SuMo old or older...

[SuMo]

After some search I found something that could ressemble a src-file for crossfire. Since I'm not loaded with an amount of expensive programs I realized I lost the programming skills eras ago, not ages...lol

I recall myself being some hectic c64 programmer, but that's it. At the moment I spend my time outside the 'hacker' enviroment, but It would be fun to start up again. or at least understand what the heck you're all doing.
At the moment I'm less than an noob at C++ or any other programming lang. I stopped at the old fashioned hex-coding and bits and zeros.

As far as I understand the compiling today is just a transformer for the script, so the x86 or other system can understand what you've written.
Feels like the pascalprog I used before turning the code to hex.
well, that skill is long gone now...

Anyway, I'd like to learn a few basic and easy steps along the way with crossfire and hopefully you can help out from time to time with extraordinary basic questions like:
- This filetype *.c which prog open that?
- Visual C++ and Borland C++ is the same?
- C++ is always the same? Version conflicts don't exist?
- Is there a compiler for free somewhere to be downloaded?
- This Visual C++ or another free C++ prog availabe that's compatible?
- Must I use Linux or unix to make crossfire for win32(windowsXP)?

well, that is a few basic questions...Hopefully you can still stand or laughing yourself mindless by reading the above. lol

2nd, to relate to my first thread. I've read some of the 'readme'-files and in that file it states the server must have a python engine?!?
Back to the main-homepage no such engine is talked about...

To sum it up: I'm 15-20 years behind you lads in programming. So how do I catch up in a easy way without RTFM?
Can I get the Visual C++ and start from there, or do I need something else?

[hoxu]

First of all, study what http://www.cprogramming.com/ has to offer carefully.

This filetype *.c which prog open that?

Any text editor.

Visual C++ and Borland C++ is the same?

Both are compilers, and should be able to compile the same code.

C++ is always the same? Version conflicts don't exist?

Is there a compiler for free somewhere to be downloaded?

gcc/g++ for Linux, mingw for windows. There is also free compiler from Borland but afaik, it sucks.

This Visual C++ or another free C++ prog availabe that's compatible?

Rephrase.

Must I use Linux or unix to make crossfire for win32(windowsXP)?

To compile CF for win32 you must use a Windows compiler.

well, that is a few basic questions...Hopefully you can still stand or laughing yourself mindless by reading the above. lol

I'm too tired to laugh. I'll cry instead.

[Lauwenmark]

Anyway, I'd like to learn a few basic and easy steps along the way with crossfire and hopefully you can help out from time to time with extraordinary basic questions like:
- This filetype *.c which prog open that?

Those contain the source code for the program - as such, they're plain boring text files. So any text editor can open it. I'd suggest something a little more advanced than the Notepad or MS-Edit though

- Visual C++ and Borland C++ is the same?

They're both Graphical Development environments for the C++ language under Windows. The same programming language, but not the same libraries - so it may be not so easy to switch from one to another.

- C++ is always the same? Version conflicts don't exist?

The basical C++ language always is. However, nearly every compiler on the market offer special extensions to the language (the goal being to make the language more 'powerful' or the programmer's life more comfortable); those extensions are usually not portable between compilers.

- Is there a compiler for free somewhere to be downloaded?

The GCC suite is probably what you may want to get.

- Must I use Linux or unix to make crossfire for win32(windowsXP)?

No, you don't. You basically have two main choices:
- Use a 'native' Windows Compiler, like Visual C++, mingw or Borland C++. They'll not provide you 100% compatibility with the unix libraries used by Crossfire, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem, since a lot of work has already been made to make Crossfire more 'Win32-aware';

- Use the CygWin utilities. CygWin provides a complete unix compatibility layer over Windows, allowing you to build Linux applications under the Windows environment. Pro: usually much less porting work to do; Con: performances are usually a little lower than with a direct compilation using a native compiler.

In both cases, you have to stay under Windows to build Crossfire for a Windows platform.

well, that is a few basic questions...Hopefully you can still stand or laughing yourself mindless by reading the above. lol

Basic questions are usually the most intersting to answer.

2nd, to relate to my first thread. I've read some of the 'readme'-files and in that file it states the server must have a python engine?!?
Back to the main-homepage no such engine is talked about...

There's a Python Engine, available as a plugin. In the past, it has successfully been compiled under Windows, but I don't know if this still works. The Python engine requires a working version of Python 2.x installed to be built and to run. Note that it is an optional feature compiled as a dynamically loaded library - you don't need it to play Crossfire.

To sum it up: I'm 15-20 years behind you lads in programming. So how do I catch up in a easy way without RTFM?

I think you'll have to read some basical stuff about C++. Maybe you'd want to have a look at "Thinking in C++", a free book available at http://www.mindview.net/Books/TICPP/Thi ... CPP2e.html. Since it costs nothing and the author is quite competent, it is worth getting it.

If you have other questions, do not hesitate to ask.

[hoxu]

I'm 15-20 years behind you lads in programming.

Nonsense. I started with C++ three years ago.

So how do I catch up in a easy way without RTFM?

Hire a personal trainer. Well.. you can't avoid documentation really. It is there for a reason.

[Secret Santa]

Get Bloodshed Dev C++ for windows - is IDE for mingw compiler and has nice interface, good modules (GTK) and other nice things. Oh ya it's Opensource and free to download.

Also don't use WORD to code, use notepad if you must or something like Editpad lite (freeware for windows) which has a nice CR/FL converter.

Better yet learn Python first.

[xeno]

- Visual C++ and Borland C++ is the same?

They're both Graphical Development environments for the C++ language under Windows. The same programming language, but not the same libraries - so it may be not so easy to switch from one to another.

I'm not convinced that that's actually true. When the C++ language was standardized, it included some stuff that is very far from easy to actually implement in a compiler. It therefore took a long time before the first fully ANSI compliant was released (the one from SGI, if I remember correctly). After that, several others have followed, but far from all implements the whole language.

In addition, both Visual C++ and Borland C++ was well established products when the standard was released. It is very likely that both Microsoft and Borland to a certain degree prioritized backwards compability to ANSI compliance. I would therefore be very surprised if they actually implements the standard.

it is however possible that they are compatible with eachother. They are after all competitors, and it's hard to steal your competitors customers if their code doesn't compile using your compiler. On the other hand, Microsoft has never cared much for compaibility, more for adding extensions and integration that the competitor has no chance of adding. And Borland might be reluctant to make it compatible as well, as I believe the customer flow is mainly from Borland to Microsoft.

The conclusion to this is anyway that unless you've actually checked it, there's no guarantee that they implements the same language, only that they implements a common subset of unknown size.

- C++ is always the same? Version conflicts don't exist?

The basical C++ language always is. However, nearly every compiler on the market offer special extensions to the language (the goal being to make the language more 'powerful' or the programmer's life more comfortable); those extensions are usually not portable between compilers.

As partially stated above, it's important to remember that the C++ language was standardized very recently (I think it was 1997, but I might be wrong). The ANSI version of the language is MUCH larger than the previous core language described in "The C++ Language 2nd Edition".

Basic questions are usually the most intersting to answer.

I don't neccessarily agree to that, but my experience however is that simple questions are the ones that one actually _can_ answer. That's at least my experience in the areas I've specialized in. At a certain level, one simply can't ask others because noone answers, which is eally annoying. Unfortunately when one asks something stupid because one has misunderstood completely, that also tends to result in no answers. So if there's no answer, you're either really good at it or really bad at it, and there's no way of finding out which one