Rants, Ideas, and Thoughts of Greg

Wednesday October 08, 2003

RosAsm Journal Entry [2003/10/08]

Today I opened the first of a series of tutorials designed to bridge me from no asm to RosAsm. The first thing it stated was that it was assuming I was familiar with how to use RosAsm's source editor. Normally I would go on through the tutorial just to be sure I would need to become familiar first. However, I wanted to take this venture very seriously. I want to make this journey productive. In the past, when learning a new programming language, I would buy a $60 book and start coding away. This time, no such book exists. So, in order to be self taught with this one, I decided to do what the tutorial suggested. When I become more experienced with RosAsm and help beginners in the future, I will recommend going through B_U_Asm.exe first! It was amazing how complete the help system is. I'm not finished yet, but I do feel like I know how to use RosAsm! It is truly amazing how well it explains how to use the entire system. As a matter of fact, the only problem I had is it assumes you are starting RosAsm after knowing Asm with another system. I'm coming from a HLL only world. However, there is information in B_U_Asm on assembly. I just haven't read it yet. I'm sure that will shed some light on that subject. Tomorrow I will probably continue my study on how RosAsm works. So far, I'm very impressed. It's the best source editor I've used. I took to practicing some of the features by combing through Base3.exe's source. Needless to say, I was glad I didn't have the scroll bar or status bar turned on. RosAsm makes the scope of the source for each section very easy to navigate. I can hardly wait to begin my own projects. But I do know the value in education first, play second. It really is best to know what you are doing before you start having complete control of your source code. It's a shame M$ and other companies are making drones of every other "programmer" out in this world of our's. As for me, I'm no longer going to wait for someone to provide me with a library or platform to help make my applications "seem" better. From now on, I'm going to develop Greg's way with RosAsm. And who knows, this could inspire me to change the way I develop in the other languages I use! October 08, 2003 11:49 PM EDT Permalink

RosAsm Journal Entry [2003/10/07]

I finally unzipped RosAsm for the first time. What drove me to venture into Asm in the first place? With the exception of C++, HLL's were not the reason at all. Eric Asbell, known as RobotBob, had shown me a glimpse at one time of how easy Asm was. Specifically RosAsm, which use to be know as SpAsm. I currently develop in Java, Visual Basic, JavaScript, VB Script, PHP, and ASP, to name a few. But Asm? A once far off and distant monster I was afraid of is now a kind and gentle friend I want to make a part of my life. Do I plan to abandon other languages? Probably not. I do see the value in each for the purposes they were created. I use Java for my cross-platform development for apps that need to be Windows, Linux, and PDA based. Visual Basic I use at work because they won't let me use anything else. JavaScript I use in conjuction with HTML and PHP for web development. VB Script and ASP are something I know because I at one time needed them. DOn't really use those anymore and don't want to! Where is C and C++ in my list? Nowhere to be found. My attempts at that language have left me asking, "Why?!?" Which brings me back to RosAsm. Although frustration may come while first working with RosAsm, I believe it relieves all of my frustration with Windows development. I could go on for days about how much I hate the tools Micro$oft puts out. It is my opinion that Micro$oft gives a developer a tool that forces them to think like Micro$oft. And the trend for that is spreading to other companies. Just about every development tool out there takes the programming out of software engineering. The company builds the control, and the "programmer" drags and drops it on a form. After pointing some buttons and menu options at the control, the "programmer" calls the "masterpiece" an application. I've always developed software using a basic text editor and a command line compiler. I have complete control over my code as far as how it looked from source. But once the compiler takes over, it's really hard to tell what the byte code is going to look like. With RosAsm, I feel very confident my source code and the resulting compiled application are going to be under my complete control. I look at RosAsm as a great tool to add to my skills and software engineering toolbox. I am very excited to begin this journey into the RosAsm community. And I'm looking forward to some fun again! I've already picked out my first project and will begin work tomorrow. For now, it's time to sleep and prepare of the journey ahead. October 08, 2003 11:48 PM EDT Permalink