Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!scea!greg_labrec@interactive.sony.com
From: "Wayne K. Werner" <wkwerner@con2.com>
Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.programming.codewarrior
Subject: Some concerns and ideas re CW
Date: 30 Jun 1997 05:05:31 GMT
Organization: SCEA Net Yaroze News
Lines: 79
Message-ID: <01bc8513$4e939960$9fbf43ce@wkwerner>
NNTP-Posting-Host: port59.con2.com
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155

I have recently used the update patch.  Boy, was it a relief... I was never
given the slightest indication that I was buying a beta product.  Quite the
contrary, Metroworks touted the product as a finished product all the way. 
In contrast, the cheesy Mac port to windows  was hardly usable.

Things have much improved with the update.  Right mouse button for context
sensitve menus is one major improvement.  An interface that is much closer
to being a windows interface is another.

However, the lack of windows MDI is not good.  MDIs create a much more
discrete way to access applications than multiple windows on the desktop. 
It appears to me that this multiwindows on the desktop approach is to hide
the lack of true integration in the IDE (i.e. the debugger and yaroze
download utilities are separate programs from the project management and
target creation application which is currently called the IDE).

 I would like to see the integration of data files into the IDE.  It would
be very nice to have the file conversion functions and data memory
placement intergrated into the mix of making a project.  Why do I need to
write a script to load the data files?

When these tools are fully integrated and cooperative (the debugger and
PsComUtil should not have separate use of the serial port under
integration) an MDI would be a great way to help put some focus into the
IDE. (All the windows of other apps and desktop activities going on behind
and mixed with the IDE windows can be very distracting).

(By the way, PsComUtil does not save the comport configuration).

What is the story with C++?  The literature for the product touted full
support of C/C++, bragging about the close following of the ANSI standards
for both languages, as well as inline assembly support.  Now I hear that
the update disables C++ support!  No way, I want my C++!

I have read statements from MW that C++ is not supported by Sony for the
NY.  That is ridiculus.  C++ directly supports C librarys and headers with
link specifications in the source code.   It is not a matter of Sony
supporting C++ as much as C++ supporting Sony's (or anyone elses) C
interface library.

I have also read statements that C++ is not efficient enough for games
programming.  I beg to differ.  I have been using C++ in the design of
sortation systems that require real time response.  C++ can be as efficient
as C very easily by avoiding those aspects that make it less efficient
(i.e. virtual function access via pointers to objects).  

C++ offers constructs that can improve its efficiency over C.  Templates
and inline functions spring to mind.

In short I want my C++, and I am sure that this is the oppinion of most of
the NY people using the product.  And I don't want to wait until there is
another full tilt update.  Hell, I want it yesterday!

I use a seventeen inch monitor in 1024X768 res, and the headers, button
text, tab text etc. are extremely painful to read, and yet I find no method
of changing the fonts for these critical IDE elements.

On the whole a good product, but it still has quite a way to go before it
can be considered a really valuble tool.  Since it duplictates
functionality that came with the NY it must justify the 150 bucks I spent
on it by being an IDE, and not just a patch together of Windows programs
replacing the DOS programs.
(Given its Mac port nature, not very compliant windows programs at that).

I must say in closing, I have paid for beta products before, knowing full
well what I was getting into.  More often, I have used beta products for
free while waiting for the production version.  But I really feel that the
literature for this product was totally misleading, and that burns my ass.

I will continue to use the product and report any bugs that I find and any
other concerns and ideas that I come up with.  From the amount of good work
that has been done on the product from the original release to this update,
I see that MW is serious about creating the premier NY developement tool. 
My concerns are expressed in the sincere desire to help improve the product
that will be the focus of my attention for most of my waking hours away
from the day job.

Wayne