[GEM Development] More about GEM not going forward... More comments?

[Michael Bernstein]

Hi Shane,

> now I'm trying to find suitable (low-level) document for the Atari
> version of GEM and make sure I can match one to the other.

Ask me, if you need informations about Atari. The official document is
the Atari Compendium (AC), which is not available in the web. Because
there are not much online documents, Gerhard Stoll and i decided to
publish TOS.HYP online and prepare this german hypertext for an
additional english part. Peter West has translated most if this text
to english. You can find the english version at

http://toshyp.atari.org

It should be no problem to match one to the other because they are
for nearly all functions identical. If you use the official names,
all names are identical. But you should not use the names from some
old GEM applications. I found in the RCS early names with the prefix
gsx. VDI started as a GKS (Grafisches Kern System) clone with the name
GSX.

> This is an excellent argument for the Wiki (one page per API call
> describing the differences between implementations would be great).

No, it is not a excellent argument for a Wiki but only a good. Yes,
the structure of one page for one api call matches the structure of a
Wiki. But this can also be done with HTML code by hand. The benefit
of a Wiki ist not to have one pager per description but to give a group
easy write access via web. But because there is no development to
modify or enhance GEM, there is also no need of write access after the
function description was made.

I want not really argue against a Wiki. But i can show a faster way
with less work. Because the functions in Atari GEM and PC-GEM are nearly
identical and have the same names, it is more easy and faster to write
a new top level file for a newa target for TOS.HYP.

I am always wondering, why people would like to make there own copy in
the web instead of linking end reuse parts. What is wrong on my way? Is
it the fact, that you dont have your own copy? Or do i use the wrong
words, Atari instead of PC-GEM? It´s GEM, it´s the same GUI, only a
different version.

I think, if someone really feel the need of a reference manual inside
a Wiki, if he has the knowledge and if he has the time, a Wiki with
a description af the API will stil exist. But it does not exist. So it
lacks of some of the requierements. I have shown you a way to get the
API description with very little work and can spend your rare time to
start with other missing descriptions.

BTW. i have a not finished GEM programming course. AES is present, VDI
not and some parts need a bit rework of the descriptions. If there is
interrest and someone would like to help with translation (my text is
in german like all parts of my homepage) an can try to finish them. But
it will be a part of my Atari programing site in the web. But it is no
problem to use this course also for PC-GEM, because i cover only GEM on
Atari ST without extensions like NVDI or N.AES.

Best Regards
Michael