Thread: Full Programs?

I know this probably sounds like a silly question but I honestly am unsure. I've almost gotten through my beginning C book which covers all the basics of the language itself (I can go around this board and understand the code people have posted). But if they have written entire Operating Systems in C, then there must be more to it than DOS Windows and command line stuff. How exactly do you make bigger programs such as a text editor or something with graphics, or even something like a chat room just in the DOS Window where you can talk to others?

By using specialized libraries.

For a chat room you would need to learn about sockets and networking. For that you can look at the networking forum.

For graphics and such you will need libraries to do that. might have to search around for that. Also a lot of what made those libraries work are no longer possible with the more current windows operating systems.

Ok thought so. So basically the 'basics' of C is just what comes with the compiler... And then sockets, and GUI programming are 3rd party libraries?

That always seems like the problem with C. It's so much work to do the most basic of things in other programming languages. Not to say one is better than another, but I couldn't understand making some business application in C or C++ when C# or Java could get it done much faster in terms of development time.

Originally Posted by CompiledMonkey

That always seems like the problem with C. It's so much work to do the most basic of things in other programming languages. Not to say one is better than another, but I couldn't understand making some business application in C or C++ when C# or Java could get it done much faster in terms of development time.

I guess it's for us really detailed scientific people who like to know how everything works. I know what you mean. I learned and actually got into making Windows in Python really fast. But I am actually liking C better.

There is a rule I like to follow: don't try to solve a problem someone else already solved. While this doesn't work in all cases it is pretty nice when programming.

By spending a few minutes looking around on the next you might just find a library that makes your life a lot easier.

Case in point: I wanted to create a redirection script in CGI and didn't want to learn Perl or anything else. Quick search turned up a library that allowed me to do it in C.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for the tips Thantos. I'll be looking into libraries once I practice more with the basics.

Nice to C another Python fan on the board I don't necessary hate C but like any other language it has its purpose. I generally prefer python for RCG( RAPID CODE GENERATION) of applications - it usally fits my needs pretty well. C is faster and has its uses and the fact that it can be embedded in python and be used to extend python is a plus for me. In fact that is why i decided to learn C, so i can marry the two.

ALOT of things can be accomplished in Python instead of C/C++ and JAVA but programmers are still ppl two and as such are creatures of habit. I think it bothers C programmers the amount of whitespace python is so anal about. But mark my words The python community is a burgeoning community and it will be seen for the versitile language it is.


A text editor in C should be pretty easy. espeacially if you've mastered the basics of getchar() and some string handling. C is very well suited for this.

lastly: every language has their basic synatx for loops and conditionals etc. and then they are agmented with extra librairies/modules. C is no exception. c++ has the stl, java has all its packages and python its modules. after all this i believe you should just ask yourself what can this language do that the other can't. For C, though i've started it, pointers seem to be very interesting and powerful. For c++ is its OOP capabilities for rapid GUI code and larger applications (python can do this too) and python in my opinion is time saving, and Rapid prototypes. not to mention its unbelievable string handling.

That's my ten cents, my two cents is free.

Speed is a big thing for some applications. I forget to mention. C# and Python may be easier but big applications such as games have to be written in a language that is fast such as C or C++. There are only a few games written in Python, the most popular being Freedom Force. I've never even heard of a good commercial game (in a box at the store) written in C# or Java.