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- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
- From: jeffrey@carlyle.com (Jeffrey Carlyle)
- Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer,alt.msdos.programmer,comp.answers,alt.answers,news.answers
- Subject: comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ part 1/5
- Supersedes: <msdos-programmer-faq/part1_873193441@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Followup-To: comp.os.msdos.programmer
- Date: 30 Sep 1997 09:49:14 GMT
- Organization: The COMP-FAQ Project
- Lines: 828
- Sender: jeffrey@carlyle.com (Jeffrey Carlyle)
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
- Expires: 11 Nov 1997 09:49:05 GMT
- Message-ID: <msdos-programmer-faq/part1_875612945@rtfm.mit.edu>
- Reply-To: jeffrey@carlyle.com (Jeffrey Carlyle)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
- Summary: Frequently asked questions by DOS programmers with tested answers.
- X-Last-Updated: 1997/08/04
- Originator: faqserv@penguin-lust.MIT.EDU
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.os.msdos.programmer:92880 alt.msdos.programmer:39077 comp.answers:28267 alt.answers:29274 news.answers:113409
-
- Archive-name: msdos-programmer-faq/part1
- Comp-os-msdos-programmer-archive-name: dos-faq-pt1.txt
- Posting-frequency: 28 days
- Last-modified: 04 Aug 97
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ part 1/5
-
-
- FAQ updates can be found at <http://www.premiernet.net/~carlyle>.
-
-
- This is part 1 of the frequently asked question list for the
- newsgroup comp.os.msdos.programmer.
-
- Part 1:
- Section 1. General FAQ and Newsgroup Information
- Section 2. General Reference
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Is MS-DOS Dead?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 16:29:08 CST
-
- No. Though Microsoft may not be actively developing MS-DOS there
- are still many computer that are not capable of running Microsoft
- Windows. The current version of Microsoft Windows will also run
- any MS-DOS program; therefore, MS-DOS is not dead, and will most-
- likely never die just as Commodore-64s and Amigas have not died.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ
-
-
- Comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ Version 1997.08
-
-
- Copyright 1997 by Jeffrey Carlyle. All rights reserved. This
- article is not in the public domain, but it may be redistributed
- so long as this notice, the acknowledgments, and the information
- on obtaining the latest copy of this list are retained and no fee
- is charged. The code fragments may be used freely; credit to the
- FAQ would be polite. This FAQ is not to be included in any static
- archive (e.g. CD-ROM or book); however, a pointer to the FAQ may
- be included.
-
- =============================
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- =============================
-
- Part 1:
- Section 1. General FAQ and Newsgroup Information
- Section 2. General Reference
- Part 2:
- Section 3. Compile and Link
- Section 4. Keyboard
- Part 3:
- Section 5. Disks and files
- Section 6. Serial ports (COM ports)
- Part 4:
- Section 7. Other hardware questions and problems
- Section 8. Other software questions and problems
- Part 5:
- Section 9. Downloading
- Section 10. Vendors and products
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Section 1. General FAQ and Newsgroup Information
-
- <Q: 1.01> - What is this article for?
- <Q: 1.02> - Who has contributed to this article?
- <Q: 1.03> - How can I search this article for a particular topic?
- <Q: 1.04> - Are the answers guaranteed to be correct and complete?
- <Q: 1.05> - What is comp.os.msdos.programmer about?
- <Q: 1.06> - Is comp.os.msdos.programmer just for C programmers?
- <Q: 1.07> - What is comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer?
- <Q: 1.08> - Is comp.os.msdos.programmer available as a mailing
- list?
- <Q: 1.09> - What's this "netiquette"?
- <Q: 1.10> - How can I learn more about Usenet?
- <Q: 1.11> - What other technical newsgroups should I know about?
- <Q: 1.12> - Where are FAQ lists archived?
- <Q: 1.13> - Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ list?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.01> - What is this article for?
- Date: Sat, 02 Aug 97 23:23:16 CST
-
-
- This is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list for the
- newsgroup comp.os.msdos.programmer. This list is maintained in
- versions; new questions and revised questions in this version are
- not marked do to the restructuring of the FAQ; however, in future
- versions new or revised questions will be marked with "NEW" or
- "REVISED" in the subject. This list is posted every 20 days.
-
-
- FAQ lists are intended to reduce the noise level in their
- newsgroups that results from the repetition of the same
- questions, correct answers, wrong answers, corrections to the
- wrong answers, corrections to the corrections, debate, etc.
-
-
- This list should serve as a repository of the canonical "best"
- answers to the questions in it. The names of folks who have
- helped to improve this FAQ list are listed in <Q: 1.02> - "Who
- has contributed to this article?"
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.02> - Who has contributed to this article?
- *revised*
- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 95 12:00:00 CDT
-
-
- This list is maintained and edited by Jeffrey Carlyle. To contact
- him send email to <mailto:jeffrey@carlyle.com> or via surface
- mail to:
-
- Jeffrey Carlyle
- 297 Meadowlark Trail
- Bowling Green, KY 42101-9427
-
- Stan Brown <mailto:brown@ncoast.org> as the former list
- maintainer has been the major contributor: Stan wrote most of
- this list.
-
-
- Many articles posted in comp.os.msdos.programmer sparked ideas or
- provided information for the first version of this list. Though
- they are not responsible for any errors, thanks are due to the
- following persons for posted articles or private email that led
- to improvements in this FAQ list:
-
-
- Jamshid Afshar, Mark Aitchison, Sanjay Aiyagari, George Almasi,
- Aaron Auseth, Robert Baker, Preston Bannister, Scott Barman,
- Denis Beauregard, Per Bergland, Mike Black, Chris Blum, Ron
- Bodkin, Mark Brader, Jon Brinkmann, Andrew James Bromage, Glynn
- Brooks, Paul Brooks, Ralf Brown, Stan Brown, Shaun Burnett,
- D'Arcy J.M. Cain, Jeffrey Carlyle, Raymond Chen, Kelly Cooper,
- Denny de Jonge, Eric DeVolder, Alan Drew, Paul Ducklin, Gary
- Dueck, Roland Eriksson, Mark Evans, Markus Fischer, George
- Forsman, Roger Fulton, Vincent Giovannone, Robert Grunloh,
- B.Haible, Janos Haide, Klaus Hartnegg, Kris Heidenstrom, Tom
- Haapanen, Joel Hoffman, Ari Hovila, Chin Huang, Daniel P Hudson,
- Joe Huffman, Michael Holin, Mike Iarrobino, Byrial Jensen, Rune
- Jorgensen, Ajay Kamdar, Igor Kerp, Everett Kaser, JJ Keijser,
- Jeff Kellam, Jen Kilmer, Reinhard Kirchner, Dave Kirsch, Chad
- Knudsen, Samuel Ko, Jan Kotas, Janne Kukonlehto, Robert Luursema,
- Benjamin Lee, Stephen Lee, Jim Lynch, Greg Malknecht, Sidney
- Markowitz, Jim Marks, Dimitri Matzarakis, Fred McCall, Ken McKee,
- Doug Merrett, Tom Milner, Bill Moore, Duncan Murdoch, Steve
- Murphy, Daniel Neri, Mert Nickerson, David Nugent, John
- Oldenburg, David Pape, Keith Petersen, Karl Riedling, Arthur
- Rubin, Gerald Ruderman, Timo Salmi, Tapio Sand, Charles Sandmann,
- John Schmid, Russell Schulz, Huseyin Sevay, Adam Seychell, Ajay
- Shah, Bob Smith, Bob Stout, Sean Sullivan, Steve Summit, Tom
- Swingle, Anders Thulin, Curt Tilmes, Rick Watkins, Ya-Gui Wei,
- Morten Welinder, Joe Wells, Scott Winder, Gregory Youngblood, Eli
- Zaretski, khill@vax1.umkc.edu
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.03> - How can I search this article for a
- particular topic?
-
-
- To locate a certain word or phrase use your newsreader's,
- browser's, or editor's search utility.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.04> - Are the answers guaranteed to be correct and
- complete?
- Date: Wed, 05 Sep 94 15:34:00 CDT
-
-
- There has been an attempt to check all facts, but THERE IS NO
- WARRANTY ON THE CODE OR ON THE TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HEREIN.
- Please send corrections to <mailto:jeffrey@carlyle.com>. All the
- code has been tested; but the testing may not have been perfect,
- and machines and configurations vary. (Except where otherwise
- noted, C code was tested with MSC 5, BC++ 2.0, or BC++ 4.x.)
-
-
- The mention of particular books or programs must not be construed
- to reflect unfavorably on any that are not mentioned.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.05> - What is comp.os.msdos.programmer about?
- Date: Wed, 05 Sep 94 15:34:00 CDT
-
-
- Comp.os.msdos.programmer (comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer until
- September 1990) concerns programming for MS-DOS systems. The
- article "USENET Readership report for Jul 94" in news.lists shows
- 120,000 readers of this newsgroup worldwide. Traffic (exclusive
- of crossposts) was 1981 articles aggregating 3.1 Megabytes. It
- ranked as the 79th most popular newsgroup.
-
-
- Much of our traffic is about language products (chiefly from
- Borland and Microsoft). More programming topics focus on C than
- on any one other language, but we are not just for C programmers
- (see <Q: 1.07> - "Is comp.os.msdos.programmer just for C
- programmers?").
-
-
- Since most MS-DOS systems run on hardware that is roughly
- compatible with the IBM PC, on Intel 8088, 80188, or 80x86 chips,
- we tend to get a lot of questions and answers about programming
- other parts of the hardware.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.06> - Is comp.os.msdos.programmer just for C
- programmers?
-
-
- No, it is for all programmers who want to share information about
- programming in MS-DOS and DOS replacements like 4DOS. Programs
- and questions are also posted in Pascal, assembly, and other
- languages (including MS-DOS batch programming).
-
-
- Why does the newsgroup seem to be so C-oriented sometimes? There
- are two reasons. First, comp.lang.c and comp.lang.pascal have
- evolved in different directions. Comp.lang.pascal welcomes
- vendor-specific discussion, such as Turbo Pascal. Since so many
- of Turbo Pascal's features are tailored to programming on PCs and
- in MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal programmers tend to find DOS questions
- welcomed there, so that comp.os.msdos.programmer gets less of the
- "DOS in Turbo Pascal" traffic. On the other hand, comp.lang.c
- has stayed closer to talking only about the C language, and
- vendor-specific or operating-system-specific questions are not
- welcome. This tends to push questions about disks, DOS file
- structure, video, the keyboard, TSRs, etc. to
- comp.os.msdos.programmer even when those programs are written in
- C.
-
-
- This FAQ is definitely C-oriented, not because that's necessarily
- best but because I tried to stick to what I could verify
- personally. As a C programmer (with some assembler), I could most
- carefully verify solutions in C or assembler. I felt that short,
- clear programs could be published in just one language and
- programmers could translate them into their languages of choice.
- But the FAQ list also contains several long programs written only
- in C; this is a defect with no obvious remedy. Most answers that
- point to source code at archive sites include both C- and Pascal-
- language source when available.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.07> - What is comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:18:26 CST
-
-
- Comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer is the old name of
- comp.os.msdos.programmer, and has been obsolete since September
- 1990. However, many systems have not removed the old group, or
- have removed it but aliased it to the new name. This means that
- some people still think they're posting to
- comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer even though they're actually posting
- to comp.os.msdos.programmer.
-
-
- You can easily verify the non-existence of
- comp.sys.ibm.pc.programmer by reference to the "List of Active
- Newsgroups" posted to news.groups. It's available at:
-
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/active-
- newsgroups>
-
- (For RTFM usage instructions see <Q: 1.13> - "Where are FAQ lists
- archived?")
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.08> - Is comp.os.msdos.programmer available as a
- mailing list?
-
-
- Sorry, the newsgroup is not available as a mailing list.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.09> - What's this "netiquette"?
-
-
- Netiquette is good Usenet etiquette. It includes basic rules
- like the ones below. (See also <Q: 1.11> - "How can I learn more
- about Usenet?")
-
-
- - Always read a newsgroup for a reasonable time before you post
- an article to it.
-
-
- - Pick the one right group for your article; don't crosspost
- unless absolutely necessary. If you absolutely must post an
- article to more than one group, do crosspost it and don't post the
- same article separately to each group. See <Q: 1.12> - "What
- other technical newsgroups should I know about?" when considering
- where to post an article.
-
-
- - Before you post a question, make sure you're posting to the
- right newsgroup; the best way to do that is to observe the
- proceeding rule. Check the group's FAQ list (if it has one) to
- make sure that your question isn't already answered there; see <Q:
- 1.13> "Where are FAQ lists archived?"
-
-
- - When you post a question, if you ask for email responses then
- promise to post a summary. Keep your promise. And make it a real
- summary: don't just append all the email you got. Instead, write
- your own (brief) description of the solution: this is the best way
- to make sure you really understand it.
-
-
- - Before you post a follow-up, read the other follow-ups. Very
- often you'll find that someone else has already made the point you
- had in mind.
-
-
- - When someone posts a question, if you want to know the answer
- don't post a "me, too". Instead send email to the poster asking
- him or her to share responses with you.
-
-
- - When posting a follow-up to another posted article, remove
- all headers and signature lines from the old article; just keep
- the line "In <article>, so-and-so writes:". Also cut the original
- article down as much as possible; just keep enough of it to remind
- readers of the context.
-
-
- - Keep lines in posted articles to 72-75 characters. Many
- newsreaders chop off column 81 or arbitrarily insert a newline
- there, which makes longer lines difficult or impossible to read.
- But you need to keep well below 80 characters per line to allow
- for the > characters that get inserted when other people post
- follow-ups to your article.
-
-
- - Keep your signature to 4 lines or less (including any
- graphics) and for heaven's sake make sure it doesn't get posted
- twice in your article.
-
-
- - Don't post email without first obtaining the permission of
- the sender.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.10> - How can I learn more about Usenet?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:18:14 CST
-
-
- There are two important newsgroups for learning about how Usenet
- and newsreader software works:
-
-
- - News.announce.newusers contains periodic postings that
- everybody is asked to read before posting anything to Usenet. (In
- theory, all new users are subscribed to news.announce.newusers
- automatically. But in practice not all newsreader software does
- that, so that many people violate the guidelines given there
- simply because they don't know about them.)
-
-
- - News.newusers.questions is described as "Q & A for users new
- to the Usenet". But new and long-time users can ask or answer
- questions about Usenet and newsreader software there. There's an
- important article, "Welcome to news.newusers.questions! (Weekly
- posting)", that everyone is asked to read before posting to
- news.newusers.questions. (See below for ways to get a copy of
- that article.)
-
-
- The following postings in news.announce.newusers might be
- considered the "mandatory course" for new users:
-
- Introduction to news.announce.newusers
- What is Usenet?
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- Rules for posting to Usenet
- A Primer on How to Work with the Usenet Community
- Hints on writing style for Usenet
- Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
-
- The articles mentioned above are downloadable via ftp from
- rtfm.mit.edu in the following files:
-
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/news-
- newusers-intro>
- Welcome to news.newusers.questions! (Weekly posting)
-
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/news-
- announce-intro/part1>
- Introduction to news.announce.newusers
-
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/what-
- is/part1>
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/what-
- is/part2>
- What is Usenet?
-
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-
- group/news.answers/usenet/faq/part1>
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
-
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-
- group/news.answers/usenet/posting-rules/part1>
- Rules for posting to Usenet
-
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-
- group/news.answers/usenet/primer/part1>
- A Primer on How to Work with the Usenet Community
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-
- group/news.answers/usenet/writing-style/part1>
- Hints on writing style for Usenet
- - <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-
- group/news.answers/usenet/emily-postnews/part1>
- Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
-
- For rtfm.mit.edu instructions, see <Q: 1.13> "Where are FAQ lists
- archived?"
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.11> - What other technical newsgroups should I know
- about?
- Date: Wed, 02 Oct 94 15:34:00 CDT
-
-
- Caution: Some of these newsgroups have specialized charters;
- you'll probably get flamed (and deserve it) if you post to an
- inappropriate group. Most groups have FAQ lists that will tell
- you what's appropriate. Don't post a request for the FAQ list;
- instead, retrieve it yourself: see <Q: 1.13> - "Where are FAQ
- lists archived?"
-
-
- - Misc.forsale.computers.d and misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone
- are where you post notices of equipment, software, or computer
- books that you want to sell. Please don't post or crosspost those
- notices to comp.os.msdos.programmer.
-
-
- - comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.* groups (formerly part of
- comp.windows.ms.programmer): Similar to comp.os.msdos.programmer,
- but focus on programming for the MS-Windows platform.
-
-
- - Comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware is for more hardware-oriented
- discussions of the machines that run DOS.
-
-
- - The various comp.lang.* groups for articles and questions on
- the programming languages. Caution: some groups welcome
- discussions that are operating-system dependent or vendor
- specific; others do not. For example, comp.lang.c is definitely
- _not_ for questions about programming DOS or PC system features,
- even if the programs are written in C.
-
-
- - Comp.binaries.ibm.pc.wanted: AFTER you have looked in the
- other groups, this is the place to post a request for a particular
- binary program.
-
-
- - Comp.archives.msdos.announce (moderated) explains how to use
- the archive sites, especially Garbo and SimTel, and lists files
- uploaded to them. Discussions belong in comp.archives.msdos.d,
- which replaced comp.binaries.ibm.pc.archives in December 1992.
-
-
- - Comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d is for discussions about programs
- posted in comp.binaries.ibm.pc, and only those programs. This is
- a good place to report bugs in the programs, but not to ask where
- to find them (see cbip.wanted, above). Comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d is
- NOT supposed to be a general PC discussion group.
-
-
- - Comp.sources.misc: a moderated group for source code for many
- computer systems. It tends to get lots of Unix stuff, but you may
- also pick up some DOS-compatible code here.
-
-
- - Alt.sources: an unmoderated group for source code.
- Guidelines are posted periodically.
-
-
- - Comp.os.msdos.djgpp is specifically for support of DJGPP. For
- more information on DJGPP see <Q: 10.06> - What and where is
- DJGPP?
-
-
- - Comp.os.msdos.programmer.turbovision is specifically for
- programming in Turbo Vision.
-
-
- - Rec.games.programmer discusses many graphics programming
- topics.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.12> - Where are FAQ lists archived?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:20:21 CST
-
-
- Very possibly the FAQ list you want is already at your site.
- Check the newsgroup news.answers; if your site doesn't carry
- news.answers, check comp.answers, rec.answers, etc., according to
- the top-level name in the FAQ list's "home" newsgroup. Articles
- are posted to the *.answers groups in a way that should make them
- last until the next versions are posted. If they expire sooner
- at your site, you might want to lobby your sysadmin to treat the
- moderated *.answers groups as a special case and grant them
- longer expiration times than other groups.
-
-
- To ftp most FAQ lists, connect to <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-
- by-group/news.answers>. The name of the file that you want is
- the Archive-name from the top of the article. For instance, if
- the Archive-name were software-eng/part1 you would retrieve
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/software-
- eng/part1>.
-
-
- By email (only if you have no ftp access, please), the server is
- <mailto:mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu>. It accepts "send" commands
- that omit the leading "/pub/" from file names; for example:
-
-
- send usenet-by-group/news.answers/software-eng/part1
-
-
- For full instructions about the mail server, send it a message
- consisting of these two lines:
-
- help
- index
-
- Not just FAQ lists, but every article listed in the "List of
- Periodic Informational Postings" (LoPIP) can be obtained by ftp
- or email from rtfm.mit.edu. If you have an old copy of an
- informational article, look for an "Archive-name" at the
- beginning. The article is stored under that name at
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers>. If the
- article has no Archive-name, check the first name on the
- Newsgroups line and change to that directory under
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group>.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 1.13> - Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ
- list?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 00:08:35 CST
-
-
- The latest version of the FAQ is available at
- <http://www.premiernet.net/~carlyle>.
-
-
- Or it is available via FTP in the directory
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet-by-group/news.answers/msdos-
- programmer-faq>.
-
-
- If you have no ftp access, see <Q: 1.13> "Where are FAQ lists
- archived?" for instructions on retrieving it by email.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: Section 2. General Reference
-
- <Q: 2.01> - Are there any good on-line references for PC hardware
- components?
- <Q: 2.02> - Are there any good on-line references for PC
- interrupts?
- <Q: 2.03> - What and where is "Ralf Brown's interrupt list"?
- <Q: 2.04> - Where can I find lex, yacc, and language grammars?
- <Q: 2.05> - What's the best book to learn programming?
- <Q: 2.06> - Why won't my code work?
- <Q: 2.07> - Are there any good sources of example code?
- <Q: 2.08> - What and where is "SNIPPETS"?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.01> - Are there any good on-line references for PC
- hardware components?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:28:22 CST
-
-
- Good reports of HELPPC21 have been posted. It is downloadable
- as:
-
-
- <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/info/helppc21.zip>
- <ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/programming/helppc21.zip>
-
-
- This hypertext system contains much information on ports and
- other hardware, as well as some overlap with Ralf Brown's
- interrupt list <Q: 2.03>. It is shareware ($25).
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.02> - Are there any good on-line references for PC
- interrupts?
-
-
- The definitive work is Ralf Brown's interrupt list. For more
- information see <Q: 2.03>.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.03> - What and where is "Ralf Brown's interrupt
- list"?
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:31:12 CST
-
- Ralf Brown's Interrupt List contains megabytes of information on
- documented and (officially) undocumented BIOS and DOS interrupts,
- DOS tables, and interrupts hooked by many software packages.
-
-
- The distribution files contain not only the actual list, but also
- a collection of utilities and conversion programs for the list.
-
-
- An HTML version of Ralf Brown's Interrupt List can be found at:
-
- <http://ctyme.com/rbrown.htm>
-
- Ralf Brown's Interrupt List can be downloaded from his page at:
-
-
- <http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/ralf/pub/WWW/files
- .html>
-
-
- The list is made up of files titled inter*.zip downloadable from:
-
- <ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/msdos/info>
- <ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/programming>
-
- Updates are announced every few months in
- comp.archives.msdos.announce.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.04> - Where can I find lex, yacc, and language
- grammars?
-
-
- The FAQ list of the comp.compilers newsgroup answers this for
- BASIC, C, Pascal, and other languages. See <Q: 1.13> "Where are
- FAQ lists archived?"
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.05> - What's the best book to learn programming?
-
-
- Sorry, this FAQ list cannot settle religious arguments.
-
-
- Much of the heat over this topic arises because each person
- believes that the book that he or she learned from is the best
- book, but different people have very different experiences of the
- same book. The only person who can tell you which is the best
- book for learning a given topic is you.
-
-
- Your best bet is to go to a fairly well stocked bookstore when
- you have a couple of hours to spare. Start at one end of the
- shelf and work your way methodically through every book that
- looks like it might cover what you want to learn. Look at the
- tables of contents; read a page or two from each book. Then make
- your decision. If money is a problem or if you're not sure of
- your choice, check out your top two or three from your library.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.06> - Why won't my code work?
-
-
- First you need to try to determine whether the problem is in your
- use of the programming language or in your use of MS-DOS and your
- PC hardware. (Your manual should tell you which features are
- standard and which are vendor- or MS DOS- or PC-specific. You
- have read your manual carefully, haven't you?)
-
-
- If the feature that seems to be working wrong is something
- related to your PC hardware or to the internals of MS-DOS, this
- group is the right place to ask. (Please check this FAQ list
- first, to make sure your question isn't already answered here.)
-
-
- On the other hand, if your problem is with the programming
- language, the comp.lang hierarchy (including comp.lang.pascal and
- comp.lang.c) is probably a better resource. Please read the
- other group's FAQ list thoroughly before posting. (These exist
- in comp.lang.c, comp.lang.c++, comp.lang.modula3, comp.lang.lisp,
- comp.lang.perl; they may exist in other groups as well.) It's
- almost never a good idea to crosspost between
- comp.os.msdos.programmer and a language group.
-
-
- Before posting in either place, try to make your program as small
- as possible while still exhibiting the bad behavior. Sometimes
- this alone is enough to show you where the trouble is. Also edit
- your description of the problem to be as short as possible. This
- makes it look more like you tried to solve the problem on your
- own, and makes people more inclined to try to help you. See also
- <Q: 1.10> "What's this 'netiquette'?"
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.07> - Are there any good sources of example code?
-
-
- Bob Stout maintains a very large archive called SNIPPETS. For
- more information see <Q: 2.08>.
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: <Q: 2.08> - What and where is "SNIPPETS?"
- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 97 19:39:08 CST
-
-
- Excerpt from the SNIPPETS FAQ follows:
-
-
- The SNIPPETS archive, maintained by Bob Stout, contains public
- domain/freeware portable C/C++ source code & instructional text.
- There are more than 500 files, including:
-
- Approx. 56,000 lines of code + approx. 10,000 lines of
- tutorials.
- Approx. 30% PC-specific, 70% portable
- Approx. 6% C++-specific, 94% C/C++
-
- The PC-specific functions are system-level utility code - no
- multimedia or GUI code. Tested on all popular PC compilers plus
- Unix compilers where possible. An eclectic collection with
- everything from macros to complete cut-and-paste C/C++ code
- solutions & utilities, along with FAQ and instructional files.
-
-
- The SNIPPETS distribution file is created in the form of
- SNIPdddd.xxx, where "dddd" is the release date and "xxx" is the
- archive utility extension.
-
-
- SNIPDIFF.xxx updates a previous version of SNIPPETS to a new
- release.
-
-
- Internet locations to get SNIPPETS and SNIPDIFF via anonymous
- ftp:
-
- <ftp://ftp.brokersys.com/pub/snippets> (The Official SNIPPETS
- distribution site.)
- <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/c>
- <ftp://connectn.acs.niu.edu/bbc/rbbs-pc/ra/files/c>
- <ftp://juge.com/c/file/c>
- <ftp.funet.fi/pub/msdos/Simtel/c>
-
- World-Wide-Web sites:
-
- <http://www.brokersys.com/snippets/>
- <http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/simtel-msdos/c/>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: End
-
- (FAQ updates can be found at
- <http://www.premiernet.net/~carlyle>.)
- (End of comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ Version 1997.08 Part 1/5)
- (This text is copyright 1997 by Jeffrey Carlyle. All rights
- reserved.)
-
-
-
- // Jeffrey Carlyle, Bowling Green, Kentucy USA
- //
- // comp.os.msdos.programmer FAQ maintainer
- // <http://www.premiernet.net/~carlyle>
-
-
-