🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <717978212snx@sugs.tware.com> landis@sugs.tware.com (Hale Landis) writes:
>Why in the world would you want a .dll file for the C library?

So when I compile a few dozen apps, I don't waste space on my disk
with a few dozen copies of the printf() function (etc.)

>Why would any one want a .dll file for any normal application
>program?  dll's are a pain in the rear end.  How does the system
>(OS/2) distinguish between the .dll for one C compiler and the
>.dll for another C compiler?

It shouldn't have to distinguish.  If all the entry points are
standard C function calls using normal C calling conventions, any
runtime DLL will work with any compiler.

>Why should I have to change config.sys just because I installed a
>new application on my system?  How many 'dumb' users understand
>this concept?

Why do you change your config.sys?  If you simply create a user-dll
directory (D:\DLL on my machine) and add it to the LIBPATH, all you
have to do is move all .DLL files there and they're on-line.  No
changing configurations, and no rebooting.

You can also place "." on your LIBPATH.  Then any app will find its
DLL's if you run the app from the directory with them.  This can work
well for apps you launch from WPS (where you can launch them from the
app's directory).

>I think OS/2 is great -- even the 1.x versions were very good --
>but the .dll implementation is crap!

You obviously haven't been using them properly.  They work exactly the
way I expect them to, and there have been no problems with that part
of OS/2.

How would you prefer to implement them?  Surely you wouldn't want to
eliminate .DLLs.  Then, each PM program would grow to gargantuan sizes
(from hard-linking the PM libraries), and they wouldn't use new
features as the OS improved.



-- 
David Charlap         |"there aren't 50,000 things for which it's worth writing
dic5340@hertz.njit.edu| software; and the computer industry doesn't have enough
----------------------+ programmers to create that much good software.
Therefore, most of it must be worthless" -- Boris Beizer "The Frozen Keyboard"