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Text File | 1994-02-01 | 16.1 KB | 376 lines

$VER: About_Dice 3.1 (2.22.94) ** DICE (tm) ** Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994 Obvious Implementations Corporation P.O. Box 4487, Cary, NC 27519-4487 USA All Rights Reserved. Direct all electronic inquiries to info@oic.com Direct all sales requests to sales@oic.com Direct all Bug reports to dice-bugs@oic.com Technical support is available in several ways. Note that we do not offer direct phone support at this time. On Compuserve: Go AmigaVendor On Bix: mail to jtoebes On Internet: mail to techsup@oic.com Via Fax: (919) 469-3853 Via US Mail: Mail to : DICE Technical Support P.O. Box 4487 Cary, N.C. 27519-4487 ************************************** ************ About Dice ************** ************************************** DICE is a complete C Language development system written for and on the Commodore Amiga computer. DICE includes a compiler, editor, linker, source code management tools, help system, debugger, and examples in short, everything you need to write programs which take full advantage of everything the Amiga has to offer. DICE was designed from the start with the international ANSI C standard in mind, as well as compatibility with other Amiga C Compiler products on the market. In addition, DICE provides a number of extensions targeted at providing you with easy access to the Amiga's special features. DICE contains no security or copy-protection "features" to get in your way. As such, an illegal copy could be yours for little or no work. We'd rather you not take advantage of this, however. We want to update, support and expand the DICE system; for that we need sales. ************************************* *********** P I R A C Y ************* ************************************* We understand the desire to show friends the system you have just purchased. To that end we have included on the disk a reduced version of DICE that is freely redistributable. This freeware version does not contain all of the features of the product, but it is sufficient for writing many programs on the Amiga. Feel free to give away copies of this freeware version to your friends or enemies, upload it to bulletin boards, or even zap it from the disk. However, this does not grant you the right to give away any of the main product. We have invested considerable time, effort, dollars and care in creating DICE, and have included features on disk to make your life easier. We debated the risks of providing on-line documentation, eventually deciding the risk was worth the benefit to our legitimate purchasers. We would consider it an insult to see our online documentation in pirate distribution. ************************************* ******* Product Directions ********** ************************************* DICE is targeted at the general Amiga programmer with a typical machine. It will run effectively a low-end Amiga 500 with only 1 megabyte of memory and two floppy drives, while at the same time it will take advantage of everything an Amiga with a 68040 processor and AGA chipset can throw at it. We will continue to address the low-end machine as the base environment while enhancing the performance of the compiler and increasing the number of features available. You can expect to see continued improvements in code generation quality, more features in the debugger, more libraries, and more examples. DICE will continue to evolve in step with the future directions that Commodore is taking the Amiga product line. If you see something that is needed, let us know. DICE was written with several goals in mind: o Reasonably fast compilation. Modular executables for ease of use, reliability, and testability. o Tight, productive integration between modules using open standards, such as Amiga AREXX, to allow for custom environments and free choice of tools. o Provide optimization but not at the expense of reliability. DICE does no common sub-expression or loop unrolling optimization, but does do smart automatic register allocation, switch() optimizations and has multi-level history to propagate conditional expressions. o Provide comprehensive support of the Amiga, especially for new versions of the OS that come out. DICE fully supports 1.3, 2.0 and 3.0 with an easy extension mechanism to allow development on several OS versions /betas simultaneously. o Provide source code where appropriate so modifications or fixes can be easily made. DICE includes full source for its support libraries (c.lib, m.lib, auto.lib) and a means to remake the libraries. DICE also includes full source to most of its own utilities to allow users to make enhancements. ************************************** ********* Product Contents *********** ************************************** DICE comes complete with: Compiler -------- This is the heart of the DICE product. It includes DC1, DCPP, DAS, and DCC. Together, these control the complete stages of compiling and linking both C and assembler source code. DCPP may also be used as a standalone preprocessing tool. The compiler supports inline calls to all Amiga Library functions through standard #pragma statements, registerized parameters, profiling code, auto-initialization code, and pure code for residentability. When combined with the Editor, Visual Options, and Integrated Help, the Compiler will allow for interactive development and error corrections. Debugger -------- No C compiler product is complete without a source level debugger. As a windowing debugger, DEBUG gives you the ability to examine the execution of your code, set break points, watch memory, and even modify the execution. Fully integrated with the Amiga, it supports AREXX, cut and paste, mouse clicks, and all Amiga screen modes. Linker ------ Compatible with standard Amiga Object files, DLINK is a fast linker. It allows control of data placement and will combine code to provide the powerful auto-initialization capabilities of DICE. Profiler -------- Once you have a program running, DPROF gives you the ability to identify hot spots in the code to allow you to improve algorithms or even recode critical portions of the code. You can control the level of code that you wish to profile through a series of compiler and linker options. Assembler --------- DICE includes two assemblers. DAS is a low overhead assembler which is used by the compiler because of its speed. When you wish to do advanced Amiga programming, you may also use A68k which includes powerful macros and complete integration with C calling conventions. Online Help ----------- In order to speed the development process, DiceHelp allows immediate access to all DICE and Amiga subroutines with just a single keystroke. In addition, a C language reference and all error messages are immediately accessible. DiceHelp works with your favorite editor. VMake and VOpts --------------- In order to speed development, DICE includes a set of visual development tools that allow you to quickly edit, compile, link, and debug your project without having to resort to the CLI or continually type commands to invoke the compiler. VMake eliminates the tedium of maintaining a Makefile by letting you just enter the files for the project and tell it the type of project to build. It even will read and write Makefiles so that you can resort to the CLI if you feel more comfortable. Within VMake, you can edit files by just double clicking on them. If they happened to be stored in RCS, VMake will automatically check them out. Checking them back into an archive is as simple as selecting a menu item. You may also invoke the debugger on your application, and test it out without having to exit the VMake environment. Of course, it is not complete without the ability to visually set the compiler options that your project demands. VOpts talks directly to VMake to manage the options for compiling your project. Development Tools ----------------- Because writing a program on the Amiga requires more than just a compiler and a linker, DICE provides a wide range of tools for manipulating the environment. This includes text tools like Cat, Dsearch, Head, Touch, WC, and IStrip. There are also tools for manipulating object files and libraries such as DObj, FDToLib, FDToPragma, LbMake, and LibToS. MakeProto will automatically collect prototypes into a common header file. DiceCache allows control over caching of files to speed up the development environment. Lastly, for dealing with groups of files we have Du, DUpdate, and LHarc. Make Utility ------------ While not identical to the standard Unixtm make utility, DMake offers the power to control putting together a project without having to retype commands each time. With a built-in macro facility and rule based decision engine, DMake will only recompile those pieces of a project that have changed. DMake files are easy to create, consistent and powerful. Editor ------ Because not everyone has an editor that they may be happy with, DME is provided to permit easy editing of source code and other text files. It includes complete Amiga integration with menus, AREXX, mouse support, programmable keys, and multiple-window support. Use of DME is not required; DICE will integrate easily with virtually any Amiga editor File Compression ---------------- DICE includes a powerful compression handler that automatically compresses or uncompresses files as they are transferred from disk. This feature is especially useful for floppy users. Any mix of compressed and regular files may exist on the same volume. Normally the Commodore "include" files, required for Amiga programming, take up an entire floppy. With the compression handler they use half that. As an owner of DICE, you may use this compression utility for all your needs. Source Code Management Tools ---------------------------- The RCS source code management tools can help you maintain a revision history for your code. Ci, Co, and RCS allow checking files in and out of a library as well as managing multiple versions of the code. RCSDiff will compare two files in the library to identify changes. RLog will display history of file modifications while RCSMerge will allow merging changes from two distinct lines of development. We highly recommend using the RCS tools for all of your development efforts. Romable Code Generation Tools ----------------------------- In addition to generating Amiga executables, DICE allows generation of code for any 68000 based platform. Romable and BinToHex combined with a number of DCC options allow generation of romable code and standard Motorola S records. Workbench Support Tools ----------------------- For those people who wish to work from Workbench instead of the CLI, DICE includes VOpts for setting compiler options visually, and Vmake for controlling a project build visually. Although they work with Workbench, the CLI user may also use them to manage a project interactively. Include Files ------------- Because people wish to develop source code that works under all versions of the Amiga Operating System, DICE includes several sets of header files. You can choose which of these includes to reference based on an environment variable or compiler option. Libraries --------- This is one area where DICE really shines. Included are libraries which provide ANSI, Unixtm, and general Amiga compatibility. These libraries are provided in a number of models allowing for linking with just about any normal program. However there are cases where something fancy needs to be done, or a special combination of library switches is used for which a library hasn't been supplied. For this, we also provide the complete source code to the libraries along with the configuration scripts to build them. Source Code ----------- DICE also comes with example source code to show you how to program on the Amiga. VOPTS The Vopts utility shipped with DICE allows customizing of the compiler environment. It illustrates everything necessary for programming gadgets, menus, keyboard input, file i/o, and even internationalization on the Amiga. It also illustrates how to write a program which takes advantage of both 1.3 and 2.0 capabilities. One special bonus with this example is the ability to allow the user to customize the gadget presentation of the program without having to change the source code. In this case, the program read the gadgets from a file and dynamically lays them out based on the screen resolution, current font, and color choices. Shared_Lib One of the key components of the Amiga, libraries are the method of adding dynamic linked routines to the system. This example includes everything necessary to build a library, add it to the system and to provide some simple services. This particular library allows saving and retrieving a simple string. It also shows how to write a program using the newly created library. Printer_Driver A sample printer driver that compiles and runs. This includes support for graphics, font selection, and extended attributes. It can be readily modified for a printer that you might not have a printer driver for. Exec_Dev An example Exec device which emulates a disk level device as a single file on a hard disk. This shows how to handle the basic init/termination and read/write functions. As a tool, it is extremely useful for emulating a second (or multiple) floppy disk on a system with a hard disk. DosHan This is a simple AmigaDOS handler which supports basic open/close/read/write packets. It can be used as the basis for a more complex handler. It also includes instructions for adding the handler to the system. DCC This is the complete source for the DCC front end to the compiler. cat/count/wc These simple programs illustrate basic C programming with command line arguments and simple output. They parallel examples found in many C programming books. hello.c Of course, no compiler product would be complete without the definitive source code to the standard Hello world program. ************************************************ ************ Acknowledgments ****************** ************************************************ The work of many people have gone into creating DICE. All of our artwork was crafted by Gary Kelly, artist extraordinare. Our esteemed Beta Testers have spent many hours attempting to find bugs to fix. Our manual reviewers combed the documentation for errors: Margaret Toebes, James Kelley, Robert Kelley Several famous Amiga personalities have granted permission to distribute their efforts as a part of DICE. ------------------+------------------------------------------- William S. Hawes : Memoration ------------------+------------------------------------------- Michael Sinz : Enforcer, RenderInfo ------------------+------------------------------------------- Carolyn Scheppner : Mungwall, Other debug tools ------------------+------------------------------------------- And let us not forget the people at OIC who proudly bring you this product: ----------------+------------------------------------------- Dave Baker : Documentation, Tools, Libraries ----------------+------------------------------------------- Matt Dillon : Compiler, Tools ----------------+------------------------------------------- Andy Finkel : Debugger extensions, Tools, AME ----------------+------------------------------------------- John Mainwaring : Documentation, Tools, Vopts, VMake ----------------+------------------------------------------- Bryce Nesbitt : DiceHelp, Documentation, Installer, Tools ----------------+------------------------------------------- Mark Schnell : Documentation ----------------+------------------------------------------- John Toebes : Vopts, Compiler, Documentation, Management ----------------+------------------------------------------- Special thanks to Bill, Lois and Tig-Tig Avery. A special set of endurance awards go to Mary Ellen, Ann Marie, and Margaret.