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- This constitutes a bibliography of some of the references used
- in creating the PBWiz library. They are listed in no particular
- order. I might note that many of these references contain
- incorrect information on one point or another and that they
- frequently contradict each other. Such are the joys of assembly
- programming. Comments reflect my personal opinions on the text.
-
-
-
- "The New Peter Norton Programmer's Guide to the IBM PC &
- PS/2". 2nd Ed, 1988, by Peter Norton and Richard Wilton.
- Microsoft Press.
- -- Often contains inadequate detail and is unusually
- error-prone. Some of the information is unique to this source,
- however, so it has its value.
-
- "Microsoft Mouse Programmer's Reference". 2nd Ed, 1991.
- Microsoft Press.
- -- Bizarrely, the primary examples are for interpreted BASIC
- (BASICA or GWBASIC). However, there are matching examples for
- QuickBASIC, C, and MASM. This is a comprehensive reference. You
- do have to be careful about using many of the routines, as older
- mouse drivers are common, and they don't support all of the
- newer routines. Unfortunately, no information is provided as to
- the release date of any of the mouse functions...
-
- "COMPUTE!'s Mapping the IBM PC and PCjr". 1985, COMPUTE!
- Publications, Inc.
- -- An old but indispensable reference. The memory map, port
- reference, and low-level support chip information are very good.
-
- "Programmer's Guide to PC & PS/2 Video Systems". 1987, by
- Richard Wilton. Microsoft Press.
- -- A terrific reference on video from MDA to VGA. The example
- program for putting the Hercules adapter into graphics mode is
- rather buggy, however.
-
- "Supercharged Bit-Mapped Graphics". 1992, by Steve Rimmer.
- Windcrest Books (an imprint of Tab Books, which in turn is a
- division of McGraw-Hill, Inc).
- -- A quite decent text on various image formats, including .BMP,
- .MAC, .PCX, .GIF and others. Source listings in C and assembly
- language.
-
- "Power Graphics Programming". 1989, by Michael Abrash. Que
- Corporation.
- -- Terrific book, well written, a "must have" if you are
- interested in programming the EGA and/or VGA at a low level.
- Superb.
-
- "The MS-DOS Encyclopedia". 1988. Microsoft Press.
- -- Encyclopedic it is. Every serious assembly programmer should
- have a copy. Covers DOS itself, DOS interrupts, communications,
- TSRs, and lots of handy articles by the best in the business.
- The BIOS is ignored, however. It covers through DOS 3.0 and is
- getting a bit dated, but is still a good thing to have.
-
- "The Programmer's PC Sourcebook". 2nd Ed, 1991, by Thom
- Hogan. Microsoft Press.
- -- An astonishing collection of data and tables. With
- comprehensive scope but no depth, this reference can tease by
- providing insufficient detail. Still, a priceless work. Get one
- immediately, or two if you have a friend.
-
- "Algorithms & Data Structures". 1986, by Niklaus Wirth.
- Prentice-Hall, Inc.
- -- Terse text with rather ghastly Modula-2 source listings. One
- of the few places where sorting and data structures are covered
- even moderately well, however. If you need to do sorts or
- b-trees, it's a mandatory text.
-
- "Sound Blaster: The Official Book". 1993. McGraw-Hill, Inc.
- -- Not as complete as one might like. Most of the book is concerned with
- idiot-level end-user stuff. An appendix details the hardware interface in
- an ineffectual manner, and the SB software drivers in a manner which is
- mostly sufficient for technical folks.
-