Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekig5!wayneck
From: wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne C Knapp)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Programming MS-Windows vs. Amiga (Re: resource tracking)
Message-ID: <5763@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Date: 8 Mar 90 20:10:33 GMT
References: <1165@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> <5214@sugar.hackercorp.com> <23118@usc.edu> <1990Mar7.172957.18884@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or.
Lines: 25

In article <1990Mar7.172957.18884@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>, es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes:
> 	AmigaDOS works. It is VERY fast considering that it's a
> multitasking OS. Telling you to stop whining is dumb, especially as I
> don't think that is what you are doing. The poor reliability of many
> Amiga programs is a real issue. However, there are programmers who are
> coming out with clean code. Just ask before you buy and you'll do
> fine!

However, the real issue is that even though your own code may be very
clean, another program can interfear with its memory and cause horrible
things to happen.  Someone gets a super neat whiz bang PD program that in
some case, for some reason frees some memory and then still uses it.  Next
your clean code get the memroy via a AllocMem() or some such code.  While
you are using the memory the other programs changes some of the data.      
Next thing you know you are seeing effects you never realise the Amiga 
could do and the system GURUs.   

The lack of memory protection is a real issue.  I've learned it the hard
way.  No matter how careful you are, programs just don't run 100% reliable
on the Amiga.  Maybe on the newer machines, I still using my A1000.  
Memory protection is worth a lot when it comes to reliablity.  If I were
starting out today I would never use a multi-tasking computer that didn't
have hardware memory protection.

                                             Wayne Knapp