Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!public!valentin From: valentin@public.BTR.COM (Valentin Pepelea) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer Subject: Re: Information on Amiga Technical Reference Seri Message-ID: <3096@public.BTR.COM> Date: 18 Jun 91 03:49:41 GMT References: <3036@public.BTR.COM> <22455@cbmvax.commodore.com> Organization: BTR Communications, Mtn. View, CA Lines: 65 In article <22455@cbmvax.commodore.com> peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna) writes: > >If you think not having source will hurt application developers, you've >not begun to imagine the long-term hurt to users and developers which >would be caused by releasing the source. Why? Because there seems to >be some confusion that the _implementation_ of the OS is its definition. >Nothing could be farther from the truth. The documentation is the >definition, and the implementation is subject to change. Seeing the insides >of routines will only encourage developers to take advantage of tricks that >are not part of the definition and not supportable. This is absolute nonesense. Nobody in his right mind would start using tricks or undicumented features that would break their software in the future. This cynical attitude has no place in this discussion. What imbeciles are going to do with a usefull tool is totally irrelevant to this discussion. Besides, we all have a constitutional right to shoot ourselves in the foot. >The funniest part about it is that one of the Usenetters arguing for >sources to be released has recently dealt with a bug in code he >is responsible for. The problem was code that was depending on >Intuition preserving some fields that in the manuals were specifically >_defined_ as being trashed. Under 1.3, they just happened to be >preserved. Under 2.0, they weren't. Boom. This is totally irrelevant. The error that you are alluding to was produced without the availability of source code. On the contrary, the error was produced by the lack of documentation and a significant error in OS design. Regular device IO requests have their input fields preserved. Input events on the other hand have their inputs destroyed. This is a serious design mistake. >Further, Commodore has a very dynamic and accessible support program. >Official developer support is affordable and easy to reach. If you can afford the $450/year fee, plus the long distance phone charges. Many of our contractors cannot afford this 'accesible' program. >If you have a question, ask it, instead of asking for the source. And then there are questions which will never be answered, particularly not on Usenet. Like, is there a bug in function XXX? >And before you ask for the source, be sure you avail yourself of >the existing documentation and tools that exist to make your >life easier. Do you have the 1.3 RKMs? Do you have the 1.3 autodocs >and include files? The 1.3 RKMs are certainly a vast improvement over their predecessors. Particularly when it comes to examples. But there is no substitue for source code. I certainly am happy with them. But that is not the case of my colleagues, nor of many other devellopers I know. There are advantages of having the OS writers also write the documentation. But disadvantages also abound. Valentin -- "An operating system without virtual memory Name: Valentin Pepelea is an operating system without virtue." Phone: (408) 985-1700 Usenet: mips!btr!valentin - Ancient Inca Proverb Internet: valentin@btr.com