Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!peltz
From: peltz@cerl.uiuc.edu (Steve Peltz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Tail patches
Message-ID: <1989Nov23.001819.2356@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 23 Nov 89 00:18:19 GMT
References: <5249@internal.Apple.COM> <17090@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <5292@internal.Apple.COM> <1989Nov20.182741.2658@eng.umd.edu> <5320@internal.Apple.COM> <1989Nov21.040138.344@eng.umd.edu> <21353@brunix.UUCP> <9054@hoptoad.uucp> <5361@internal.Apple.COM <36735@appl
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Organization: UIUC Computer-based Education Research Lab
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Hmph, just started reading this group, and I see the subject of "tail patches"
has wandered all over the place, but I'd just like to say that the first
application I ever wrote for the Mac (written using a Lisa, Workshop Pascal,
and MacWorks) still works on every Mac and System I've ever had a chance
to test it on (MacPAD 0.4). I've updated it since, but it still works on a
Mac 512, and if I had a MacXL or 128 I'm 99% confident it would work there.
I do one thing outside the standards: I look directly at keycodes instead
of ASCII; however, I have a lookup table as a resource to make it easy to
change (I realize there are ways to specify a custom translation, but I'd
have to maintain my specific table one way or another, and it was much too
much hassle to do it that way).

There are some things I just decided I wouldn't bother working around: closing
the serial port (on earlier Macs, disabled the mouse!), ignoring some error
codes from serial drivers (in some versions of MacWorks, the serial driver
returned spurious error codes), flashing cursor on the screen when an offscreen
bitmap happened to correspond to the same coordinates, not having a fully
backed window (too slow to plot to off-screen AND on-screen, and display
could be of unlimited length so can't store as a PICT or save incoming
serial data stream for playback, even if those were fast enough)("solution"
is that I don't refresh my window), the STUPID keycodes for Mac+ cursor keys
(even if the numeric keypad was stupid, there were better ways to do the Mac+
keys that wouldn't have broken existing applications, and anyway wasn't the
argument just given that it WAS ok to require updates to programs from time
to time?).

Anyway, the point is that I wrote it following the guidlines and it never
broke. I find that reasonably impressive when compared to MS-DOS or anything
else. Admittedly, my program doesn't change the behavior of the system, it is
a mere application, but *I* think the guidelines are useful, appropriate, and
not excessively restrictive. I just wish the system wasn't becoming so damn
complex!
--
Steve Peltz (almost) CFI-G
"Monticello traffic, Glider 949 landing 18, full stop"