I have to sympathise with some of the points Dave has raised, as a recent
returner to the QL scene I also find it a lot to take in a short space of
time and there is a tremendous amout of reading to do, in order to;
1: Get back in to the mindset of QL programming.
2: Decide the route you intend to take i.e. stick with the basic hardware
route or go emulator.
3: Get a handle on the QL scene now and where it has gone.
4: Read some, read some more, and then read it again as you probably missed
it the first time.
Yes there are lots of tools and free utility software out there and Dilwyn's
massive site is a great place to start, but there is a warning here,
too much to soon can be overwhelming and rather than get up to speed such as
in point 1, you jump from 'ohh thats available' and 'ahh this is available'
to 'wow let me try that' and 'this' and before you know it you have lost
sight of where you were, swimming before you could even crawl let alone
walk.
One of the many projects that popped in to my head over the last 6 months
was a repository of QL software like on Dilwyn's web pages but with a
particular theme showing the evolution of console style computer games, that
all QL users could contribute to. This is to show the next generation of yet
to be discovered young QL programming people how they can learn the fun way
of computing.
So initially I am looking at Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, Space Invaders,
Galaxians etc. and you can see flight sim would be a long way down on my
list. Yes some of these already exist so why do them, yes why invent the
wheel when it already exists, why not used the latest utility/software? Well
I am not on that 'wave' that many of the seasoned QL'ers are riding and have
sinced moved on to bigger/smaller and better/complex things. I am still
learning (again) and it will be awhile as I haven't even started Pong yet.
I am using SMSQ/e and it is great learning all the old and new commands and
their limitations but like Dave, the PTR environment was just getting
started when I left the QL scene and although I have had a quick look at
many pointer environments in their various forms, I am disappointed that
none of them are as 'intuitve' or 'consistent' in operation as I feel they
should be and I wont be looking at them for awhile atleast.
On a slightly different note, I used to own the compilers Supecharge and
Turbo the first time around and now I have a copy of the latest Turbo. I
have bought Qliberator to compare them both as eventually I want to compile
my programs so that they multitask. My experience of making the Turbo
Toolkit resident is frustratingly difficult compared to 'QL on a Stick'
method where 'QL on a Stick' version works!. I can recomend it but I am
suffering as to why my way doesn't and those sorts of problems are what
makes QL programming interesting. I am not looking for an answer here (yet),
but once solved I should be able to complete the current project and then
move on to other stuff like 'pong'.
Lee Privett
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sent from my Laptop running XP
but emulating the QL using QPC2
----- Original Message -----
From: "Plastic" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 11:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] Programming project request...
Malcolm,
SMSQ/E was just going through its "open-source" birth when I left the
scene
last time. I did get it, but never used it due to the compete inadequacy
of
the hardware I had. I'm not at all interested in the "commercial
marketability" of what I might do, but do understand the non-commercial
aspect of marketability.
I have, truly, no desire to do anything involving pointers whatsoever,
because I find the QL pointer environment(s) to be... a dealbreaker. Tried
it, didn't like it, no desire to change my mind ;)
That said, I have the conflict that I do need to exercise my brain, by
restoring abilities I had, but I may need to learn NEW things to do
something that will be particularly interesting to anyone else... This is
just a first project, while I recover both physically and financially.
Buying lots of things isn't possible for me right now. Also, I know that
SMSQ/E on the Mac Q-Emulator "works" but has a few disclaimers about files
and IO...
This is a first project and there will be a next project where I can take
the time to get into that. Right now, a bunch of new things to learn just
puts more distance between me and a period of focused programming that is
what my brain really needs.
Sorry if the above seems disjointed.
I've been thinking more about the air traffic control sim and it may be
too
hard. It requires me to do smaller fonts on a transparent background
(planes
overlap) and it also requires me to build a flight model. I'd also need to
write a parser to interpret fairly complex commands, while the sim works
independently in the foreground. I might be better served choosing an
easier
first project. Or I might figure out these things - I think I'll be doing
it
anyway. There was an ATC sim way back, but it was very limited and not
realistic. It had scale and realism issues.
As Phoebus once said, I need to be spoon-fed. ;)
Dave
On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 4:02 PM, Malcolm Cadman <[email protected]>
wrote:
In message <[email protected]>, Timothy Swenson <
[email protected]> writes
Dave,
The Turbo compiler (and Turbo Toolkit) are now freeware and available,
and
can be found on this page:
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/turbo/index.html
You'll also find a large number of programming tools at the main index
for
Dilywn's side:
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/downloads.html
You can find TK2 and the Pointer Environment there too.
Tim Swenson
Hi Dave,
Great that you are wanting to give the old brain a good new workout ...
:-)
It appears that you have not being using the QL environment, for some
time,
so there is a lot to catch up on with programming tools.
I would advise spending some time doing so, before embarking on too
ambitious a project.
You will need SMSQ/E - which is a newer version of the OS with the newer
TK2 and Pointer Environment built in.
It also has an enhanced BASIC.
By programming on this, your software can also be made backwards
compatible
to the original hardware, to a reasonable extent.
You do not want to limit your market appeal - as there are people with
both
older hardware and people with the newer hardware.
Anyway, good luck with what ever you do.
Keep us all posted.
--
Malcolm Cadman
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