ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2022
Entry 15th March 2022: Post 1: Amiga Developers - Essential Reading.
Amiga Developers - Essential Reading.
I am always encouraged to read on forums the desires of some to
partake of a little Amiga development to provide games and software
for the platform. I sense that these guys have not ventured down
this path before and often ask for pointers on what is required.
I have never really spent much time programming on the Amiga but
when I did dabble with DICE I was advised to get three books.
The ROM Kernel Reference Manual: Libraries and Devices.
The Kickstart Guide to the Amiga.
Amiga Hardware Reference Manual.
Whilst BASIC was never used to any great extent on the Amiga there
is still a place for it in the history line and worth a read. The
major players in the programming world for the novice tended to
use AMOS and Blitz, though these had limitations in terms of more
complex applications. Don't quote me on this , as I for one loved
AMOS to death and couldn't keep off the thing. There were many
great games and applications using the software, and I would suggest
any new Amiga user partake of a little AMOS Pro.
Whilst DICE gave a good level of programming depth I am advised
that the more serious programmer would use Storm C and GoldED as
true commercial products. GoldED I find fascinating though never
took the plunge and purchased the software.
[quote GoldED] Editor for C source codes, installation scripts,
HTML documents, AmigaGuide files, rexx macros, DOS scripts and a
few other file types that matter to developers. It's designed as
a tool for the development process: write program, write installation,
write documentation (and have it spellchecked) and finally create
the web site for your program. Ideally, [ end quote ].
I have seen a few links to downloads of GoldED but have never found
any to work. Looks like a very impressive text editor.
Development tools are generally released by the platform owner and
Commodore would issue such to more trusted developers. I have the
disk set for the release of 3.1 and it is beyond my basic understanding
as to how you would implement any of this stuff. The content has
some historical value but I doubt would be any use today.
Similarly products like the HiSoft DevPac software is just a snapshot
of times gone by. And so to today's developer I think you would
first need to contact like minded individuals and simply ask how
they go about developing software. There is still an active user
base for the Amiga and I am sure they have a much better handle
on things. It is sad that many of the links that I tried to use
today were no longer active so it really is a case of getting what
you can while you can.
As for me I don't program, its f*kin hard. I leave that to clever sods.
Amiga Developers - Essential Reading.
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