Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:06:07 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Aleksi Kallio <aleksi AT kalliot DOT pp DOT fi>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Ideas for DJGPP.
In-Reply-To: <32a43b9c.1190444@news.eunet.fi>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.961205144947.9244M-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Aleksi Kallio wrote:

> >Can you please tell in detail what are the issues that make DJGPP
> >confusing for a newcomer?  Thanks.
>
> First of all, PMode is confusing. Nearly all code you see is written
> to RMode, so it isn't very easy to guess what it would be in PMode.

That's not a newbie stuff.  Protected mode is only an issue if you need 
to write system-level code, which is a far cry from the ``hello world'' 
programs written by newbies.

> Then, making DJGPP and RHIDE work isn't very easy either, if you
> compare to commercial compilers.

RHIDE has just come out of beta.  It's hardly fair to compare version 1.00
with v5 ot v10.5 of others.  If the current state of affairs with RHIDE is
not good enough for you, use any of the other good editors available for
free from the net, until RHIDE gets more stable and friendly. 

> And then maybe the most confusing thing is Help. DJGPP's help sucks,
> or I'm stupid. But it is nearly impossible to find something from
> there, and if you compare it to commercial compilers'
> point-and-click-with-right-button system, well, guess who wons..

My guess: Info wins. ;-)

Seriously, I suggest you invest a couple of hours in reading the Info docs
(the docs about how to use Info itself).  Fire up Info, press `h' and read
carefully the Info usage docs, especially the sections which describe the
advanced commands.  Then press `?', browse through the list of Info
commands (don't be intimidated by its sheer length) and read the
description of every command whose name sounds interesting.  You won't be
disappointed, I promise you.  Info is a very powerful program, even though
its text-mode interface might seem a bit oldie. 

Besides, the *real* power of any help system is (IMHO) the content, not
the form and when I compare the content of the GNU/DJGPP docs with those 
of all those Windows point-and-click programs, well, guess who wins...