Active games programmers

[EDanaII]

When work isn't taking every waking moment, I do play around on my various Amigas; almost always in a programming perspective. I admit though that I get mired down in the semantics of trying to modernized my coding environment on the Amiga more than I do in actually producing any code on it.

That pretty much sums me up too. I actually have several ideas for games I'd like to implement, but then I get distracted by spending time trying to get the code up "up to spec." Then, some other distraction comes along and... there it sits.

And I didn't vote because I prefer C++. I've always hated C.

[EDanaII]

Well, instead of up to spec I should instead say more modernized. I know that also sounds crazy since I mentioned Objective-C and technically it's quite old itself. I program in a lot of languages across the board. I know that I can use C++ on the Amiga. I have a registered copy of Cubic IDE. I also SAS/C 6.58 or whatever the latest C++ capable version is.

Well, that's pretty much what I mean by "up to spec." Except I end up doing this instead:

Code: [Select]

#include <iostream>

#include <proto/dos.h>

#include &quot;GraphicsLibrary.h&quot;
#include &quot;IntuitionLibrary.h&quot;
#include &quot;ScreenBase.h&quot;

struct GfxBase* GfxBase = NULL;
struct IntuitionBase* IntuitionBase = NULL;
struct Library *GadToolsBase = NULL;

ScreenBase screen;

int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
try {
GfxBase = GraphicsLibrary.GetGfxBase( );
IntuitionBase = IntuitionLibrary.GetIntuitionBase( );

ScreenBase screen = ScreenBase( );
screen.open();

Delay(5 * 50);

screen.close();
std::cout << &quot;\nAnd there was much rejoicing...\n&quot;;
}
catch (SystemLibraryException &error) {
std::cout << error.Name << &quot; version: &quot; << error.Version << &quot; failed to open&quot;;
}

IntuitionLibrary.close( );
GraphicsLibrary.close( );
GadToolsLibrary.close( );

return 0;
}

Which, to me, is a lot more elegant than the older, clumsier Amiga way of doing things.

Eventually I'd get so lost in my quest to have a modern tool of some sort as seen on another more modern platform that I'd waste what little free time I had to spare. The worst part is usually I could have written everything I wanted in C in the time I wasted seeking "better" tools. :-)

Yep. Me too. Mostly because I lack the knowledge yet of the full Amiga architecture. But then, I'd get pulled away because of work, my (now deceased) father, family, my father's trust or the WWII web site I maintain. So many distractons, so little time.

But this is something I enjoy doing, so I don't consider it time wasted. It's just my way of building appreciation of what was once Amiga.


@ mikrucio

OK, you've talked me into it.

As to "up to spec" see my response to nyteschade. I just like using the more modern coding paradigms...

[EDanaII]

@ Nyteschayde

Oops, sorry, Nyteschayde, maybe I wasn't clear. The library is _mine._ It's what I end up doing instead of what I intended to do, driven by my desire to see a slightly more modern coding paradigm on the venerable old Amiga.

The compiler, as I pointed out in another thread, is ZeroHero's cross compiler GCC 3.4 (I think). I'm using that as a tool chain in Eclipse.