Message-Id: <199901011621.QAA01779@remus.clara.net>
From: "Arthur" <arfa AT clara DOT net>
To: <djgpp AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: RE: Very Newbie Questions
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999 16:20:34 -0000
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

> I took the plunge the other day and downloaded DJGPP!
>
> I seem to have it all working alright.  I played around with RHIDE, and
> I went through all of the allegro examples.  Today, I downloaded DFE95.
> It doesn't work.  It doesn't seem to be actually sending the compiler
> commands to the command line.  The message window gives the right
> command line then says that the compiler returned no errors or
> warnings.  The trouble is that it doesn't do anything.  There is no new
> object or executable files created.  Anybody else have trouble like
> this?  I do have the paths set up correctly, and I've tried the exact
> same commands on the command line myself.  They work like a charm.

Yep, I have the same problem. The author of DFE95 knows about it, but it
only seems to occur on certain computers (not his) and so the problem's hard
to find. DFE98 is in the pipeline now, but not from the same person, and the
pre-alpha version that I saw looked very promising (syntax highlighting
etc).

> I have a functioning knowledge of C/C++, but I would like suggestions on
> how to go further.  How do I find out about memory management, assembly,
> graphics, and all that stuff that isn't in your standard C book?  Any
> ideas are greatly appreciated.  I especially want to learn more about
> graphics and games programming.  How do I learn to use Allegro
> efficiently?

With DJGPP, memory management is taken care of for you to a functional
degree. In 99% of the cases, you don't need to know about it to program. I
don't know where you can find info on it, but you'll need to know the inside
of your PC like the back of your hand. I have not yet found a good reference
to ASM on the PC.

Allegro is a great place to start games programming. In my experience, it's
best to learn how to program a game, then learn the tricky technical
knowledge. In other words, with Allegro you don't need to learn 40 different
VESA modes to program a game.

The best place to start is the Allegro Mailing List. Any problems you may
have can be directed there. Go to http://www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro/ for
details. Read the Allegro manual in it's entirety, and make sure that you
know what sort of things the lib can do (you don't need to know all the
commands off by heart). Check out the demo game and example source codes.

HTH

James Arthur - jaa AT arfa DOT clara DOT net
http://www.jado.org/users/arfa/
ICQ#15054819