To: Harry Potter Harry Potter wrote:
I am interested in Apple 2gs programming, and am wondering where to get the proper software. I have little money, so I can't buy those major programming systems. I need something that costs little or nothing. I am willing to start in BASIC, but I prefer C and assembler. --- Synchronet 3.14a-Win32 NewsLink 1.85
Well, the only C system available is still for sale, Orca/C. If one did have the money I would suggest the ByteWorks Opus collection which includes all their software with source and documentation along with their 'learn to program with' series. I think you can actually get the 'Learn to Program in C' and compiler separately at a reasonable price from Syndicomm but I haven't checked there recently.
As mentioned, Complete Pascal is available (as abandonware) and for general development I would suggest this route if you know Pascal. Doc's are somewhat limited but several people in the group use it for graphic oriented programs.
Lisa816 is a very nice GS assembler. Then there is the Merlin 16 assembler. Both of those should be legal to use. There are some resources for GS development available for both assemblers, macros and such. Be aware however that APW & Orca/M assemblers were the standard for GS development and much documentation is based on that.
There are a number of BASIC options available. ByteWorks GSoft has a free use (limited) version. So What Software re-released their Applesoft GS enhancements as free use (desktop app's in Applesoft) and SuperBasic lets you program GS graphics in Applesoft.
The biggest issue you face will be learning how to program GS. There is a lot to learn and it will take some effort to do so. There are a number of sites which can help here. You should be able to locate some useful links by searching the news groups and/or the FAQ @
http://home.swbell.net/rubywand/A2FAQs1START.html Cheers, Mike T. --- Synchronet 3.14a-Win32 NewsLink 1.85 A2Central.com - Your total source for Apple II computing.