What programming language to write a commodity?

[Sim085]

Hello,

I want to write a simple commodity for the Workbench 3.1 however I do not know which is the best programming language for this. For now I just want to start with something simple; such as a simple "Hello World".

Any suggestions?

[Leffmann]

I would say C is ideal. Commodity Exchange is exposed through commodity.library, so any language that allows you to use shared libraries should work.

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

I would say C is ideal. Commodity Exchange is exposed through commodity.library, so any language that allows you to use shared libraries should work.

Thanks for your reply. Is there any flavor of C you would suggest? I notice some applications change the content of the Workbench Menu when running. Would I be able to do this as well with C on an Amiga? I found some tutorials of C online so I'll try to follow those.

[Michael]

Examples

in C
http://aminet.net/util/cdity/ToolsMenu.lha

in E
http://aminet.net/dev/e/E_Commodity.lha

[Leffmann]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Thanks for your reply. Is there any flavor of C you would suggest?

None of them are more suited for programming AmigaOS than the other, so any current flavor will do. I mostly use VBCC which has both C99 and C89.

Originally Posted by Sim085

I notice some applications change the content of the Workbench Menu when running. Would I be able to do this as well with C on an Amiga? I found some tutorials of C online so I'll try to follow those.

Yes of course, C was always intended as the main language for the Amiga, there are C bindings for all of the AmigaOS APIs.

[Sim085]

Is there a reference I could use to know the system calls I can do?

[alkis]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Is there a reference I could use to know the system calls I can do?

http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node00DF.html

[Leffmann]

Here is also the main chapter on Commodities in the RKM, with documentation and examples:
http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node03FF.html

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Here is also the main chapter on Commodities in the RKM, with documentation and examples:
http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node03FF.html

Thanks for those two links. I will read through them

[Vot]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Yes of course, C was always intended as the main language for the Amiga, there are C bindings for all of the AmigaOS APIs.

Note true.

"In AmigaOS 1.x, the AmigaDOS portion was based on TRIPOS, which is written in BCPL. Interfacing with it from other languages proved a difficult and error-prone task, and the port of TRIPOS was not very efficient.

From AmigaOS 2.x onwards, AmigaDOS was rewritten in C and Assembler, retaining full 1.x BCPL program compatibility, and it incorporated parts of the third-party AmigaDOS Resource Project,[6] which had already written replacements for many of the BCPL utilities and interfaces."

Taken from http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmigaOS

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Vot

Note true.

You are wrong. AmigaOS was always intended to be used with C. TRIPOS was bought from a third party to keep the development time short. But this does not change the intention to use C as the main language.

[Vot]

Originally Posted by thomas

You are wrong. AmigaOS was always intended to be used with C. TRIPOS was bought from a third party to keep the development time short. But this does not change the intention to use C as the main language.

Actually you are right, i have read that. Maybe i should have just said. It wasn't always c .

[Vot]

Actually I was quite taken back when i read the article about the amiga TRIPOS origins, to learn that some of the things I liked the most about the amiga was developed elsewhere was a surprise to me. Back when I had my amiga in the day I wasn't aware of its origins.

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

Here is also the main chapter on Commodities in the RKM, with documentation and examples:
http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node03FF.html

Hello again, I have created a new project with HiSoft C. I then copied the Broker.c code provided here; http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node0586.html

When I compiled I got some error saying "Suspect '=' in condition". Just out of curiosity. Is Broker.c just an example which does not compile?

[Hewitson]

Sounds more like a warning than an error. What line(s) was it referring to?

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Sounds more like a warning than an error. What line(s) was it referring to?

It was on this line:

while(msg = (CxMsg *)GetMsg(broker_mp))
{                                                               <<<<<<<<<<<<<

Note HiSoft C pointed to line after the while.

[ajk]

There are several conditions of that form in the code:

if (broker_mp = CreateMsgPort())
...
if (broker = CxBroker(&newbroker, NULL))
...
while(msg = (CxMsg *)GetMsg(broker_mp))
...

As Hewitson says, these should not stop the program from compiling. It's just a message from the compiler, since a comparison (==) is more commonly used as a condition than an assignment (=) is.

It is possible though that your compiler is configured to fail the build even with just warnings or messages, I'm not familiar enough with HiSoft C to say.

[Leffmann]

It's just a warning about a bad programming practice.

If you're programming directly on the Amiga, I would recommend using SAS/C instead:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=33781

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by Leffmann

It's just a warning about a bad programming practice.

If you're programming directly on the Amiga, I would recommend using SAS/C instead:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=33781

Thanks leffmann for the link
I will install SAC/C and try again with that one.