Thread: Why are DJGPP, Allegro and ... are free?

  1. 06-03-2005 #1
    mehdi_etebari
    mehdi_etebari is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    7

    Why are DJGPP, Allegro and ... free?

    Hi everybody,
    First I'm sorry if my question is not sent to right place and again sorry if it's not smart enough.
    Next I wonder why DJGPP as a very good 32-bit development system for DOS is free and why its great libraries like Allegro are free.
    Do you think I should trust on it? Is it completely safe?
    Using it, is it possible to need something in advanced rogramming that it's not free?
    Sorry if my English is not perfect and Thanks for your help in advance.
    Last edited by mehdi_etebari; 06-03-2005 at 11:34 PM.
  2. 06-03-2005 #2
    xErath
    xErath is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    722
    I see you haven't worked much with DJGPP... which has probably the worst gcc version ever.. it really sucks.. like, only removing a single comment from a source file is enough to remove/cause errors when compilating. and memory leaks in djgpp mean a crashed program, when it should mean only less memory free/ more resources consumption. stupid stuff like that. yet the provided api is very cool

    by the way a better question.. why are apache, netbeans, linux in general, eclipse, firefox all free?!? each of these ones crushs little djgpp, or even allegro.
  3. 06-04-2005 #3
    mehdi_etebari
    mehdi_etebari is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    7
    [
    by the way a better question.. why are apache, netbeans, linux in general, eclipse, firefox all free?!? each of these ones crushs little djgpp, or even allegro.[/QUOTE]
    Thanks, But why?
  4. 06-04-2005 #4
    laserlight
    laserlight is offline
    C++ Witch laserlight's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    28,413
    But why?
    Because the authors have decided to give them away (or maybe more accurately, decided to license them at zero price), perhaps in return for other benefits (.e.g. reputation, higher profileration of their software, the software satisfies their own needs and they just feel like sharing), especially as there may be other ways to make money from the software (paid support, dual licensing schemes, loss leader strategies, etc).

    I never actually used DJGPP myself, so I cant say how good it is.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
    I get maybe two dozen requests for help with some sort of programming or design problem every day. Most have more sense than to send me hundreds of lines of code. If they do, I ask them to find the smallest example that exhibits the problem and send me that. Mostly, they then find the error themselves. "Finding the smallest program that demonstrates the error" is a powerful debugging tool.
    Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
  5. 06-04-2005 #5
    mehdi_etebari
    mehdi_etebari is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    7
    Thanks, I got it but some people say never trust on free or even cheap things. This reality made me ask this question, I'm really sorry if I said so and I think it was a bit misundrestanding. Thanks anyway.
  6. 06-04-2005 #6
    sand_man
    sand_man is offline
    ---
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    1,379
    These days free things are some times better. Are you specifically looking to code in a DOS environment? If you are then go download Turbo C from Borland's website. If you are developing for windows then go download Dev-C++ from Bloodshed's website.
  7. 06-04-2005 #7
    ^xor
    ^xor is offline
    FOX
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Posts
    188
    Quote Originally Posted by mehdi_etebari
    Thanks, I got it but some people say never trust on free or even cheap things. This reality made me ask this question, I'm really sorry if I said so and I think it was a bit misundrestanding. Thanks anyway.
    You wouldn't happen to live in Redmond would you? The people there could be a bad influence on you.
  8. 06-04-2005 #8
    prog-bman
    prog-bman is offline
    Sweet
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
    Posts
    1,820
    >by the way a better question.. why are apache, netbeans, linux in general, eclipse, firefox all free?!? each of these ones crushs little djgpp, or even allegro.
    What is wrong with allegro? I think it is a rather nice 2d game programming api.
    Woop?
  9. 06-04-2005 #9
    sand_man
    sand_man is offline
    ---
    Join Date
    May 2004
    Posts
    1,379
    It used to be. But SDL has done laps around Allegro now
  10. 06-04-2005 #10
    sean
    sean is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    4,912
    some people say never trust on free or even cheap things
    How much are you paying for our advice?
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed