About Prashant TR
I'm from the beautiful country, India, and I originate from Bangalore. Bangalore, in India, and worldwide, is known for the high quality of software produced. Bangalore is a part of the Karnataka state which lies in the south of the country. I've completed all my studies so far in Bangalore.
You can surf to my resume from here...
If you reached this page, probability is high that you're one of those DJGPP users. DJGPP is one of the coolest software. Unfortuntely, I never knew about it when I really wanted such a thing, so I wrote my own DOS Extender. In a way, it helped.
I hope to make this page a little non-technical sometime ;-).
I generally don't like partying and talking too much of non-technical stuff. I love giving presentations though (on topics if I find interesting).
I find that most people in the software industry really lack some basic knowledge. They don't understand the difference between a library and the features of a programming language and they criticize it. If you're one of those, please go back and understand it before you say another word.
I like and use GNU/Linux myself, but I'm against anyone who says GNU has nothing to do with Linux. I don't like OS politics, either. I'm especially against people who think DOS is crap. I'm more of the RMS type who believes in ethics. Feel free to call it what you like - Linux or GNU/Linux. That doesn't change what it is.
I like meeting people who are from a different origin than mine. Interestingly, I seem to get along with them well...
I create web pages ;-) when I really don't have much to do. I like listening to slow rock and heavy metal, but I can live without it, too. I used to play the keyboards long ago, but I've lost touch now.
I like playing TT and snooker, but I haven't played much of it since quite sometime. I love driving my car, especially for long distances.
My interest in software first began when I got my ZX Spectrum several years ago (back in 1988). It had a small memory capacity (48K) and it required audio tapes to store programs. BASIC was built into it. BASIC was the first language that I learnt in computers. I learnt simple assembly language programming with Z80 and also several advanced programming techniques. I learnt the basic debugging skills and writing machine code.
Since 1990, I've been working on Intel 80x86 systems. Since DOS was the only OS available (apart from Unix, which was rarely used those days) I had to use it. Working on 80x86 was much more interesting than working on the Z80. There were several tools available which I'd never imagine having on a Z80.
In 1995, I first decided to try Unix. I've been using Unix ever since. I installed a copy of the SCO Openserver (tm) Release 5. It wasn't too interesting at first sight; I could hardly do anything on that. I then heard that Linux was a great operating system. I then got a copy of RedHat Linux 5.2 and it was absolutely fascinating. It was far far better than SCO Unix. There were so many tools, so many things that could be done. I then removed a partition of Win9x on my system and created more space for Linux. I've been using Linux since then. I also discovered that there was something called DJGPP, which was similar to the compiler in Linux. I began using DJGPP on DOS.
I personally like DOS (plain DOS) and Linux.
Here's what *I* think of these systems:
DOS - You are allowed to do what you like. Best suited for writing diagnostic software and programs that deal with hardware or chipsets directly. Or it's best to do experiments with protected mode. And yeah, it can run DJGPP. That's why I mostly use it.
Linux - Excellent security, a perfect operating system to develop any software in general. Highly compatible with all Unixes.
Windows 9x - I think of it as DOS + Long File Names. Nothing interesting except that it has a nice user interface and it's quite fast.
Windows NT - Good, but isn't worth using it for a webserver or mail server. WinNT mailservers suck! It can easily get infected by hundreds of viruses unless you have a powerful virus scanner. Generally unsintable as a backend server.
My favourite is assembler ;-). I've written more than fifty thousand lines of assembler code until today. But then, assembler won't solve all problems. In fact, it can be a problem when you're aiming at portable code. And it's not practical to write huge applications in assembler.
Going a little higher, I'd say I love C++. C++ is the best, standardized language I can think of. I like C++, but I'm not a fan of C++.
Perl is another cool language. You can't do string handling better than this one.
I do use Java, but I personally prefer C++ to do things. No, I'm not one of those crazy Java fans who label others as "C++ fans" and create nuisance everywhere. You can write C++ programs that are as portable as Java programs if you follow some basic standards. And they're much faster.
I've never liked proprietary languages. I dislike them more than I dislike proprietary software.
At home, I use a Pentium 133MHz system at home for all my development work. There's an interesting article on the bazaar model (See: The Cathedral and The Bazaar by Eric S Raymond). You can see all my software on http://www.midpec.com/software.html.
If you're new to computers, and would like to start off on something, I'd suggest that you get a copy of RedHat Linux. Programming on Unix is not hard, especially with powerful tools which you can get free. If you miss MSDOS, there's a package to emulate DOS itself! Or if you need to get the feel of programming on Unix without actually switching to Unix, you can get a copy of DJGPP. DJGPP is a compiler for DOS.
This list is in alphabetical order.
Alexei A Frounze
Madhu M Kurup
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Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001 Prashant TR