Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!jesup
From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: More assembly questions
Keywords: Abacus Book
Message-ID: <11959@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 30 May 90 07:30:23 GMT
References: <1990May17.072036.11335@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <23257@uflorida.cis.uf <265377fd-662.2comp.sys.amiga.tech-1@tronsbox.UUCP> <9074@rouge.usl.edu> <11891@cbmvax.commodore.com> <17861@ultima.cs.uts.oz>
Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax (Randell Jesup)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 35

In article <17861@ultima.cs.uts.oz> vilkas@ultima.cs.uts.oz (Iron Wolf) writes:
>Thing to understand about the abacus books, they aren't intended for the 
>application programmer. They are for the programmer who wants to know the guts
>of the machine and how to get the very best possible performance. An example
>if this is the Amiga Systems Programmer's Guide. This book is fabulous if you
>want to learn how to program the amiga at a low level. That is at a level which
>makes the most of the speed of the machine.

>If for instance, you were working on a commercial game, you would want the 
>fastest routines and such with which to work. In this case...out goes the OS,
>program the hardware! (not a good practice for application programming) 

	Argh.  When will people learn that games _are_ applications?  Plus,
the techniques used lead to programs that break if the roms are changed, or
the machine has a different configuration, or a different processor, not
work with hard drives, etc, etc.  It's these sort of practices that
contribute to some people dismissing the amiga as "just a game machine".

>I am not trying to disagree with you. you are right in saying that the
>Abacus books teach bad practices (unless you are writing games or other speed
>intensive programs) And I would also suggest the RKM's with another good
>introductory book with which to learn how to program. The RKM's also 
>contain a section explaining what is considered good programming and what isn't.

	Even speed-intensive programs can be relatively nice to the system -
for example, re-enable multitasking while paused, for example.  However,
you're wrong that the RKM's are good for "laerning how to program".  They are
good (and IMHO necessary) for learning how to program an Amiga (for anything).
they are not programming tutorials, though - they assume you know how to
program (and to a certain extent that you can read C).

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"