




               Review of "The Amiga Guru Book, by Ralph Babel"

                                 Tony Preston

                               119 Hickory Lane

                              Medford, NJ 08055





             OOvveerrvviieeww         




             The first  time  I  heard  about  this  book  was  from a

        message        in        the        Internet        newsgroup,

        comp.sys.amiga.programmer.   The message said it was available

        in  Germany  and  not  in  the  United  States.   It is always

        disappointing   that   the   United  States  is  considered  a

        secondary market for the Amiga.  



             I happened  to have an email address for the author and I

        asked  him  if there was any place in the United States that I

        could  obtain  this  book.   He  replied  to  me that a German

        Company(See  the  address below) was handling it in Europe and

        that  currently  there  was  no  US  distributor.   A few days

        later,  I received another email message informing me that the

        book  had become available in the United States from Periscope

        Inc(see  address  below).   I  immediately called only to find

        that  the  book  was  not  yet  available  because  it  was in

        Customs.   I  was  told that I should call back in a few days.

        Later  in  the  week, I called and was able to place my order.


                              - 1 -





        The  point  of  this  story is that the book is well worth the

        trouble!   I  have been programming on my Amiga since 1985.  I

        have  many  books  on  various details of the OS and hardware.

        This  book  seems  to  have  summarized many of the key points

        that I have spent alot of time learning.  



             It is  well  organized,  the contents covers programming,

        system  internals,  and AmigaDos as major topics.  The book is

        written  in  what  I  will call a friendly easy to read style.

        Each  chapter starts with some quotes from people that will be

        familiar  to  most  programmers, the quotes are almost as good

        as  the  contents  of  the chapter! The chapter then goes into

        its  subject in enough detail to help even the most experience

        programmer  learn something new.  The information is presented

        so  that even the newest programmer will find this book a good

        addition to their library of Amiga books.  





             PPrrooggrraammmmiinngg         




             This section  of  the  book  covers  some  basics and yet

        included  details  that I would have a hard time finding in my

        other  books.   The  section  on  data  types  has  some  good

        information  on floating point.  The programming guidelines on

        how  the  stack  is  handled,  register  conventions, resource

        handling,  memory  allocation, and other hardware details is a


                              - 2 -





        wealth  of information that not only would be good for the new

        programmer,  but  also  refreshes  old  timers  on  the proper

        methods  for  obtaining  a resource and releasing it.  What is

        really  nice  about  this chapter is that the book has details

        that  relate  to  all  Amiga,  old and new.  Old functions are

        identified  and  so  are  new  ones.  A great deal of work and

        attention  to detail makes this one section worth the price of

        the  book.  The book also contains example code showing how to

        do  what  is described in the text.  The examples are in C and

        assembler.   The  book  was  written  based on the SAS/C 5.10b

        compiler,  but  also includes information comparing SAS/C with

        Aztec C version 5.2b.  



             The section  on  assembly  language programming goes into

        alot  of  detail  about  interfacing  to  the  Amiga  OS  with

        comparable  example  of C and assembly.  There are many macros

        in  the include files.  The Amiga Guru goes into a fair amount

        of  detail on how to use some of the more useful ones.  If you

        get  tired  of  assembly  language system calling conventions,

        the  next chapter goes into similar examples in C.  One of the

        more  useful  things  in  this  chapter is a chart which shows

        where  libraries and resources are defined.  One of my biggest

        areas  of  confusion  is figuring out what includes I need for

        which  functions I am using.  This section ends with a program

        that  handles  the  command  line  arguments  from  either the

        Workbench  or  CLI.   It  covers  two  pages and is simple and



                              - 3 -





        straight  forward.   The next section is probably the only one

        I  have any real complaints about.  It goes into a fair amount

        of  detail  on SAS/C 5.10b.  While it is well done, it also is

        quickly   out   of  date.   SAS  released  version  6.0  which

        contained  a  different scheme for command line arguments plus

        has  made several updates and is now up to version 6.51 of the

        compiler.    The   SAS/C   documentation   does  contain  this

        information  and will be more up to date than this book.  This

        section  of the book does go into alot of important details on

        the way the compilers work.  



             The next  two  chapters gets into some real useful things

        on   calling   routines   in   amiga.lib  and  debugging  your

        programs.  All very useful stuff.  





             SSyysstteemm IInntteerrnnaallss        




             Now we  start  getting into some read complex stuff.  The

        low  level  software  and hardware details of the Amiga.   The

        author  starts  out  with some detailed information on the way

        things  work at boot time and proceeds into Alerts, Gurus, and

        Traps.   I  always  have wondered where developers get some of

        this  information,  this  section  teaches  some  of the basic

        secrets of the system! 




                              - 4 -









             AAmmiiggaaDDOOSS         




             We are  now  almost  half  way through the book!  We know

        about  the  hardware  and low level details of the software so

        it  is time to get into AmigaDos! We get a little history, and

        a  basic  tutorial of what is where in AmigaDos.  We then move

        on  into  the  Console  Handler,  the  Command Line Interface,

        Error  Codes,  Packets  and  Handlers  plus  alot  more.  This

        section of the book alone is worth the cost of the book.  





             CCoonncclluussiioonn         




             I have  not  yet  finished reading the whole book, but as

        you  can see, I have found this book a valuable addition to my

        Amiga  library.   This  is not a book for the typical user, it

        does   not  go  into  using  the  Amiga.   It  is  a  book  on

        programming  the  Amiga.   It  is  an  indispensable reference

        manual  with  many  good  examples, hints, and tables. It is a

        basic  fundamental piece of Amiga knowledge that is invaluable

        to  not  just  the  C  or  Assembly  language programmer.  The

        knowledge  can  be  used  with  any programming language.  The

        book  covers  all Amiga models from the A1000 up to the A4000,



                              - 5 -





        but   is   general   enough   that  Amiga  programmers  should

        definitely add this book to their reading lists! 



             This book  was published by the author, Ralph Babel so it

        does  not  have  an ISBN number.  In Germany, you can get this

        book from: 



             Author:         Ralph Babel



             ISBN:           no ISBN number



             Guru-No.:       8703 8001  C7E4D9E4





             Outside the United States, you can contact:





             Hirsch & Wolf OHG       Price: DM 79.



             Mittelstrasse 33



             D-56564 Neuwied



             Germany



             Vox: +49 (2631) 8399-0



                              - 6 -







             Fax: +49 (2631) 8399-31





             In the United States, you can contact:





             Periscope CD'S & Tape   Price:  plus  shipping



             Attn: Cody Lee



             1717 W. Kirby



             Champaign, IL 61821



             (217) 398-4CDS





        I strongly recommend this book for you Amiga Library!

















                              - 7 -

