Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!toddpw
From: toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Making Inits in ORCA/C...
Message-ID: <1991Jan12.100403.20139@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 12 Jan 91 10:04:03 GMT
References: <20696@netcom.UUCP>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 46

avery@netcom.UUCP (Avery Colter) writes:

>Fellow ORCA/C buffs...
>Does any of you know whether initialization files can be made from ORCA/C?

They most certainly can.

>Also, do Init files have to be non-interactive?

Doubt it.

>Are there any books with any detail of the subject?

Not really. But the documentation that does exist makes it clear that Inits
are loaded/executed/disposed of in exactly the same way except for one:
inits end with an RTL and not a Quit call.

trivial example:

#include <stdio.h>
void main (void)
{
printf("Hello, World.\n");
getchar();
}

#compile hello.cc
#rm hello.root
#link hello		(I assume your KEEPNAME and LINKNAME are $)
#filetype hello $b7	(temp init)

What happened? We killed the code that Orca adds onto every C program that
parses the shell command line into argc/argv variables, before creating the
final program. The problem is that when you have more subroutines and source
files, you have to remember this simple rule:

If the first filename given to the linker has no .ROOT file, then the first
function in that object file will be the one called by the O/S and not main().

Try some experiments and see what works. I suspect that parts of the stdio
library are dependent on the Orca shell being available. When I get some time
I am going to work on replacements that are purely GS/OS and tool dependent
so Orca's weak library will not be a problem.

Todd Whitesel
toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu