Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!bbn!drilex!dricejb
From: dricejb@drilex.UUCP (Craig Jackson drilex1)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Tail Patches
Message-ID: <6353@drilex.UUCP>
Date: 24 Nov 89 18:46:57 GMT
References: <5249@internal.Apple.COM> <17090@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <5292@internal.Apple.COM> <1989Nov20.182741.2658@eng.umd.edu> <5320@internal.Apple.COM>
Organization: DRI/McGraw-Hill, Lexington, MA
Lines: 53

In article <5320@internal.Apple.COM> chewy@Apple.com (Paul Snively) writes:
>In article <1989Nov20.182741.2658@eng.umd.edu> russotto@eng.umd.edu 
>(Matthew T. Russotto) writes:
>> In article <5292@internal.Apple.COM> chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively) 
>writes:
>> >In article <17090@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> erics@eleazar.dartmouth.edu 
>(Eric 
>> >Schlegel) writes:
>> >get that same effect, given that there's a routine called RESTART that 
>is 
>> >marked NOT IN ROM is to Link in the appropriate library (usually 
>Runtime.o 
>> >for MPW users) from your development system, and make the call to the 
>> >library routine.  That's what libraries are for.

This raises the issue for third-party applications tool developers.  Either
one waits for Think, TML, to decode those libraries, or one does it them-
selves.

>> So?  Your application still breaks.  Unless you have a dynamic linker,
>> of course... (was it REALLY that hard for apple to keep a JMP to the 
>right
>> spot in 0A(RomBase)? )
>
>Your application won't break as long as you link with up-to-date library 
>code!  As for "was it hard to keep the jump," I'm not a ROM engineer, so I 
>don't really know.  There were some pretty hairy changes in going from the 
>old Macs to the II-family Macs.

So, you're supposed to ship MPW, with some sort of updates subscription,
to everyone who wants to automate their dental practice?  Here, I believe
you're way off base, and Apple appears to have screwed up.  (This stuff
hasn't really affected me; I've never managed to complete a real Mac
application.  Just too much investment in doc & time...)

For better or worse, Documented is Documented, whether it's an assembly-
language note or a library description.  Major computer manufacturers
come to learn (and hate) this.

Apple comes out on the lower end of the "how many applications break on
each release" scale.  I think Berkeley CSRG is actually lower, but most
commercial vendors are forced to do much better.  MVS will still run
binaries from OS/360, compiled 20 years ago.  Unisys/Burroughs finally
got tired of offering such compatibility: they now only support a binary
for four releases of the operating system: one forward, the current one,
and two back.  *If the application is too old, it isn't run*.  This is
much better than have one function break on odd Tuesdays--it keeps
everything up front.
-- 
Craig Jackson
dricejb@drilex.dri.mgh.com
{bbn,ll-xn,axiom,redsox,atexnet,ka3ovk}!drilex!{dricej,dricejb}