I'm very interested in game programming and I'm taking my first steps alone. So I installed allegro. Although Dev-C++ didn't work, Code::Blocks compiled successfully. I started out with this basic program:

#include <allegro.h>


int main(){

    allegro_init();
    install_keyboard();
    set_gfx_mode( GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0);

    readkey();

    return 0;

}   
END_OF_MAIN();

The problem comes in when I try to run it. It opens the little window as always, but rapidly blacks out my whole screen. I press any key and it takes me back to the little window telling me that it finished, which means the program worked. But I try any other program with allegro, like:

#include <allegro.h>

int x = 10;
int y = 10;

int main(){

    allegro_init();
    install_keyboard();
    set_gfx_mode( GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0);

    while ( !key[KEY_ESC] ){

        clear_keybuf();

        acquire_screen();

        textout_ex( screen, font, " ", x, y, makecol( 0, 0, 0), makecol( 0, 0, 0) );

        if (key[KEY_UP]) --y;        
        else if (key[KEY_DOWN]) ++y;    
        else if (key[KEY_RIGHT]) ++x;
        else if (key[KEY_LEFT]) --x;

        textout_ex( screen, font, "@", x, y, makecol( 255, 0, 0), makecol( 0, 0, 0) );

        release_screen();

        rest(50);

    }    

    return 0;

}   
END_OF_MAIN();

And the same thing happens over and over again! Is there something I'm doing wrong?