Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!cbmvax!ken
From: ken@cbmvax.commodore.com (Ken Farinsky - CATS)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: Beginning Programmers
Message-ID: <17546@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 14 Jan 91 19:19:14 GMT
References: <1991Jan10.222552.13086@clark.edu> <727@cbmger.UUCP> <15571@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> <15573@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
Reply-To: ken@cbmvax.commodore.com (Ken Farinsky - CATS)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 22

In article <15573@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> cleland@sdbio2.ucsd.edu (Thomas Cleland) writes:
>
>[Why] would I really need the ROM Kernel
>manuals?  Once I know where to start I think I can teach 
>myself by practicing and hanging around this newsgroup.
>-- 
>Thom Cleland -- tcleland@ucsd.edu

One of the most important points in learning to program the Amiga is to
NEVER do things because they _seem_ to work.  If you find yourself saying
"If I put a 17 in this field then, magically, I get the desired result",
then you will probably break in a later version of the OS.  When you
program the machine, read the documentation.  Find the reason that things
work.  Find the supported methods.  The ROM Kernel Manuals are one place
to find such information.  The Libraries & Devices Manual gives examples
on how to use much of the system.  The Includes & Autodocs Manual gives
(in reference format) the "final word" on specific function calls.
-- 
--
Ken Farinsky - CATS - (215) 431-9421 - Commodore Business Machines
uucp: ken@cbmvax.commodore.com   or  ...{uunet,rutgers}!cbmvax!ken
bix:  kfarinsky