Re: Art Campbell's book on xyW4 xpl

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Mon, 23 Nov 1998 01:38:23 -0500 (EST)

> adpF's impression is that the behavior of
> xyDos 4 pgms in xyWin, however, is almost as unpredictable
> as the behavior of xyW3 pgms in xyDos 4.

That overstates the case. The feature and command sets of Xy4-DOS and XyWin are
purportedly identical (except for some extra Windows functions in XyWin), but in
practice it is definitely necessary to run Xy4-DOS programs through the gauntlet of
XyWin bugs (something, I confess, I don't always do) to ensure that they don't
trigger. I would say that 2% or 3% of the code needs to massaged. Xy3+ and Xy4
programs present very different incompatibilities due to their very different
feature and command sets. Basically, to be compatible all code has to be written
at the Xy3+ level (as you'd expect), and basic dissimilarities in the way
characters (especially 3-byte characters) are treated on the command line need to
be reconciled. It's do-able, but it's real work; and the result never looks or
feels like a Xy4 program, mainly because it lacks Xy4's many shortcuts.



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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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