Demo (computer programming): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:24, 29 January 2016

Revision as of 19:54, 8 February 2016

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The introduction of 16-bit and 32-bit computer systems like the [[Commodore Amiga|Amiga]] and the [[Atari st|Atari ST]] resulted in a new distribution of work inside the groups, since the hardware allowed new possibilities. The creation of Intros was divided in programming, music and graphics. Intros were often spread on [[Disk magazine]]s.

At the end of the 1980s, pirateunlicensed copies increasingly became an issue for the software industry. The development of games for certain platforms was stopped entirely due to insuffientinsufficient profit, some{{Who|date=March 2011}} claimed that the cracker scene being responsible for the doom of the Amiga platform. Some Amiga games were released by crackers before they were released commercially.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} Authorities started to apply pressure on individuals and whole groups in the scene.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

This led to the release of stand-alone demos{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} computer art without the illegal distribution of computer games. With the increasing use of the Internet, the separation was complete. Cracked copies of computer games were available online for the masses with the crack attached. Often, greetings were only attached in a text file, while the demoscene separately distributed their work.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

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====Compression====

[[Executable compression]] has been used in demos since the very beginning: piratedcopied software needed to be packed into a compact and easily spreadable format, which often required some kind of compression for both the software itself and the attached intro. Early demos often had multiple parts which were separately decompressed into memory during the short pauses between parts.

The demos and intros for modern platforms are compressed either by general-purpose executable compressors (such as [[UPX]]) or programs specifically designed for the compression of small intros. The decompressor stubs integrated in [[Compo (demoscene)|4K]] intros are often well under 200 bytes in size. Some Windows-based 4K intros may even wrap themselves inside DOS-based <code>[[COM file|.COM]]</code> [[executable]]s in order to eliminate the [[header (computing)|header]] bytes. Decompression facilities provided by the operating system may also be used.