Near 2000, Kendrick Vargas mumbled something about:
>
> bother.. experiment. That's how you learn. And don't pay attention to
> nay-sayers such as above... They're part of the reason a portion of the
> population doesn't understand computers.
>
> Besides, experimentation can't hurt you.
>
> I would hardly say it was close to crucial. I *barely* know how to program
> in C, however even before I tried learning, I was building programs under
> IRIX and SunOS4/Solaris (SGI and Sun).
Hey, if I want to get flamed, I'll ask for it.
I merely wanted to point out the following:
I guess Fvwm was initially meant for Linux in the first place, so it
shouldn't be too difficult building it on a Linux box.
But on some other systems (ever tried HP-UX ?) it can be quite a bit more
difficult. You really have to modify the makefiles and even some header files
to get it working. Then I haven't even mentioned the fact that on the
HP-UX boxes over here, quite a few C libraries are missing :-(
And I can hardly imagine how one can modify C header
files or C makefiles without knowing about C, thus not knowing what you're
doing.
Then about my "don't bother" statement:
Considering the above, I reckon that asking somebody for ready-to-run
binaries is to be preferred above going through the entire compile
process if the person in question doesn't know about C.
It should, IMHO, however be the perfect occasion for starting to learn C.
And, indeed, experimenting does no harm, if you've got the time for it.
It may in fact be the best way of learning. But if you have to modify header
files and makefiles whilst not knowing about C, you won't get very far.
But again, if Fvwm compiles on Linux as easily as you say, my statement
doesn't apply to Linux.
Next time, please think before you start swearing at people.
--
A. van Werven
Dept. of Computer Science, Leiden University, The Netherlands
E-mail: avwerven_at_cs.leidenuniv.nl
URL: http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/~avwerven
"Solid Dutch cooking: when in doubt, add more sugar"
--
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Received on Wed Apr 08 1998 - 03:30:57 BST