Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!husc6!bunny!hor-res!berry
From: berry@hor-res.UUCP (No comment)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: (None)
Summary: 'C' or Assembly ?
Message-ID: <224@hor-res.UUCP>
Date: 15 Jun 88 22:59:08 GMT
References: <312@pedro.UUCP>
Organization: Horizon Research, Waltham MA
Lines: 41

In article <312@pedro.UUCP>, pete_ashdown@pedro.UUCP (Pete Ashdown) writes:
> 
> jumped from BASIC to 6502 because my highschool dumped the Pascal class.  To 
> this day, I still haven't learned a structured language.  I _tried_ to get 
> into 'C', but I found out quickly that I was uneasy not knowing _exactly_ what 
> was going on with my program.  I prefer assembly, simply because I feel that 
> I am more in control.  Speed has another thing to do with it.  I know 'C' can 

Two things, If you are a good programmer, you should be writing structured
and modular code. Second, learning 'C' may be a pain but it can save a *lot*
of time coding complex routines (my opinion).

> be very fast for some programmers, but I think it would end up being very 
> slow code for me, simply because I am a beginner at it.  Above all, I want to 

The Amiga is not a slow machine. You would have to almost work at it to make
a 'C' program slow, well real slow anyway. IT REALLY SHOULDN'T MATTER WHAT
LANGUAGE YOU USE. Just follow the rules. All the examples in the RKM are either
in 'C' or assembler. Nobody says you can't do both. In fact both the Lattice
and Manx 'C' packages allow in line assembly code to be defined, so for the
critical (real critical) stuff you can code in assembly.

> write games on the Amiga.  After seeing Marble Madness kludge its scrolling, 
> I don't think that 'C' is the language I am looking for.  I really haven't 
> seen "brilliant game #1" that was written in 'C'.  It also may have something 

I believe that a game called Arkanoids was written in 'C'. Actually it would
be hard for me to tell by looking whether a game was written in 'C' or 
Assembler or Modula II or Forth etc... ALL OF THE FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE TO
THE ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMER CAN BE USED IN 'C' (or any other language
with the appropriate bindings). You can't blame a language for the fault of
the programmer (re: marble Maddness).

Choose the language(s) you like, follow the rules, make it great. Nuff said.



-- 
-Steve Berry- ...!bunny!hor-res!berry
"Dare to be gorgeous and unique. But don't ever be cryptic or otherwise
Unfathomable. Make it unforgettably great."
Intuition Reference Manual, pg 231.