Amiga Format CD 38/Amiga Format CD38 (1999-03-15)(Future Publishing)(GB)(Track 1 of 3)[!][issue 1999-04].iso/-in_the_mag-/reader_requests/dice_v3.15/master/about_dice

Text File | 1999-01-26 | 17KB | 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 [e-mail]
    Direct all sales requests to       [e-mail]
    Direct all Bug reports to          [e-mail]

    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 [e-mail]
    Via Fax: [phone]
    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.