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Spyros Paraschis
|
| This page contains links to
various programming resources. My goal is not to present a huge
number of untested links, but to provide the fellow amateur
programmer with tools that I personally found useful. So, here we
are: |
Compilers / Interpreters | Libraries | Editors
| - Compilers / Interpreters - |
| MingW (C/C++, Windows) |
My C/C++
compiler of choice, MingW (standing for Minimalist GNU for Windows)
is another port of GCC. It support Win 32 environments and it works
great with Allegro. Especially since WIP 3.9.34, MingW can compile
Allegro and does not have to rely on a library compiled by MSVC.
So, using MinGW and Allegro you can create great Windows/DirectX
games, using only freeware tools. Keep in mind that since we are
talking about a GCC port, MingW is actively supported and
documented. On the minus side, it does not come with an IDE and its
installation is somewhat hard.
Visit the homepage of MingW
Visit a great support site
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| DJGPP (C/C++,
DOS) |
DJGPP is the
ultimate choice for DOS programming (but its executables run with
no problems under Win 9x). It is basically a port of the famous GCC
compiler (mainly supporting C/C++), along with its relevant
utilities, to DOS. It provides you with a robust programming
environment, producing 32-bit, protected mode, executables, running
under DOS/Windows. DJGPP is quite hard to learn, but it is actively
supported, so the answer to the problems you face is always
reachable, either in the Web or in the Usenet. The homepage of
DJGPP includes a very useful ZIP picker, which allows you to select
the files your need to download, according to your needs. DJGPP is
the compiler best supported by the amazing, multi-platform, Allegro
library.
Visit the homepage of DJGPP
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|
| LCC -
Win 32 (C,
Windows) |
LCC - Win 32 is
a full C programming environment for 32-bit Windows. It is very
easy to install and configure and comes with good documentation,
including a very informative 200-page C-tutorial. LCC - Win 32 is a
stable and compact solution for developing your own Windows
applications in C. It is not very popular and thus its user base is
quite small (AFAIK), which means that you won't find many users
able or willing to solve the problems you encounter with LCC - Win
32. However, its various features (like the memory manager, the
resource editor and the dedicated source code editor) are more than
enough to tempt you to give it a try.
Visit the homepage of LCC - Win
32
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|
| Rapid-Q (Basic,
Windows) |
Rapid-Q is the
best basic development tool you can find for free. It is now
discontinued but it is already a very good piece of software.
Rapid-Q can create console and GUI applications, it comes with a
good variety of controls (but you can add even more, if you want
to), it supports DirectX (even Direct3D) and MySQL and it creates
quite small, stand-alone executables. On the not so bright side,
executable speed is slow and the IDE is very poor, making the
management of large projects hard (you can still use your preferred
editor, though). As it is, Rapid-Q is ideal for creating small GUI
applications since it provides a well-thought out event-driven
developing environment that will make every Basic programmer feel
right at home. In fact, Rapid-Q is so good that its creator,
William Yu, has been offered a position in a software company, to
create a commercial Basic programming language.
Visit the homepage of Rapid-Q
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|
| BCX
(Basic-to-C translator,
Windows) |
BCX is not
exactly a programming language, but, as the author states, "a small
command line tool that generates "C" source code that targets the
free LCC-Win32 compiler". The idea is to combine the simplicity of
Basic with the power of C. BCX really works, even though getting
used to it is not easy at first. The wannabe programmer has to
learn the Basic dialect of BCX and the general philosophy behind
the program. BCX comes with an editor, a decent help file and many
examples to make the learning experience a little easier.
Visit the homepage of BCX
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|
| Allegro (Game Lib,
Multi Platform) |
No reference to
programming libraries is complete, without dedicating a large space
for Allegro. It is a multi platform game library, that supports a
variety of C/C++ compilers, under different operating systems (DOS,
Windows, Unix, BeOS). Allegro has been first developed under DJGPP,
so this version had the most time to mature and is thus the most
stable of them all. I have personally compiled my DJGPP sources
(for example my "Is this... the end?" game) under Linux
(GCC) and Windows (MSVC and MingW) and they all compiled and
executed flawlessly.
But what is Allegro? It is a game
programming library with a huge list of features, like sprite
drawing, bitmap scaling and rotation, translucency/lighting, mixed
sound output, hardware scrolling, triple buffering, optimized
mouse/keyboard access, math functions and tons more. Allegro helps
you create games providing you with difficult to implement
features, while on the other hand it allows you to have full contol
on what you are doing (unlike some RAD game tools). Since Allegro
is just an add-on library, the knowledge of C (or C++) is a
prerequisite. But with Allegro, you will have a heck of a time
learning it. Highly recommended.
Visit the homepage of Allegro (Updated Link)
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|
| JGMod (Audio Lib, Allegro) |
JGMod is a
little library that runs on top of the Allegro sound routines and
allows the playback of MOD, S3M, XM, UMX and JGM audio files (also
known as "mods") under DJGPP, Mingw32, MSVC, Linux and BEOS. JGMod
is very easy to install and use. A little work is needed in the
audio quality, at least in the MingW that I have tested. Luckilly,
JGMod is constantly updated, so this little complaint might have
already been answered.
Visit the homepage of JGMod
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|
| ConTEXT (Text
Editor) |
ConTEXT,
originating from Croatia, is, in my opinion, one of the most useful
and one of the most powerful windows text editors for programmers.
It is fast and packs a good array of features, like color syntax
highlighting for various lannguages, project management, vertical
text blocking, embedded file-explorer, C/Java-style block auto
indent/outdent, good command line handler and many more. Personally
I use ConTEXT for all my C/C++ projects and I think it is a very
powerful tool that gets better with each version.
Visit the homepage of ConTEXT
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|
| Code-Genie (Text
Editor) |
Code-Genie is
my new editor of choice. Fast and powerful, with a simple
configuration system and many fresh ideas (for example, if you
select a block of text and hit CAPS LOCK, the text is converted
from lower to upper case and vice cersa), it fulfills most of what
one asks from a text editor. It features configurable syntax
highlighting, hex editing, auto-indent, auto-complete, multiple
help files and more.
Visit the homepage of Code-Genie
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|
| Programmer's File Editor (Text Editor) |
Programmer's
File Editor (PFE) used to be a popular windows text editor, but its
development has stopped. Don't let that put you off though, since
PFE is still one of the best editors you can find.
Even though PFE does not support
syntax highlighting, it has a wealth of text manipilating tools, a
great command line handler and it is very stable, fast and very
configurable. PFE may not seem that attractive at first, but it is
powerful enough to become a windows programmer's first choice.
Visit the homepage of
P.F.E
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