AMOS present and future
As you know some months ago i've obtained the AMOS sources... during these months I've spent my time learning the AMOS internal functions and structures, in order to upgrade it and develop the new AMOSPro V3... but I've to say that my projects have changed a lot during this period. My original idea was to upgrade/expand it, add AGA support and most of all to make AMOS more OS friendly! but when I examined the sources some problems have arisen.
It has an old AmigaOS v1.3 structure and its totally OS-unfriendly design and confused programming style make it really hard to upgrade as we want.... to obtain the desired results we would have to rewrite it! :'(
So after some meetings with the other developers, we've decided to follow a quite different way.... probably the best choice for you and for us.
AMOS will have a future and also a good present.
The Present
We'll release an upgrade package for AMOSPro... you'll obtain:
EXPANDED BUG FIXED VERSION OF AMOSPRO AND COMPILER
Self explaning.... we'll try to fix as many bugs as possible, and expand some Amos functions. In particular I'm working on the AMOS Equates system... the equate system is a very good idea, but badly implemented. It is going to work in a totally different way, similar to other languages. I've changed the amos command Include"".... now it doesn't import an amos source in your program anymore (...a very stupid idea in a basic enviroment IMHO) but imports your symbols. What symbols? Good news... thanks to the collaboration with Wouter Van Oortmerssen (the Amiga E author) Amos will be able to import and use the Amiga E modules! (supplied with the upgrade or available on Aminet)
The Struct() command has been extended, and now accept a C-like access method, for example:
A=Struct(S,"RastPort,BitMap") : Struct(S,"Window,UserData")=255 in
the first example you define the variable S as a pointer to a RastPort structure and thus the BitMap field is returned. In the second S is a pointer to a Window, and the UserData field will be set to 255.
Since upgrading the main AMOS code isn't possible (... upgrading it means rewriting it from scratch) we've decided to expand it trough our own extensions.
The following extesions will be added:
A tipical question.... I already own the GUI Extension, AMCAF etc..., do I already have the new Amos?????
NO!!!!!
This extensions will be more powerful! and new functions will be added. Thanks to the AMOS sources the new extensions will be better and faster.
The GUI Extension v2.0 will offer locale support, eXtra Fast Animation (XFA) format support, a better IFF support, drag'n'drop, app icons, new advanced Internet functions and lot more!
Similarly the OsDevKit (now it is bigger in size than the main AMOSPro Lib itself!) you'll get the most advanced AmigaOS support available. It supports all programming functions like datatypes, RTG, boopsi, locale, gadtools, intutition ,gfx cards, etc.
The new FD Extension v3.0 creates now a better code, and as you know it allows to integrate as standard Amos functions all functions of Amiga native libraries (MUI, Exec, Dos etc) using in-line code, for example:
A=Lvo MakeVPort(W,V) : A=Lvo Mrgcop(W)
AMCAF.. well.. probably the best known Amos extension :) What can I say... new version = new power!
The Game Extension is the games coders dream.. it allows you to create your game with AGA support (screens, bobs, gfx...) incredibly fast! Bobs are now 4 time faster than those of Amos! and the most important detail is the totally OS friendly design! plus you'll get complete CDDA support and may other useful functions.
Plus the latest registered versions of Turbo Plus (v2.15) and PowerBobs(v1.1).
I'm working on AMOS3D.... i hope to include it in the upgrade release. This extensions offers complete access to ALL system resources, and covers all programming requirements.
Here is what you'll obtain in short:
Some new tools will be added to the default Amos distribution, for example:
IED - The Intuition Editor
This program allows you to use the AMOSPro editor with a intuition screen! You can now write in Amos without losing the WB enviroment... dragging the AMOS editor screen just like other screens is fanstastic ;)
AmilED - The AMOSPro Interface Language Editor
It allows you to easily create your interfaces (and sources) in few minutes. You can edit them directly or create new interfaces using mouse (GadToolsBox like), and the source code will be automatically created for you! Thanks to this function you can create your own interfaces without any knowledge of the Amos interface language!!
GUI Converter and GTBoxConverter
This tools allows you to easly import your GadToolsBox GUI in your AMOS programs as GUI bank or Amos (OsDevKit) source code!
Bug fixed version of the standard AMOSPro tools like the Compiler Shell or the AMAL editor.
The new AMOSPRO v2.x developer kit will be included, with all the extra tools never released in the old versions.
Examples, demos, games, sources, extensions, tons of material coming from the Mushroom PD library (the new official AMOS library) will be included.
All this stuff will be released on a CD... the Amos Developer CD.
The release date is December '98. The price... not decided yet,
but it'll be very cheap!
The Future
Well... due to the recent Amiga Inc annoncements, the PPC developement,
the new top secret CPU and OS is clear that Amos needs to be heavly upgraded
to follow and support the new upcoming standards.
But since upgrading AMOS isn't possible because its code isn't portable
to different CPUs, we've decided to develop a NEW LANGUAGE! Totally
written in pure C++, it'll be easly portable on different CPUs like 68k and
PPC. It will be totally OS friendly, and the compiler will be able to
optmize your code! The project name is AMOS NG.
It is now under development together with the AmosPro upgrade... more info
about this project will follow in the future.
Amos Developer Team Coordinator Pietro Ghizzoni
Pager by Joseph Lombardo
| Contact: petty@amiworld.it |
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