windows file name to hla string conversion....

i am not able to convert windows file name to hla string...
whenever i am printing the file name thru hla, it prints just 8
"characters", although they are some weird symbols.
i am using conv.a_cstrTostr function.
plz help
tia

"randyhyde@earthlink.net"  <spamtrap@crayne.org> écrivait
news:1113252264.010857.266800@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
 
> [...]
>
> Rene, as someone who constantly talks about how bad the C programming
> language is (even though you admit that you don't even know it), I find
> it amusing that you feel the only string format available is exactly
> the one that C uses.
>
> I realize that you're actually a carpenter, and you're basically a
> self-taught programmer, but you might want to look around a bit. There
> *are* other string formats than zero-terminated strings, and many of
> them are *far* better data structures for manipulating strings than the
> zero-terminated format that C uses.
>
> You've made a big deal in other newsgroups about how writing efficient
> code in assembly language isn't important, so it's not surprising that
> you value "not having to learn anything new, even if it means you write
> less efficient code" over "a little education can help you write much
> better code." However, you should be careful about making the
> assumption that this is true for everyone else who is using or is
> learning to use assembly language.

I am a bit estonished that the "Moderator" does not
consider _this_ "Personal Attacks", and, then, comes again,
the problem of knowing what is a "Personal Attacks" if
_this_ is not.

But, well... Yes, i am a carpenter, and i am rather
proud of the number of houses i have built in my life.

Yes, i am, mainly a "self-taught programmer". I prefer
the expression "Sunday Programmer". And then?

Yes, i have introduced new considerations in Assembly
programming, that should convince the ones using or
learning Assembly, by the very simple fact, that i
have applied what i preach to myself and to my own 3
Megas of working Assembly Code, having achieved in an
Assembler that, - dispiting the extreeme power of its
Macros System... - the fastest - by far -, the easiest
to use, the most secure to use, and the most innovative
of all the actual PEs Assemblers.

So goes the world:

There are "teachers" who explain to the others "How to
write great Code", with pedantic words devoted to self-
Promotion, and who have nothing to show but a Pre-Parser
written in Flex and Bison, and there are old retired
Carpenters, who can show - and prove, by a real work and
by very easily verifiable facts. -, how to write in an
efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and freed from
Mythology Concepts.

:)

Betov.

< http://rosasm.org/ >

spamtrap@crayne.org écrivait news:1113044389.382320.74160
@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> i am not able to convert windows file name to hla string...
> whenever i am printing the file name thru hla, it prints just 8
> "characters", although they are some weird symbols.
> i am using conv.a_cstrTostr function.
> plz help


When you get a File Name, under Windows, by any of the usual
Functions like 'KERNEL32.FindFirstFileA', the Name is given
back to you (in a Structure), in a devoted Member.

With any Assembler (NASM, RosAsm, FASM, GoAsm,...), using such
a String is so trivial, that no beginner ever asked any such
question, as there is really no reason for converting anything:
This is zero-ended String. Nothing else. Just a simple flow
of Chars, ended by a zero. No Assembler requires converting
the Windows Strings into anything.


Betov.

< http://rosasm.org/ >

Well, it would help if you posted your source code here.
We can't really help you if we can't see what's wrong with your code.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

>>>>
I am a bit estonished that the "Moderator" does not
consider _this_ "Personal Attacks",
...
But, well... Yes, i am a carpenter, and i am rather
proud of the number of houses i have built in my life.
<<<<

Okay, so I stated a fact. Something you are proud of. That doesn't
appear to be an attack, does it?

 
Yes, i am, mainly a "self-taught programmer". I prefer
the expression "Sunday Programmer". And then?
<<<<
Again, a fact.
And then?
Well, while you were building houses, some of us were busy teaching
students assembly language. Some of us were busy writing books to help
others learn assembly language. Some of us have been posting to this
newsgroup for a couple of decades helping people. IOW, we've been busy
doing what you set out to do when you retired from carpentry - teach
people how to program in assembly language; the difference is, some of
us around here have a little bit more experience at this than you do.

While you were building houses, some of us got advanced degrees in
Computer Science and have learned about the differences, for example,
between zero-terminated strings (inefficient for many applications) and
other strings. Because some of us have this knowledge (that one string
format is more efficient than another), we feel it's important to share
that knowledge with other people interested in learning assembly,
because efficiency is one of the main reasons people learn to program
in assembly language. And you'll note that most of us around here don't
go around telling people they've wasted their time learning assembly
language, even if we don't happen to prefer the tool(s) those people
are using.


Perhaps my comments about the fact that you don't like C was construed
to be an attack?
It is also a fact that you don't know C, refuse to learn it, and take
various opportunities to blast the language. Whether or not C deserves
this, I still find it amusing that when someone mentions the conversion
from the inefficient C string format to a more efficient format, you
jump all over that person as if zero-terminated strings were the only
way to do things.

Now if you were really wanting to be helpful, rather than simply taking
an opportunity to attack a student who is using HLA in one of their
course, you might have asked them to post their code and provided a
solution (zero-terminated, or otherwise). That's really what this
newsgroup is about -- helping people who have problems.

This next quote is also a bit amusing: 
Yes, i have introduced new considerations in Assembly
programming, that should convince the ones using or
learning Assembly, by the very simple fact, that i
have applied what i preach to myself and to my own 3
Megas of working Assembly Code, having achieved in an
Assembler that, - dispiting the extreeme power of its
Macros System... - the fastest - by far -, the easiest
to use, the most secure to use, and the most innovative
of all the actual PEs Assemblers.
<<<<<

Particularly when you say right afterwards:
 
...devoted to self-Promotion...
<<<<<


You go on to say:
 
and there are old retired
Carpenters, who can show - and prove, by a real work and
by very easily verifiable facts. -, how to write in an
efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and freed from
Mythology Concepts.
<<<<<

This is a very typical Rene Tournois (Betov) post. Claim that someone
is guilty of something (whether they are, or aren't) and then turn
around and commit the same sin himself.  Rene, don't you see the irony
in all of this?

In response to your claims:
This is all wonderful stuff (if not a bit too "warm and fuzzy" to mean
much). Now if you *really* want to impress people, why don't you spend
your efforts demonstrating the *quality* of your tool around here?
Instead of attacking HLA and MASM users for their choice of tools, why
not simply post some articles that demonstrate how much better your
'innovative tool' is than the competition? Thus far, the only posts
I've seen you make in this newsgroup that didn't involve attacking HLA
users has been the promotion of your product. I fail to see how my
"self-promotion" is especially different from your's (yep, I, too,
announce my product around here).

If your product is really that good, people will figure this out from
the examples you post. You don't have to attack other tools and their
authors to make your point. All you achieve with your attacks (as
you've done over in ALA) is convince people that the *last* thing they
want to do is consider the use of your product.

Granted, you don't have very many RosAsm users (around here or anywhere
else). So chances are pretty good that you're not going to get a lot of
RosAsm-specific questions asked around here. That can be frustrating as
you don't get too many direct opportunities to demonstrate how well you
support your product and demonstrate how superior your product is to
the competition. However, what you *can* do is post a RosAsm solution
to questions asked by other posters. Jim Neil used to do this
successfully with his Terse product around here. That would give you
the opportunity to show off just how "great" your product is, and you
come away looking like a champion rather than a cad.

I realize that you're on some "holy war" to do in HLA. But you may as
well get over this problem you have with HLA. HLA has (long ago)
reached "critical mass" and there's little you can do to stop its use
and expanding popularity. HLA was designed for schools and students,
and a large number of schools are adopting it. Your rants against HLA
won't change a thing. First of all, the students who typically post
questions here and in ALA generally don't have a choice about the
product they're using -- the instructor specifies that.  Second, even
if an instructor saw one of your posts, your posting ettiquette will
hardly convince them that they've made a bad choice. Indeed, over the
past four years, you've managed to *attract* more people to HLA than
you can possibly imagine.

If you *really* want to bring down HLA and MASM (your stated goals),
the *best* way to do this is by providing a much better product. By
"better", I don't mean a product that *you* think is better. What I
mean is a product that the *assembly language programming community*
sees as a better product. For example, NASM and FASM have achieved a
modicum of success specifically because many members of the assembly
community prefer the syntax these assemblers use. They also provide
some features (such as portability) lacking in MASM.

I realize you've put a lot of effort into your assembler. I, too, have
written an assembler (several of them, in fact) and I know the effort
that goes into such a product. When I first introduced HLA to this
newsgroup, I, too, was frustrated because all the advanced assembly
programmers didn't switch over to my product. But you'll notice a big
difference between yourself and me -- rather than trashing MASM, TASM
and NASM (the "big" assemblers at the time), I chose to concentrate my
efforts on marketing my product -- yes, promoting it -- to its target
audience. That's why HLA has achieved the success that it has achieved
today. And that's what you're going to have to do if you ever want to
see RosAsm succeed -- you've got to pick an audience for your product
and market that product to them. If you're so convinced that
programmers learning MASM and HLA aren't really learning assembly
language, then perhaps you should market your product to these people,
convincing them that now that they've mastered these "not true
assemblers", they can learn the real deal by picking up RosAsm. But
trust me, you'll not do this by attacking MASM or HLA users -- they'll
run like mad from you and your product.

You'll never gain success by simply attacking other assemblers.  All
you'll manage to do is scare off a large number of possible assembly
language programmers. This seems to be completely contrary to your
mission of converting the world to assembly language.  Keep in mind,
Rene, our products appeared at about the same time (2000 time frame).
Ask yourself: "Why has HLA grown in popularity while RosAsm has not?"
This is an especially perplexing question because RosAsm (SpAsm, at the
time) was the first assembly IDE and had that market all to itself for
a couple of years. You've made excuses for your product like "It will
only be real when it self-compiles under ReactOS" and "it isn't a real
product yet." But the bottom line is that HLA v1.x is a *PROTOTYPE*. It
isn't "ready for prime time," either. But it has still attracted a
following of thousands upon thousands of users. At some point you need
to stop making excuses for why your product hasn't set the world on
fire and reconsider what you're doing wrong. In case you haven't
figured it out yet, your posts in HLA-related threads are a big part of
what's wrong with your marketing plan.


And at the end of your post, I noticed that you completely sidestepped
the challenge I gave you -- demonstrate a program that can be written
in RosAsm that cannot also be written in HLA (because HLA is "not an
assembler" in your mind). This would be a good step in proving the
superiority of your tool over HLA -- begin by demonstrating some
low-level code that cannot be done in HLA, because you feel that HLA is
not an assembler. This would go a long way towards "Carpenters, who can
show - and prove, by a real work and  by very easily verifiable facts.
-, how to write in an  efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and
freed from  Mythology Concepts."
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

"randyhyde@earthlink.net"  <spamtrap@crayne.org> écrivait
news:1113352675.647107.110200@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:


> [... One more "Unsensored Post" ...]


Amen.


Betov.

< http://rosasm.org/ >

>>>>>>>>>
With any Assembler (NASM, RosAsm, FASM, GoAsm,...), using such
a String is so trivial, that no beginner ever asked any such
question, as there is really no reason for converting anything:
This is zero-ended String. Nothing else. Just a simple flow
of Chars, ended by a zero. No Assembler requires converting
the Windows Strings into anything.
<<<<<<<<<

Rene, as someone who constantly talks about how bad the C programming
language is (even though you admit that you don't even know it), I find
it amusing that you feel the only string format available is exactly
the one that C uses.

I realize that you're actually a carpenter, and you're basically a
self-taught programmer, but you might want to look around a bit. There
*are* other string formats than zero-terminated strings, and many of
them are *far* better data structures for manipulating strings than the
zero-terminated format that C uses.

You've made a big deal in other newsgroups about how writing efficient
code in assembly language isn't important, so it's not surprising that
you value "not having to learn anything new, even if it means you write
less efficient code" over "a little education can help you write much
better code." However, you should be careful about making the
assumption that this is true for everyone else who is using or is
learning to use assembly language.

BTW, should the user *decide* that zero-terminated strings are the best
data structure to use, HLA handles them exactly the same way that any
of the other assemblers you've listed handles them. You know this. You
post is simply a disengenious attack on HLA, trying to make it sound
like HLA doesn't support something that these others do.

I've made the challenge in the past, and I'll make it again here --
feel free to demonstrate some "actual assembly code" in RosAsm that
cannot be done in HLA. You keep claiming that HLA is "not an assembler"
but you've never offered any substantiation of this claim. Here's your
chance - post some RosAsm code that cannot be duplicated in HLA.  That
would have far more impact on people's opinions than your recent string
of attacks on students who are taking assembly language courses (btw,
how many schools are using RosAsm in their courses these days?
Enquiring minds want to know!)
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

"randyhyde@earthlink.net"  <spamtrap@crayne.org> écrivait
news:1113252264.010857.266800@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
 
> [...]
>
> Rene, as someone who constantly talks about how bad the C programming
> language is (even though you admit that you don't even know it), I find
> it amusing that you feel the only string format available is exactly
> the one that C uses.
>
> I realize that you're actually a carpenter, and you're basically a
> self-taught programmer, but you might want to look around a bit. There
> *are* other string formats than zero-terminated strings, and many of
> them are *far* better data structures for manipulating strings than the
> zero-terminated format that C uses.
>
> You've made a big deal in other newsgroups about how writing efficient
> code in assembly language isn't important, so it's not surprising that
> you value "not having to learn anything new, even if it means you write
> less efficient code" over "a little education can help you write much
> better code." However, you should be careful about making the
> assumption that this is true for everyone else who is using or is
> learning to use assembly language.

I am a bit estonished that the "Moderator" does not
consider _this_ "Personal Attacks", and, then, comes again,
the problem of knowing what is a "Personal Attacks" if
_this_ is not.

But, well... Yes, i am a carpenter, and i am rather
proud of the number of houses i have built in my life.

Yes, i am, mainly a "self-taught programmer". I prefer
the expression "Sunday Programmer". And then?

Yes, i have introduced new considerations in Assembly
programming, that should convince the ones using or
learning Assembly, by the very simple fact, that i
have applied what i preach to myself and to my own 3
Megas of working Assembly Code, having achieved in an
Assembler that, - dispiting the extreeme power of its
Macros System... - the fastest - by far -, the easiest
to use, the most secure to use, and the most innovative
of all the actual PEs Assemblers.

So goes the world:

There are "teachers" who explain to the others "How to
write great Code", with pedantic words devoted to self-
Promotion, and who have nothing to show but a Pre-Parser
written in Flex and Bison, and there are old retired
Carpenters, who can show - and prove, by a real work and
by very easily verifiable facts. -, how to write in an
efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and freed from
Mythology Concepts.

:)

Betov.

< http://rosasm.org/ >

>>>>
I am a bit estonished that the "Moderator" does not
consider _this_ "Personal Attacks",
...
But, well... Yes, i am a carpenter, and i am rather
proud of the number of houses i have built in my life.
<<<<

Okay, so I stated a fact. Something you are proud of. That doesn't
appear to be an attack, does it?

 
Yes, i am, mainly a "self-taught programmer". I prefer
the expression "Sunday Programmer". And then?
<<<<
Again, a fact.
And then?
Well, while you were building houses, some of us were busy teaching
students assembly language. Some of us were busy writing books to help
others learn assembly language. Some of us have been posting to this
newsgroup for a couple of decades helping people. IOW, we've been busy
doing what you set out to do when you retired from carpentry - teach
people how to program in assembly language; the difference is, some of
us around here have a little bit more experience at this than you do.

While you were building houses, some of us got advanced degrees in
Computer Science and have learned about the differences, for example,
between zero-terminated strings (inefficient for many applications) and
other strings. Because some of us have this knowledge (that one string
format is more efficient than another), we feel it's important to share
that knowledge with other people interested in learning assembly,
because efficiency is one of the main reasons people learn to program
in assembly language. And you'll note that most of us around here don't
go around telling people they've wasted their time learning assembly
language, even if we don't happen to prefer the tool(s) those people
are using.


Perhaps my comments about the fact that you don't like C was construed
to be an attack?
It is also a fact that you don't know C, refuse to learn it, and take
various opportunities to blast the language. Whether or not C deserves
this, I still find it amusing that when someone mentions the conversion
from the inefficient C string format to a more efficient format, you
jump all over that person as if zero-terminated strings were the only
way to do things.

Now if you were really wanting to be helpful, rather than simply taking
an opportunity to attack a student who is using HLA in one of their
course, you might have asked them to post their code and provided a
solution (zero-terminated, or otherwise). That's really what this
newsgroup is about -- helping people who have problems.

This next quote is also a bit amusing: 
Yes, i have introduced new considerations in Assembly
programming, that should convince the ones using or
learning Assembly, by the very simple fact, that i
have applied what i preach to myself and to my own 3
Megas of working Assembly Code, having achieved in an
Assembler that, - dispiting the extreeme power of its
Macros System... - the fastest - by far -, the easiest
to use, the most secure to use, and the most innovative
of all the actual PEs Assemblers.
<<<<<

Particularly when you say right afterwards:
 
...devoted to self-Promotion...
<<<<<


You go on to say:
 
and there are old retired
Carpenters, who can show - and prove, by a real work and
by very easily verifiable facts. -, how to write in an
efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and freed from
Mythology Concepts.
<<<<<

This is a very typical Rene Tournois (Betov) post. Claim that someone
is guilty of something (whether they are, or aren't) and then turn
around and commit the same sin himself.  Rene, don't you see the irony
in all of this?

In response to your claims:
This is all wonderful stuff (if not a bit too "warm and fuzzy" to mean
much). Now if you *really* want to impress people, why don't you spend
your efforts demonstrating the *quality* of your tool around here?
Instead of attacking HLA and MASM users for their choice of tools, why
not simply post some articles that demonstrate how much better your
'innovative tool' is than the competition? Thus far, the only posts
I've seen you make in this newsgroup that didn't involve attacking HLA
users has been the promotion of your product. I fail to see how my
"self-promotion" is especially different from your's (yep, I, too,
announce my product around here).

If your product is really that good, people will figure this out from
the examples you post. You don't have to attack other tools and their
authors to make your point. All you achieve with your attacks (as
you've done over in ALA) is convince people that the *last* thing they
want to do is consider the use of your product.

Granted, you don't have very many RosAsm users (around here or anywhere
else). So chances are pretty good that you're not going to get a lot of
RosAsm-specific questions asked around here. That can be frustrating as
you don't get too many direct opportunities to demonstrate how well you
support your product and demonstrate how superior your product is to
the competition. However, what you *can* do is post a RosAsm solution
to questions asked by other posters. Jim Neil used to do this
successfully with his Terse product around here. That would give you
the opportunity to show off just how "great" your product is, and you
come away looking like a champion rather than a cad.

I realize that you're on some "holy war" to do in HLA. But you may as
well get over this problem you have with HLA. HLA has (long ago)
reached "critical mass" and there's little you can do to stop its use
and expanding popularity. HLA was designed for schools and students,
and a large number of schools are adopting it. Your rants against HLA
won't change a thing. First of all, the students who typically post
questions here and in ALA generally don't have a choice about the
product they're using -- the instructor specifies that.  Second, even
if an instructor saw one of your posts, your posting ettiquette will
hardly convince them that they've made a bad choice. Indeed, over the
past four years, you've managed to *attract* more people to HLA than
you can possibly imagine.

If you *really* want to bring down HLA and MASM (your stated goals),
the *best* way to do this is by providing a much better product. By
"better", I don't mean a product that *you* think is better. What I
mean is a product that the *assembly language programming community*
sees as a better product. For example, NASM and FASM have achieved a
modicum of success specifically because many members of the assembly
community prefer the syntax these assemblers use. They also provide
some features (such as portability) lacking in MASM.

I realize you've put a lot of effort into your assembler. I, too, have
written an assembler (several of them, in fact) and I know the effort
that goes into such a product. When I first introduced HLA to this
newsgroup, I, too, was frustrated because all the advanced assembly
programmers didn't switch over to my product. But you'll notice a big
difference between yourself and me -- rather than trashing MASM, TASM
and NASM (the "big" assemblers at the time), I chose to concentrate my
efforts on marketing my product -- yes, promoting it -- to its target
audience. That's why HLA has achieved the success that it has achieved
today. And that's what you're going to have to do if you ever want to
see RosAsm succeed -- you've got to pick an audience for your product
and market that product to them. If you're so convinced that
programmers learning MASM and HLA aren't really learning assembly
language, then perhaps you should market your product to these people,
convincing them that now that they've mastered these "not true
assemblers", they can learn the real deal by picking up RosAsm. But
trust me, you'll not do this by attacking MASM or HLA users -- they'll
run like mad from you and your product.

You'll never gain success by simply attacking other assemblers.  All
you'll manage to do is scare off a large number of possible assembly
language programmers. This seems to be completely contrary to your
mission of converting the world to assembly language.  Keep in mind,
Rene, our products appeared at about the same time (2000 time frame).
Ask yourself: "Why has HLA grown in popularity while RosAsm has not?"
This is an especially perplexing question because RosAsm (SpAsm, at the
time) was the first assembly IDE and had that market all to itself for
a couple of years. You've made excuses for your product like "It will
only be real when it self-compiles under ReactOS" and "it isn't a real
product yet." But the bottom line is that HLA v1.x is a *PROTOTYPE*. It
isn't "ready for prime time," either. But it has still attracted a
following of thousands upon thousands of users. At some point you need
to stop making excuses for why your product hasn't set the world on
fire and reconsider what you're doing wrong. In case you haven't
figured it out yet, your posts in HLA-related threads are a big part of
what's wrong with your marketing plan.


And at the end of your post, I noticed that you completely sidestepped
the challenge I gave you -- demonstrate a program that can be written
in RosAsm that cannot also be written in HLA (because HLA is "not an
assembler" in your mind). This would be a good step in proving the
superiority of your tool over HLA -- begin by demonstrating some
low-level code that cannot be done in HLA, because you feel that HLA is
not an assembler. This would go a long way towards "Carpenters, who can
show - and prove, by a real work and  by very easily verifiable facts.
-, how to write in an  efficient manner, with an innovative Tool, and
freed from  Mythology Concepts."
Cheers,
Randy Hyde