Why does every one keep coding for windows when dos is in many aspects way better. And don''t start by saying that windows is a bigger market, cause windows supports dos apps. I know that there will be (some) people out ther who agree with me. So my idea is if we all start coding for dos maybe people will start using it again. Also many people belive that windows can do much more than dos, this is not true, DOS can do the same(with the propper drivers), if not more than windows or any other OS can. In what ever way you twist it or turn it dos RuleZ!

Well the current windows version (95/98) currently supports DOS because it still has 16Bit code in it. The other versions based on the NT kernel only have 32Bit support.
IE: It can support SOME DOS apps.
It only supports [DOS] apps that dont write to the hardware
directly. So future versions of Windows will not support anything that writes to the hardware. I hate to tell you this but...
DOS *IS* dead

This has been talked about a lot. It took a long time to leave DOS. It''s a good system. One big plus for windows is windows does a lot more for you. It is so easy to do simple things like play CD''s and video using MCI calls. This is good for me because my current project uses CD audio for music. The API''s are good, but I beleive Direct X has a lot of unneccesary initialization stuff, but that''s why I and other people have made wrappers for it.

You hit what I think is the biggest point though. You have a better chance of selling your game and getting into the industry if you program for windows. I remember when all the good games were DOS games, and windows games were crap. Dos still couldn''t hold on even then.

Direct X and Open GL are good reason for the conversion, but DOS has libraries like Allegro, MidPak, and Fast Graph, but FG may have a windows version now.

If you want to program for DOS using those libraries, go for it. You''ll have to test your program on a lot of systems. You will probably also want to make a simple windows programmer with a picture that users can use to launch your program.

Domini

The only use for DOS now, is for learning how to program for the first time.

I didn''t see Blah''s post because I was writing mine when he was wrote his. He''s got it.

Domini

Windows was made to allow applications to have a common interface, and to make it easier for the average user. The average Windows user doesn''t want to go back to a command-line interface. They''d rather stick with icons and not have to worry about command-line switches or batch file programming or applications that don''t multitask. If you think you can make a windowing enviroment that''s better than Windows, go ahead. Nobody''s stopping you.

You might want to look into Linux. It''s a programmer''s dream OS. You can do what DOS can do, and more. And the X windowing enviroment is good for those who would rather create Windows-like programs.

Allegro has been ported to Windows and Linux. OpenGL is found in Linux also.


CobraA1
http://www.geocities.com/moss-taylor

quote:
Why does every one keep coding for windows when dos is in many aspects way better. And don't start by saying that windows is a bigger market, cause windows supports dos apps. I know that there will be (some) people out ther who agree with me.

How, exactly, is DOS superior?

quote:
So my idea is if we all start coding for dos maybe people will start using it again. Also many people belive that windows can do much more than dos, this is not true, DOS can do the same(with the propper drivers), if not more than windows or any other OS can. In what ever way you twist it or turn it dos RuleZ!

They quit for a reason. What was it?

Yeah, DOS can do the same with proper drivers -- actually, Windows 9x itself is, conceptually, "just" a collection of drivers built on top of DOS. So it's not just a different OS altogether -- just a huge-collection-of-drivers-and-standards-and-libraries.

Why do people continually fight having to learn Windows programming? It's not terrible -- its just more abstract. Kind of like Structured Programming vs. OOP (no, I'm not looking to start a flame war ).


In what ever way you twist it or turn it Windows RuleZ!




- null_pointer
Sabre Multimedia


Edited by - null_pointer on 3/29/00 5:21:28 PM

Atually, Windows 9x is a new operating system, with backwards compatibility for DOS. It rewrites the old DOS files completely, and uses 32-bit code instead of 16-bit. In fact, there is almost zero DOS code left in Windows NT and Windows 2000.

Windows 3.x are drivers on top of DOS. Windows 95 and above are a complete new operating system.

Programmers complain about Windows because DOS is much faster, and since it isn''t multi-tasking, it won''t pull the processor off to do another job, giving your game less time to do stuff like calculations and rendering the screen.

And I''m not sure if they all like the idea of making everything "more abstract" anyway; many programmers prefer to work closer to the macine. Again, making programming more abstract also slows the programs down.

However, Windows is much more popular, and easier to work with for the average user. Always consider a port to Windows so you can have the widest audience, even if you didn''t origionally make the program/game in Windows.

And I personally like Linux better than both.

CobraA1
http://www.geocities.com/moss-taylor

This is a !%&&¤# old topic! DOS simply sucks, it''s a horrible, pervert OS that can''t do anything and still manages to crash itself. Linux, on the other hand, is a weird OS that makes you rely on any guides you have to even get it to work and doesn''t allow basic direct hardware use.. that''s just bad. Windows crashes every ten minutes, but at least it has the hardware support _that dos and linux lack_.
Anyways, I wouldn''t crush DOS completely.. there are still lots of (non-game) legacy applications in use, and DOS is waaay better than windows for learning programming. But still, developing for it? -- BAD IDEA. You don''t really gain anything, but lose a whole lot of things that you get from windows.

DOS doesnt suck! And its not perverted!
Painless you kinda sound like Dr. Zaius in Beneath The Planet of The Apes when he first sees the human bust sculptures .

DOS is good. You have to learn how to things manualy.
In my computer class at school they make us work in DOS because they want us to learn how to do things ourself.

Dont forget that its a *command line* OS, so is UNIX (and any other based on UNIX like Linux)

And I personnaly dont think Linux is weird. Its great for servers since it doesnt crash everytime you try to do 2 things at once =).

In a nutshell, command line OS are like Assembly:
Its longer but faster and the majority of people dont use it !

Edited by - Blah! on 3/29/00 7:48:01 PM

Edited by - Blah! on 3/29/00 7:50:16 PM

I forgot to put this in my second post:

Linux and DOS *DO* have hardware support:
back in the days they were called *DRIVERS* oooh! aaah!

You wanted your game to use the new joystick?
You called the company that made that joystick and asked them for drivers, then you began coding!

Nowadays with windows all you do is code for that faceless
entity called "DirectInput".

Oh well now im starting to sound like my grandpa and im only 16