GP32 Visual C++ 6 or C# ?


kjun

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Ive only just got my gp32, and in the past have always skated around developing c or c++ in favour of other languages. Looks like I have no choice now but to jump in though.

Just wanted to know, which of the 2 MS offerings will give me least problems

We have spare licences for both Visual Studio 6 and .net at work, and ive got permission to use one on my laptop (since its used for company development), which should i use. The geek software addict in me wants .net for the age factor, but if im gonna run into problems that can be avoided by using version 6, ill use that instead

If anyone who uses either of these for active gp32 development, I'd be interested to hear your opinions
 
kjun posted on Jul 11 2003 said:
Ive only just got my gp32, and in the past have always skated around developing c or c++ in favour of other languages. Looks like I have no choice now but to jump in though.

Just wanted to know, which of the 2 MS offerings will give me least problems

We have spare licences for both Visual Studio 6 and .net at work, and ive got permission to use one on my laptop (since its used for company development), which should i use. The geek software addict in me wants .net for the age factor, but if im gonna run into problems that can be avoided by using version 6, ill use that instead

If anyone who uses either of these for active gp32 development, I'd be interested to hear your opinions
C# requires a virtual machine to run it; and no one has ported Mono to GP32, so you're out of luck.

C++ you can use, if your compielr spits out ARM code; Visual Studio doesn't.. it onyl spits out Intel code; so you're out of luck with Visual Studio 6, too ;) (IT is conceivable the Pocket PC verison coudl be used, with a lot of evil hacks applied...)

You need a compiler for *ARM* processors; gcc is freely available of course, and theres also the Arm offerings .. but they're very pricey.

So your best bet is gcc.

jeff
 
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Hmm, i get the impression, that i dont know what im talking about ;)

Ive only being reading up on this since yesterday, but i was sure some people are developing under a microsoft c platform, was hoping id be able to do this as i am already familiar with some RAD environments

ah well
 
Hmm, Im using msvc6 in a bit of special way.. (lyc on #gp32dev taught me this)
Im having a batch file, which runs my gcc compiler bundled with devkitadv, and then autolaunches my emulator, and a shortcut to this on the desktop.

Then I use msvc6 as a simple text editor, its just that I get the visual help. Then, when I want to compile, I've assigned hot-keys, to the shortcut, (i.e. ctrl-alt-q), so then I just press them. The compiler compiles, and the emulator emulates, and voiila ;) but if u want to use the msvc internal compiler. Then I've got NO idea
 
thats kind of what i meant, i was aware that i needed to compile it differently, i just didnt know if id be able to use one of the MS IDEs and an external compiler, i have a better understanding now anyway

thanks guys
 
i'm using visualc++ 6 in a different way again...

there is a tutorial somewhere (i will find it later) that shows you how to set up a tool icon that invokes gcc, and the build output even appears in the visualc output window at the bottom! :)

unfortunately you can't click on the warnings/errors and immediately jump to the corresponding line of code. (this is only because they are not formatted the same as the visualc compiler outputs, so maybe it is possible to make gcc output compatible errors?) <_<

another problem is that you still have to edit your own MakeFiles, anyone can tell you, Makefiles are a pain in the arse! :angry:

i also have a batch file for deleting object files to make sure everything gets rebuilt properly.

next is the clever bit?... :huh:

i actually use project files that are compatible with the visualc gamepark sdk, as you may know this is pretty useless as it only compiles win32 compatible files which it runs in a little gamepark skinned window.

but there are several good reasons for using the win32 sdk, 1stly errors are formatted a lot nicer so they are easy to spot and click on to immediately be sent to the offending line.

the other big plus is that you can use visualc's debugger and set breakpoints, inspect variables etc., all the comforts which professional developers rely on a day to day basis. (a word of warning: i use XP and when skipping too many breakpoints my whole PC has locked up many times while debugging. I suspect dodgey coding by gamepark staff is the cause of this.)

you also don't have to worry about MakeFiles, but of course you do when you want your game/app to run on a real gamepark!
and this is where the problem lies ... often you will have something that compiles/runs fine as a win32 build, but when you come to try and make a fxe using gcc it can be a whole different story! weird compile bugs you did not have before or strange graphical glitches when ran on real hardware.

so as you can see, switching between platforms is not necessary a good idea, but you do get the debugging benefits. another thing you need to think about is that visualc will not compile ARM9 assembley so any assembler will have to be #ifndef out of the windows build.

visualc 6 is a good thing to have as you can learn c from windows tutorials too, (not that crappy c# nonsense), SDL or allegro may also be worth looking into, tho i've never used them myself.

for newbie programmers a demo of something like BlitzBasic is worth a download as it is much easier to get into than c/c++, which you can always pick up later when you get more confident.

the following is in no way directed at kjun...

people come on here and whine that they can't program and nobody has written any decent tutorials, but then they go on to say that they are going to make the most amazing game the gp32 community has ever seen!
but when someone offers them help and points them in the right direction they just whine again because it wasn't what they were expecting!
everyone has had to start with a program that prints "Hello World" on the screen and build from there... nobody said gamepark development was going to be easy, my advice is to grow up and search the forums, find the tutorials, and learn to program, i suspect it will be a rather humbling process. :lol:
 
Feeblez! Can you post more info on how you got your MSVC setup with the gcc compiler and makefile please?

I was previously developing for the GBA in exactly the same way - and have tried to get the same setup for Gp32 - but to no avail...

I've got a makefile sorted, but it just runs through producing nothing (no .o files, no .elf or .gxb) not even errors! even though it knows where all the bin tools are.

Also - how do you convert a .gxb into a .fxe? and do you need to?

When I get my workspace running, I'll upload it onto my site for all to use...

Thanks in advance!
 
I recall a MSVC setup at jlebrech's page - http://www.gamepark.tk/ although it seems to be down at the moment.

Myself, I use MSVC as a text editor with a file listing on the left :) using tool buttons to compile. I would suggest the Win32 SDK though, especially after what Feeblez posted :)

For an easy solution on the compiler front just grab devkitadv from here, with CHN's patches and sample tools included.

Converting gxb to fxe - is needed, as fxe is the only format the Free Launcher supports. It's a weakly-encrypted gxb with icon and title data added on. Use b2fxe to do it, or better b2fxeC with generates compressed fxe/gxb files :) Get that from Mr.Spiv's site and put it into /bin.

- Rico
 
Why cheers Rico ;)

I spent two hours last night trying to get my old GBA dev environment working - I can at least get it to compile for gp32 and produce stuff (only errors though :( )

Personally, with the linker options, lib's and whatnot, I am rather in over my head :( but will keep trying :p

My "plan" was to dev for the gp32 (using my own internal debug stuff for asserts and whatnot) and then compile on Win32 to debug the really nasty stuff.

Having said that, I got on fine with the GBA without the benefit of Win32 :p

Will keep an eye on that link ;)
 
Alas, I have VC, and can't afford to shell out for another IDE.

I will have to make do with CLI compiling for now :p
 
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