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From: ewhac@well.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: BCPL/AmigaDOS
Message-ID: <3262@well.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 9-Jun-87 20:53:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: well.3262
Posted: Tue Jun  9 20:53:38 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jun-87 02:11:09 EDT
References: <283@l5comp.UUCP> <1984@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Followup-To: net.flame
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 66
Keywords: flame, blowtorch, incendiary device, firestorm, nuclear blast
Summary: --> Flame on AmigaDOS documentation.  Hit 'n' now if you like. <--

In article <1984@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> phillip@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Phillip Lindsay CATS) writes:
>in article <283@l5comp.UUCP>, scotty@l5comp.UUCP (Scott Turner) says:
>> Summary: MCC isn't the total villian in this drama folks.
>> 
>> And this doesn't apply to just the "taboo" BCPL support routines built into the
>> ROM. MCC had the jump on other things that we only later were let in on. Like
>> those nifty packets to make console.handler dance etc.
>If you HAD read your Dos Technical Reference Manual you would have seen that
>on pages 3-8 to 3-14 packets are described. [ ... ]

FUSION_FURNACE_ON

	Oh, PUH-LEEEEZZ!!  Get real.  You call that documentation?  The
Commodore 1541 disk manual was better than that!  You got more information
out of the libraries/#? include files than you did out of the MetaComCo
docs.

	The DOS manuals constantly referred to "pointers."  What they never
told you was that they were REALLY referring to BPTRs.  This was casually
mentioned on an obscure page in the developer's manual I think, and was
described in a manner that suggested that, "Obviously you know this
already."

	Despite MetaComCo's efforts to the contrary, I've managed to figure
out how a lot of the DOS works (or rather, operates; I hesitate to say that
it *works*), and can program it effectively.  However, whenever I get a
chance, I avoid the DOS like the plague and go straight to the Exec.

	I mean, all this wouldn't be so bad if things were *DOCUMENTED*.
The Exec, graphics, Intuition, and hardware manuals are gorgeous.  But
someone feebed out of the DOS manuals.  If all this stuff were written down
somewhere, we'd all know about it, and would deal with it as we needed to.
We may not like it, but *at least* we could deal with it.

	As it turns out, you have to be a Philadelphia Lawyer to understand
what the DOS manuals are trying to hide from you, and this is probably what
has got a lot of us steamed.  This is also probably the primary reason
everyone wants to dump the DOS (apart from the BPTR stuff, but that's really
the fault of whoever wrote the BCPL compiler (hence my new acronym: British
Compiler Programmers are Lousy)).

	The clearest part of the DOS documentation is the bit that describes
the filesystem format, and that's only because they drew pictures.

	I'm running out of steam now, but I just wanted to say that anyone
who suggests that the manuals will clear DOS issues up has, in my view, not
actually tried to read them.  "RTFM" doesn't work too well with the DOS.

FUSION_FURNACE_OFF

	Sorry to fly off the handle like that, but the fact that I had to
read the DOS manual three times cover to cover before I understood what was
going on still has me irked.  Maybe I'm just not as smart as I think I am.

Sidenote:
	A very competent friend of mine, who is a C guru in all aspects
(writes device drivers using 'cat >'), claims that he could totally re-write
AmigaDOS into C in three months.  Further, he claims that he could remove a
lot of the braindamage currently in the DOS if he wanted to.  I believe him.
Anyone want to pay him to do this?

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_	 Bike shrunk by popular demand,	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	 But it's still the only way to fly.  hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor