From: pooler@evers.cs.rpi.edu (Robert Poole)
Subject: Re: Programming
Keywords: Programming, AMOS
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 18:43:12 GMT

In article <1e3nlmINNeb4@ub.d.umn.edu> rfentima@ub.d.umn.edu (Robert Fentiman) writes:
>In article <BxoxsK.Hxq@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> sjjohnst@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Stephen Johnston) writes:
>>In article <1dv7qeINNsi8@ub.d.umn.edu> rfentima@ub.d.umn.edu (Robert Fentiman) writes:
[stuff deleted]
>>AMOS takes over system calls.  If you have a mouse blanker running, then
>>your screen will blank (and mouse) after whatever time you have set.  Whether
>>or not you move the mouse or type anything.  If you want to get your display
>>back, you have to swap screens with Amiga-A, NOT Amiga-N or Amiga-M, as
>>workbench expects you to do.  AMOS may be good for games programming, but
>>for anything else it is unnaceptable on the Amiga.  No program should take
>>over system resources in this way, if it is not absolutely required.  I
[stuff deleted]
>Here we go again.  The old 'AMOS is only a good game programming
>language' routine.  AMOS = BASIC ++++++++++!   The point is that it is a
>VERY easy language to use.  Just because your screen blanker screws up
>under it doen't make it a bad language (BTW, I have a screen blanker and
>have NEVER had this problem).  There are LOTS of programs in AMOS that
>are NOT games.  Very good paint programs come to mind (that are PD, and
[stuff deleted]
>being able to write a video titleing program.  Even many C programmers
>like to user AMOS because it is VERY simple to do complex things (many
>times, just one line of code).  Another example of a NON-GAME program
>being written in AMOS is a program I am writing that prints out library
>catalog cards (and stores the info to disk).  Again, I realize all this
>can be done on most other languages, but I stress the SIMPLICITY of it
>all.
[yet more stuff deleted]
>	Thanks
>	Robert Fentiman
>
>UseNet: rfentima@ub.d.umn.edu
>At: University of Minnesota, Duluth
>

I think the AMOS users out there are missing the point.

First off, any screen blanker that is an Amigados 2.0 or greater commodity
will be hosed by AMOS.  Since a commodity is the only legitimate way to
implement a screenblanker in an OS-friendly way, that means that ANY
screenblanker that is well written will exhibit nasty behavior when AMOS
is dicking around with resources.

The contention that Intuition is insufficient for doing the kind of graphics
that AMOS is capable of is pure bunk.  AMOS should be Intuition compliant.
That means no left-Amiga A to swap between AMOS applications and "the rest"
of the system.  Also, I have noticed that most AMOS applications crash and
burn nastily under suspicious circumstances under Amigados 2.04 and 3.0.

AMOS is unacceptable for application writing on the Amiga because it does not
work with Workbench, but against it, and as long as AMOS is not conformant
to Commodore guidelines, it shall remain so.  I would like to hear an answer
to a simple question: Will AMOS professional be fully intuitionized?  I.e.,
will it use Intuition instead of bypassing it?  Someone has (I believe)
mentioned that AMOS is capable of interfacing with any Amigados library, so
in theory it can be fully intuition compliant, but is this the default
behavior?

Rob Poole
pooler@rpi.edu
pooler@cs.rpi.edu
Newsgroups: alt.sys.amiga.demos