Memblocks are raw data fields, which can be used for most anything. You can create images, sounds, music, databases, even levels and arrays in a memblock! The memblock is however a "RAW" access to the data, consisting of X numbers of bytes concerning the data format. For a collection of text bytes for example, you'd access the block by bytes. If a collection of integers, you'd access it by 2 bytes at a time. If a long integer, you'd access 4 bytes at a time, and so on.
Memblocks are the same as *real memory* meaning you have a pointer to a block of of data in the machine that you can pass to other functions. A large part of why memblocks exist is to call Windows DLL files, because these DLL routines often return a "chunk" of data that must stored somewhere. Take for example your modem, if may come back with;
HSP56K Fax 1.2, Class=2 US Robotics 1992
That string has to go somewhere when you call the DLL to ask the modem what type it is, and you do that by giving the DLL call the ADDRESS of a free block of memory (the memblock) where the DLL can write that string safely. Then you use the memblock commands to read the string and determine what kind of modem it is, and whether or not you can talk to it.
This is why memblocks exist, and many DLL functions need them. DLLS offer faster coding, expanded interfaces and of course, you can use memblock for making images, sounds and such as I said before. Heck, even the windows call to menu movement and mouse calls currently requires a memblock, so learning them is a good thing...
Good luck!
S.
Any truly great code should be indisguishable from magic.
