DIY_EFI Digest Sunday, 20 July 1997 Volume 02 : Number 244 In this issue: To: diy_efi Re: Programming language See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the DIY_EFI or DIY_EFI-Digest mailing lists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fred Zillinger Date: Sat, 19 Jul 97 22:08:12 PDT Subject: To: diy_efi ------------------------------ From: Webb Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 22:33:32 -0800 Subject: Re: Programming language Christopher E. Hill wrote:
Hello,
        I am wondering what is the best language for doing engineering type
work is.  What I would like to have is the abilty to do basic
multiplication, exponents, logs, inverse trig functions, and dot and cross
product.  I also would like to have the program run under windows, or at
least DOS.  Any and all help is appreciated!!

Thanks,

Christopher E. Hill--chill6@xxx.edu

   You're going to get lots of people telling you to use "C". I can't disagree - exactly. C has the advantage that not only can you write windows, and DOS (and most other platform) code, but there are small C compilers that let you write the code for any microcontroller projects in it - (see the 332 archives on this board http://efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu/efi332/ )

C has a long learning curve. If you aren't a computer type, it may be more than you want
to deal with.

A program called "labview"    http://digital.natinst.com    has the shortest learning curve I know. Programming is all done visually, no text code at all, and it is oriented toward a lab environment (objects like oscilloscopes, voltmeters etc can be included with a drag and drop)

The easiest compiler with any actual code is probably Borland's Delphi. It lets you write fast, tight code, and the front end of the program is mostly drag and drop.

If you insist on C, then there is a new program available from Borland called C++ Builder that is exactly like Delphi, but  uses C++ instead of pascal (or Basic) as it's underlying language. It generates windows based C code, and does all the hard stuff (the windows interface) for you. It is available for a free trial download at - http://www.borland.com\/download.html

By the way, your concern about what functions the language "has" is largely irrelevant. If you want a cross product for example, you just get a library of engineering functions (or write your own) - they are available in the public domain from many FTP servers and BBS's (my favorite is JDR microdevices BBS- Gigs of C and pascal stuff). Then your program just referances that library file with a #include (C) or a "Uses" (Pas) statement, and you have what amounts to a customized language, with everything you want in it. ------------------------------ End of DIY_EFI Digest V2 #244 ***************************** To subscribe to DIY_EFI-Digest, send the command: subscribe diy_efi-digest in the body of a message to "Majordomo@xxx. A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace "diy_efi-digest" in the command above with "diy_efi".