Need some help getting into coding on amiga...

[brianb]

For some strange reason I'd like to program some new stuff (games) for my Amiga 1200.   I'm running into some issues on picking the best development tools...  

Any suggestions?   I tried Blitz2 and Amiblitz they worked ok, but seemed to crash a lot.   I was initially shooting for doing the development on the actual hardware (or UAE), but is it better to go with something like AmiDevCpp?   Next thing I was going to check out was some of the native C/C++ compilers.

And this may be a long shot, but is there anything with an active user community and code samples?

Thanks

[Trev]

It's not strange at all. /me passes Kool-Aid. I use Microsoft Visual Studio and Windows-hosted vasm and vbcc. The vbcc suite runs very well under emulation, too, but you'll need make and a good editor or some other way of managing projects and editing files.

A lot of folks prefer gcc these days, and AmiDevCpp is a quick way to get a cross-development environment up and running on Windows. That's all I'll say about that. (I do use m68k-amigaos binutils, though.)

Programming on actual hardware is quite tedious these days. (Take heart in the knowledge that Kickstart, Workbench, et al were originally cross-compiled from a Sun workstation.) You'll want to test on actual hardware, of course, unless you're only going to target emulation. WinUAE can do more than most real m68k Amiga's will ever be able to do.

Utilitybase.com is a good place to go for general Amiga programming conversation.

[mdv2000]

I too am looking at writing some software for the Amiga.  All I have is a Amiga 2000HD and Amiga 500.  I looked at Amiga Basic, but my c/c++ background makes me dread the thought of writing programs using line numbers!

I would like to develop the apps on an actually Amiga as well.  Can anyone point me to a descent C/C++ compiler for the Amiga that works on a 68000 Amiga 2000?  I am still searching for an accelerator, but they are getting rare and when I find one they shoot way out my budget on e-bay!

I tried AmiDevCPP but I can't get a binary on my Vista box to execute on my Amiga so working on the Amiga native seems my only option!

Thanks,

[save2600]

mdv2000 wrote:
I too am looking at writing some software for the Amiga.  All I have is a Amiga 2000HD and Amiga 500.  I looked at Amiga Basic, but my c/c++ background makes me dread the thought of writing programs using line numbers!

AmigaBasic don't need no stinkin' line numbers!   :-D

[SamuraiCrow]

ACE Basic might be an option if you have AmigaBasic inklings.  You should be able to access most library functions using the fd2bmap utility to convert the FD files to the format that ACE uses.  If you do use ACE Basic, you might want to consider logging in to the ACE Basic Yahoo Group.

[EDanaII]

I've found http://utilitybase.com/ helpful as a resource, with references and tutorials, including a tutorial on how to compile using Visual Studio. As for code examples, you can find some helpful one's on Aminet, including the Amiga C Encyclopedia.

Hope that helps.

Ed.

[SJBUK]

Years ago a mate and I wrote some sound to light stuff for the Amiga using the SAS/C compiler. Seemed OK at the time, you may still be able to get hold of a copy somewhere.

I know I've got one set of disks, if I can find a spare I'll let you know, if you're interested.

[DiskDoctor]

You guys have any suggestions about same on OS4? I think of Python, most of its libraries seem smooth to be compiled but... what about GUI objects? Anyone knows anything?

Also, what about other languages for OS4? C/C++?

Thanks for the advice.

[mdv2000]

I know I've got one set of disks, if I can find a spare I'll let you know, if you're interested.

Yes, I would be.  

Thanks,

[pjhutch]

Forget sas/c, its too old now. You can get VBCC which is kept upto date:

http://www.compilers.de/vbcc.html

Also, check out my web site for programming links:

http://www.pcguru.plus.com/programming.html

[ChaosLord]

Forget VBCC, its too young now and has not been developed enough. You can get SASC which is the only Amiga C compiler with a proper debugger.

10 years from now, when VBCC gets a proper debugger, it will become the better choice.  But for 1990-2009 SASC is the only choice.

If you are going to write code using gcc or VBCC or DICE or Manx Aztec C or any other C that has no real debugger, then you might as well just use PortableE instead (or CreativE or ECX or PowerD).  It too does not have a debugger, but at least PortablE et al are proper languages, unlike C.

[persia]

Is there an Obj-C compiler for Amigas?

[brianb]

I ended up using AmiDevCpp, and that worked pretty well.  I'd compile on my XP/Cygwin box, and tested with my A1200 UAE "box".  Made a couple little things, but then ran out of ideas.   So much has already been done.   I also grew frustrated at the lack of active GUI toolkits that would allow for rapid application design.  Designing the GUI from code, brought back too many painful memories.  Thanks all for the comments I found them very helpful.

[EDanaII]

Might wanna take a look at MUI. It's better than having to rewrite everything from scratch. I've never tried it, myself, I can't find many examples of how to use it, but I honestly haven't looked that hard. From what I've seen of it in action, it's a pretty slick development library.

Two cents.

Ed.

[Revener]

Could check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmigaE