Programmer 7500/MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso/INFO/C/DLIBS.ZIP/READ.ME

Text File | 1987-10-12 | 5.4 KB | 89 lines

dLibs v1.0                            10/12/87

    dLibs is a public domain set of standard library routines for use
    with Alcyon C v4.14 on the Atari ST.  It was written in 1987 by Dale
    Schumacher.  The intent of these routines is to provide a rich set of
    library routines for C programmers, with all source code publically
    available.  It is meant to be both useful and educational.  As far as I
    know, this is the most complete set of library routines that are in the
    public domain.  An attempt has been made to adhere to clear standards
    in the design of dLibs.  I used the specifications for the library
    routines of Microsoft C v4.0 (for IBM-PC) as a basis for most of dLibs.
    In cases where functions where not available in Microsoft C, and in
    cases where Microsoft seemed to deviate from what I percieved as
    accepted practice, I referred to various Unix libraries.  I'd like to
    see these routines distributed as widely as possible as I feel they
    will be a benefit to many people.  The only restriction I'd like to
    place on the use of dLibs is this.  If you modify the sources code,
    please don't redistribute it under the name "dLibs".  I encourage
    people to look at, play with, modify and improve the source code as
    much as they want, and would gladly accept suggestions (preferrably
    with source code) for changes/additions to dLibs.  I simply want to
    avoid the problem of digressive versions of dLibs.  This will not be
    the only dLibs release.  I plan to expand these routines in many ways
    and hope to continue providing good useful source code for the public
    domain programming community.

    dLibs is, as I've said, quite a complete set of routines.  There
    are, however some notable ommisions.  There is not currently any
    support for floating point operations.  I've received some source code
    that may help this situation, and plan to release a floating point math
    library to go with dLibs, but not in this version.  Also, there is no
    direct support for VDI/AES calls.  Again, a very likely future addition
    (anyone wishing to contribute useful routines is encouraged to contact
    me, since I don't use VDI/AES calls).  Currently under development is a
    set of fork()/exec()/wait() routines that will work much like their
    Unix counterparts.  Most likely, a future version of dLibs will contain
    code to detect that an application is running under the RTX multi-
    tasking kernel developed by Beckemeyer Development.  This will allow
    programs to run normally under TOS, but also take advantage of RTX if
    it is available.  dLibs will not currently work directly with Mark
    Johnson's public domain C compiler, but a port is in progress.

    The documentation for dLibs is a bit sketchy at this point, but it
    should allow you to begin using the routines immediately, especially if
    you are already familiar with what various functions do in Microsoft or
    Unix.  If there is any question about the function of dLibs in any
    particular situation, you can always refer to the source code for the
    "definitive" explaination.  You might even find some features that you
    didn't know about.  You shouldn't have very much trouble porting source
    code written with the Alcyon/DRI libraries, since most of the functions
    work the same (except that many dLibs routines work correctly, where
    the equivalent Alcyon/DRI routine failed).  I've found that most of the
    effort involves removing direct GEMDOS/BIOS/XBIOS calls and replacing
    them with standard functions, which are more portable anyhow.  I advise
    reading the dLibs function documentation at least once straight through
    to familiarize yourself with many functions that weren't available in
    the older libraries.

    And now a word about dynamic memory.  With the new GEMSTART written
    by Allan Pratt of Atari (very well done), you had to specify how much
    memory you wanted to reserve for stack/heap.  All dynamic memory was
    allocated from this block, so you had to know in advance how much
    memory you'd need at most.  This sometimes made execution of
    sub-programs (or concurrent processes) difficult, since they could only
    use the memory remaining after you reserved your stack/heap space.
    dLibs allocates heap space from TOS as it needs it (though carefully
    avoids breaking the memory management system).  Dynamic memory is
    allocated from those heaps and the heaps are returned to TOS if they
    become entirely free.  You still need to reserve space for your program
    stack (4K is default), but dynamic memory management is handled
    internally.

    I'd like to thank several people for their contributions in the
    form of source code, ideas and beta-testing.  Thank you John Stanley,
    David (orc) Parsons, Jwahar Bammi, Eric Gisin, David Beckemeyer, Todd
    Burkey and David Robb.  I hope you find dLibs to be a useful package,
    and I hope to hear from you if you have any suggestions or bug fixes.
    I'm sure I haven't shaken ALL of the bugs out yet, though beta-testers
    have been quite pleased with how well everything works.

        Dale Schumacher
        399 Beacon Ave.
        St. Paul, MN 55104

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