[Klug-general] Linux Sound Programming

[Thomas Edward Groves]

My point about books was originally on the
point that if I want to record a sound input
for 30 minutes and then have it stop itself then
where am I going to find out that arecord
will do that except by reading it or by
asking someone?
And given that replies to such questions don't
seem to be too helpful (Peter Childs is still
waiting) then contemptuous references to
documentation suggest that books are a better
bet.
Note: books don't flame.

As for knowing about argv[1]: in any of
my programs the first statement  is usually
something like this

if (argc < 2)
{
printf("you must provide <foobar>\n");
exit(0);
} /* failed to include argument */

In the programs supplied by Kevin Groves
(incidently thanks) argv[1] was simply used
without any check on whether it had actually
been set. A potentially nasty mistake.

Lastly one of the reasons for leaving Windows
was because the programming goalposts kept moving
and the documentation was lousy.
Linux is not much better.

Tom Groves

----- Original Message -----
From: James Morris <james at jwm-art.net>
To: Kent Linux User Group - General Topics <kent at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2010 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: [Klug-general] Linux Sound Programming


> On Sun, March 21, 2010 06:34, Thomas Edward Groves wrote:
> > Like comments in programs maybe?
> >
> > I'd like to see some of this "programming that doesn't need
documentation"
> > but I never have.
> >
> > Also it's all very well claiming that *you* don't need books but where
do
> > I start on a new subject?
> > Ask for a simple example and get a chunk of code that assumes that I
> > already
> > know all the background?
>
> Ok, I'm not saying I don't need books. I have several C programming books,
> but none of them are Linux specific. I have one linux specific programming
> book, which occasionally came in useful, but for the most part is
> completely out of date - the API's have changed, or what were standard
> system tools (or standard API's) back when the book was written have
> changed, or had major version updates, or have simply deprecated. Open
> source software changes so fast it makes buying the books fairly pointless
> especially when there are so many sources of information online.
>
>
> > Here's a generalisation for you: all Linux programmers are complicators,
> > not simplifiers.
> >
> > So don't just write good code, comment it lavishly.
> > (Example for Kevin Groves: in your two programs what is ARGV[1]?
> > It *looks* like it's an audio device but in that case where is the sound
> > file?)
>
> How much do you know? Do you know what an array is? Do you know how to
> pass command line options to a C program? ARGV[1] is the 2nd element in an
> array called ARGV. I suspect it's a parameter to main() - ie an array of
> char strings made from the options passed to the program.
>
> A programmer has to assume the reader of the code has a certain amount of
> knowledge - the more complex a piece of code gets, only the important
> stuff where it needs to be commented because the code does not make it
> clear is commented - and this is more for the developer who wrote the code
> - he/she will comment it because they are aware they'll forget what it
> does, and the comment will prevent them from mistakenly thinking it does
> something wrong etc.
>
>
> A great place to ask programming questions and you'll usually get fast
> responses, is stackoverflow.com
>
> and the man pages, (in debian, glibc-doc-reference )
>
> james.
>
>
> > Apart from that: happy flaming folks.
> > Tom
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Peter Childs <peterachilds at gmail.com>
> > To: Kent Linux User Group - General Topics <kent at mailman.lug.org.uk>
> > Sent: Saturday, March 20, 2010 6:08 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Klug-general] Linux Sound Programming
> >
> >
> >> On 20 March 2010 16:32, James Morris <james at jwm-art.net> wrote:
> >> > On Sat, March 20, 2010 06:13, Thomas Edward Groves wrote:
> >> >> So much for having a yard of books on Linux!
> >> >>
> >> >> Why is *all* documentation so out-of-date / wrong / misleading?
> >> >
> >> > A) that's a massive over generalization
> >> > B) most people aren't interested in writing documentation
> >> > C) books on linux are a utter waste of time and space
> >> >
> >> > james
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >> Its a skill that many Developers don't have and people see little value
> > in.
> >>
> >> Software is of continued usefulness to people, Documentation you read
> >> once and never read again if at all.
> >>
> >> The best programs are so well designed they don't need documentation.
> >>
> >> (Three more massive over generalizations)
> >>
> >> Peter.
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Kent mailing list
> >> Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
> >> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Kent mailing list
> > Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
> > https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
> >
>
>
>
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