PROPER CODING
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¾ROKDAZONE'S GUIDE INTO PROPER CODING
²by
³"IGuessYouReallyKnowItByNow,Don'tYou,Huh?"

¹Yes, no one really expected this, I guess.

"RokDaZone as coder? I thought he was musician and editor."
"Yes, but I also heard, he did some really lame gfx!"
"Yet,  have  you heard about his swapping attempts?  He failed to deal with
thirty contacts only."
"Hehehe!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Hihihihihi!"

Ehrm,  thank  you...   (Sometimes I really wonder who choses the people for
the  astounded-mumbling-in-the-background voices - if I just think how much
these fools cost us per issue...).



¶¹Yes,  only  few  know  about  my  coding  abilities.   I've managed to cope
(somehow)  with  BASIC  and  PASCAL  (my adress-manager was almost finished
(btw:   Could someone send me a working save/load-routine in KickPascal?)).
It  was  me to create the first self-recalling loop consisting of more than
four lines, compatible to all BASIC-dialects and systems?

²10 ¾PRINT"Hello!"
²20 ¾PRINT"My"
²30 ¾PRINT"Name"
²40 ¾PRINT"Is"
²50 ¾PRINT"RokDaZone"
²60 ¾GOTO (or: GOSUB) 10

¹Hah! Didn't expect that, huh?!?

So, now for my hardcore coding tips...

Take out any kind of Assembler- or C-compiler (yes, this is a multi-dialect
class!)  and  load  it  by  adressing  its  name  in the Shell or simply by
double-clicking its icon on the workbench.
Now,  take a beginnershandbook for the individual dialect you are coding in
and  type  in  one  of  the  small  examples  given (preferably any kind of
¶"Draw-a-line-from-X-to-Y"-bugger).   Change the whole schebang until you've
gotten   a  demo  with  zoomer,  fractals,  raytracing,  paralax-scrolling,
shadebobs, gfx by COUGAR and music by LIZARDKING and some individual stuffy
that you like - all of this of course diskloaded and for AGA!
Compile the crap by using the corresponding function from the menu and save
it.

So far so good. Really easy, eh?

Well, not exactly as now, we come to the real pay-off:
Take  the  disk  and  walk  over  to a friends home who has another kind of
AGA-AMIGA.   Let's  say,  you  were  using a A1200 and he has an A4000/030.
Just like me - by chance!

Try starting the proggy... Yep, it crashes! Why?

This is the very point, where I can help you.

Factual  is,  your  program  is  missing one major part:  It doesn't REALLY
check  the  system!   Ok, maybe you have inserted a system-checkup, but you
and me know that those things NEVER EVER EVER NEVER work.

¶So, what to do?  I have found a niche how to debug your program.  It's very
unique,  still  no  one ever seemed to get the idea of using it.  It's some
kind of patchment for the system.
Of  course,  we  could start it all over - you would have to decompile your
program  and  I  could  give you the right lines that I have invented to be
inserted  in  your  source, but I felt like it would take too much time and
exhaustement...

Therefore, I invented the unique: "Set-A-System-Patch-So-My-Damned-Program-
Will-Work-On-This-Computer!"  (or  short:  "SetPatch").  I have handed this
program  out  to  COMMODORE  (before  the  liquidation) and therefore, when
opening the C-directory of your original Workbench disk, you should find it
ready to use it!
Take  the  disk  on  which  you  have  put  your  program and put it in any
diskdrive, after having started DirectoryOpus or similar programs.
Create a C-directory and a S-directory.
Copy the SetPatch into the new C-directory.
Start any kind of editor and type in the following:




¶çddf,faa,afa,aaf,faf,ffa,aff
¹" Setpatch  ;this one to run SetPatch
            ;you could also add "Quit" and you won't get disturbing remarks
            ;on your monitor.
            ;For further advices read your AMIGA DOS-manual!
  NameOfYourProgram   ;now, your program gets loaded and executed"

Save  what  you  just  have typed in under the name "Startup-Sequence" into
your S-directory.
Now reboot your friends computer and wait for the things to happen...

Miracle! Wonder! Excitement!
First you get some strange letters that you really don't understand (or you
don't get them in case you used the "Quit"-option).
Then your program gets loaded without anything that your have to do for it!
Even better: It works and looks healthy and happy!
There!   Look,  how  colourful the zoomer rotates and the happy grin of the
raytraced cow!  Isn't it nice?

So  much  for todays coding editorial.  I hope you have been able to follow
my words - although they may have been a little too professional sometimes.
The result will prove all the attempts to be worth the exhausting extrawork
¶½after the joyful coding.
Tune  in next time, when I explain, how the off-switching of the FastRAM on
a A4000 may effect demos to work on your system.
yours
²>>>¾ RokDaZone ²<<<¹




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