AmigaOS 4 Unofficial Developers FAQ

[Kent]

A quick Q&A session has been posted online at the eXec magazine going over some of the details in the AmigaOS4 development.  If you have something you want add or if you have further questions send it to os4faq@amiga.pl

[Kent]

For most application development C++ is better than Java

Before you go off hooping and hollaring at how much better C++ is over Java I'm going to have to contest your arguments for application development.

While C++ is very robust and the perfect language for a lot of things, that does not arbitrarily make C++ better than Java.  Instead it gives C++ a great advantage over Java in many respects.  Now then, if you take C++ and compare it to Java where Java all out rules in, there's absolutely no comparison.  Java web application development is damn powerful and you can build enterprise level applications in a matter of hours where C++ would take quite a few more bits and bobs to pull off.  While I agree that Java is not the perfect language in comparison, but when I'm looking to write applications that are 100% cross platform compliant without the need for a complete rewrite or heavy abstract object layers, Java is my tool of choice.

I wrote a good Notepad replacement that allows for configurable hot keys and supports text styling... works on the Mac, works on Windows, and even works on the AmigaDE.  The design is very small and has a tiny footprint, it accepts file arguements and will open up multiple files if needed.  I built a find and replace as well as toggle case and simple macro recording.  I was able to write that in about one weeks time for my needs.  To do the same in C++ would take quite a bit of time to support Mac, Windows, AmigaDE, Linux, and a myraid of other platforms would be a headache and a half.  A notepad isn't something that requires hellified CPU time but to make arguments a bit on light side, perhaps C would be a better choice over C++ in comparison for games development.

Before you start thinking that Java isn't a great language, you really should find out what the strengths are so that you can exploit them.  A good Coder knows when to use one language over the other rather than all out shunning specific languages for their strengths.

:pint:

[Kent]

Are you really active with AmigaDE?

I wouldn't say that I'm hard core, it's more my hobby than anything else.  I dabble in VP and C but my largest effort is in Java and playing around with the native layer bytecode.  Eventually I hope to finish and release a small Java program I've been developing that is similar in design to NetInfo.  Thanks to Java's inherent nature to the web, a NetInfo type program is best written in Java so there's no extreme overhead.  Most of my knowledge is in web application development through the J2EE Module-2 design (not applets), so I'm really pressing for full Servlet2.3 and JSP1.2 APIs or better in the AmigaDE Java layer.  I've been working on one project for a number of years now and I'm getting ready to relaunch it.  Part of my efforts on Amiga compliant JavaScripts and html design are a part of it.

You?

:pint:

[Kent]

Still, I guess I'll be looking into C++ this summer. Does anybody know of any good books on the subject?

What's your experience in computer programming?  I picked up C++ in about two weeks transition time from Java using one of the "teach yourself C++ in yadda yadda time".  I can write some pretty looking GCC stuff without the use of an IDE.

SYNTAXX ERROR:>

:pint:

[Kent]

At the moment I am busy wit programming something for the currentOS/OS4. But playing around with DE is fun.

Cool.  That's one area I never really got into (developing for the AmigaOS) that I really tried but gave up due to frustration in the documentation and the massive clutter of an SDK in the DevCD2.1.  I'm hoping there will be better implementations of the ExecSG so that I can look into that area of programming again.  I have SAS/C 6.55 but may look into StormC when the A1 is finally released.  Personally I can't wait until OS4.2 with the AmigaDE sandbox... at that point I'll really have a blast with my bedroom coder tactics!

Code tight, code small, code clean... that's my moto.

:pint:

[Kent]

I'd recommend two books if that's your current state.  One of them would be focusing heavily on the fundamentals with the second one focusing on programming tactics in C++.  There are things you can do in C++ that are a nightmare to do in Java but at the same time there are some small differences that may help you learn one programming language over another quite fast.  Stick with the command line for a while until you get a good solid working of the basics and understand the creation and destruction of pointers well enough to get into GUI development, then start looking outside the box.

My rough experience:  numerous years of Commadore64 Basic (wrote my own yatzee game even), 5+ years of ARexx as well as RexxC, a year of Pascal, 2 years of Java, and 2 years of C/C++ (off and on).  There are others but that's the important ones in a nutshell (VisualBasic isn't important in my book).  What has come of my programming experience... nothing I'd want to release, hopefully that will change in due time.

:pint: