use, and when ever I quite
doing some other things, I hope to put some more of it to use. I have to
learn how to use sprites or BOBs (not sure which yet, maybe sprites).
To top that off, my catalog for fish disks comes in the form of Amazing
Computing, and I haven't received the June issue yet which should list
disks higher than 340. Besides, I can be impatient and don't like waiting
up to 6 weeks to get disks from some place.
73, Kelly
I don't know if it's permissible to say this here, but here goes…
The best source of Fish disks I've found is Amy Today, 640 Willowglen Road,
Santa Barbara, CA 93105. They have all disks up to #350 and seem to be
prompt in adding new ones. The cost is only $2.00 per disk if you order
five or more. But the best of all: I've gotten all my orders in two weeks
or less! Sometimes MUCH less! And I'm in Pennsylvania. (This is by the
postal service, not UPS or anything even.)
DISCLAIMER: I have absolutely no connection with this company (other than
being a VERY satisfied customer.)
John,
If you follow this "Programming The Amiga" message thread a lot of very
knowledgeable people have been very helpful suggesting their choices as to
what they feel are the best books geared to the Amiga and particularily the
C language for beginners.
I have not yet purchased anything as I thought I would ask a few questions
here in the AmigaTech forum to see what some of the experts had to say
before I went out and spent a bunch of money.
Rick Herbert
Vancouver, B.C.
Thanks… I just started following this area, and you are right; just after
I posted the 'which is good book?' question I came across several opinions
on them… Thanks for the reply… I have no desire to buy every
'Programming the Amiga in C' type book. It is expensive! –jp–
Fred Fish Disk 337 contains an Amiga C manual. It assumes that you have a
pretty good handle on C, though. If you know standard C already, I would
recommend this disk for learning the Amiga, however. It explains how to
work with the Intuition system primarily, and gives lots of examples.
Rick,
Jumping into the middle of this thread… I recently located what I
feel is the best beginning 'C' Book.
TITLE: A First Book of C
SubTitle: ( Fundamentals of C Programming)
Authors: Gary Bronson & Stephen Menconi
AT&T Professional Series published by West Publishing Company
ISBN 0-932764-19-3
The book appears to be new for 1990 and if my memory is correct was
priced at $29.00. I picked it up at a Software Ect. Store.
Also CPrimer Plus (A new ANSI C ) Version is now out is also a excellent
choice.
At least for me Rob Pecks book is rather confusing tho alot of people
do highly recommend it.
Also don't forget the Rom Kernel Manuals. (There are three of them)
called Includes & AutoDocs, Libraries & Devices and Hardware Reference.
The first two are really a must for programming on the Amiga.
MikeM:)