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Re: MACFORM.EXE, programming and other Qs



In a message dated 95-05-10 10:39:44 EDT, you write:

>Hi SimBoss,
>
>	I am on the Executor mailing list and I recieved a copy of your
>MACFORM program.  I am impressed.  I would like to know what language
>you
>coded it in.  

I wrote it in Turbo C++ for DOS v3.0.

>I am relatively new to the PC world and would like to
>learn
>how to program again.  (I used to do pretty well with BASIC and some
>C on
>my old Atari ST.)  Do you have any suggestions for how I should
>start?

Well, you first need to learn the keywords and conventions used by C.  You
can learn that easily with a DOS C compiler.

>I am used to using PD compilers and LIBs but most of what I've seen for
>the
>PC in PD is a little incomplete.  Are there any good books that you
>would recommend?

"Learn C Now" and "Learn C in 21 Days" are pretty good.  Learn C Now comes
with a compiler, but it can't make EXEs.  I really don't know what are the
best books are because I learned C the exact opposite way.  I learned Windows
C first simply by reading the source code and seeing what each line does.

>Where is a good site for source code that shouldn't need too
>much tweaking to compile?  And finally, what programming language
>packages
>do you recommend.  I would at least like to write some good DOS
>programs
>and really get familiar with that before I attempt to tackle anything
>that
>is GUI based.

I don't really know any FTP sites (I'm talking about FTP sites in general -
not programming ones) except for SimTel and ftp.cs.unm.edu:/pub/ardi.  SimTel
has SOME source code for you to look at.

I recommend Borland's compilers.  I use Turbo C++ for DOS and Turbo C++ for
Windows.  Borland C++ 4.5 is also good.  To me, Borland C++ is just Turbo C++
for DOS, Windows, Win32 and Windows/95 combined.  It does have some extra
features that make programming easier, but you pay for it.  Anything that you
can do (I mean program - I don't count Borland C++ visual application
designer) with Borland C++ (well, except Win32 and Windows/95) you can do
with Turbo C++ for Windows and Turbo C++ for DOS for more than a hundred
dollars cheaper.

>Well, that's it...  Once again, thanks a million for MACFORM.
>
>							Later,
>							G II L
>
>--
>"Once in a while a girl comes along and opens your heart like a spam
>tin."
>			    -Thomas Dolby-
>		         Astronauts & Heretics
>     		      Track 9- "Beauty of a Dream"

I will be releasing the source code for MacForm after I add some comment
lines.  I want to release it so that a Linux programmer could port the code.
 It uses INT 13 (hex) BIOS calls, so maybe it won't work.  Other than that,
it's completely portable (I think).

SimBoss