Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!usc!apple!vsi1!zorch!ditka!nfsun!eklektik!danbabcock
From: danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Amiga editor programming advice
Message-ID: <1519@eklektik.UUCP>
Date: 5 Apr 90 22:16:04 GMT
Reply-To: danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1)
Organization: Computers, Gerbils, and Games in the Basement, Pgh, PA
Lines: 31

Dan Barrett wrote (heavily edited):

> I am porting an editor to the Amiga...
> Should I use the console device...what kind of window, etc.?
> Any tips? Thanks!

If you want a slow, frustrating editor - like most editors on the Amiga -
then open a window and do your IO via the console device. If, however, you
want an editor that will make people shout "WOW!", here's what to do:

Open a custom, one-bitplane screen. Do not use the operating system for
text output. Do not use the blitter. Instead, write a very efficient
character output routine (in machine code, naturally) that performs eight
moves per character.

For scrolling, use the copper, not the blitter or the CPU. By making
clever use of the copper, it's possible to scroll very efficiently.

If you follow the spirit of these suggestions, you will end up with the
absolute fastest possible editor on the Amiga, guaranteed - and that
will please your users (and yourself, and me!) much more than a raft of
obscure features. 

I have a few user interface suggestions too: utilitize the numeric
keypad as in the IBM-style arrangement of Home, PgUp, PgDown, etc. And
it would be EXTREMELY nice if the Help key actually brought help, and
the Escape key actually escaped! One last suggestion: do not implement
infinitely long lines; instead, simply wrap at 80 columns (at least when
the user is entering text).

-- Dan Babcock