Belgian Amiga Club

So ...
A new blog ...

I don't know anything about C.
Compiling a C program for me in the past was something like

  • install toolchain:
    • google
    • type "brew something something"
    • type "sudo brew something something"
    • wait 
    • wait in awe, wondering why on earth it has to pull in 4 GB of stuff to compile a few lines of code.
  • cd into src directory
  • type "make"
  • cross fingers and hope it works
  • if it doesn't work - go find someone who knows this stuff.

However ... as my interesting in all things computing expands, and one goes of to explore new systems, new OSses, new hardware, retro hardware, then one also discovers the itch to write some code for that platform.

I'm a web developer, the browser is my natural habitat and javascript is king, queen and army. Javascript runs on everything right!
Almost: it runs on any modern platform but it's complety useless on retro platforms like my first true love: the Amiga.

Of course, die-hard amiga developers work directly in assembly, but let's keep it somewhat portable and develop a new skillset that is usefull for the future.
Enter C - the one universal language that is truely present on all platforms.
As you can transpile C into javascript too these days, that seems like the perfect fit.
(Ok, I know maybe Pascal could also be a fit, but ... maybe later)

The goal:

To create a simple game from the same source files for these completely different target platforms, both retro and modern.

  • Amiga, because it's the coolest platform EVER. preferably as low as kickstart 1.3, but we'll settle for 3.1 for now.
  • Mobile, because it's the primary and ubiquitous platform. Android first, maybe iOS too if it's not too much trouble.
  • Web, because it's heaven: the one platform that's available to all, instantly, always, for free.

This blog is a log of my findings. 
To document the process from a total C-noob to a true cross-platform single-source app.

Let's do this!

Written on 23/01/2018 by Steffest

This article is part of the Wanderings in Amiga dev-land blog