Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hoptoad!tim From: tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: Re: Communications Toolbox questions Message-ID: <9219@hoptoad.uucp> Date: 8 Dec 89 03:33:32 GMT References: <9125@hoptoad.uucp> <36869@apple.Apple.COM> <9194@hoptoad.uucp> <37029@apple.Apple.COM> Reply-To: tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) Organization: Eclectic Software, San Francisco Lines: 60 In article <9194@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes: >>OK, this has been preying on my mind for a few hours and I have what >>seems to be a good answer. INITs that install Comm Toolbox resources >>in the linked list should not be given type INIT or RDEV to be picked >>up by the INIT 31 mechanism. Instead, they should be give a new type, >>say 'Comm', that INIT 31 won't pick up. Then the toolbox file, which >>*is* of type INIT or RDEV, contains its own INIT-31-type resource that >>only picks up files of the new type. Running INITs is pretty easy; the >>real INIT 31 resource is only 474 bytes of code. In article <37029@apple.Apple.COM> austing@Apple.COM (Glenn L. Austin) writes: >We tried that -- oh how the INIT process slowed down! Just think -- most >"power users" already have nearly 100 files in their System Folder (I >personally had 115 until I got tired of waiting 2 minutes to start up my Mac) >Every time you have to search out a file, you have to go through *ALL* the >files in the System folder just to find the ones you want. Just think, first >the INIT 31 mechanism starts through, then the CTB starts through the same >list of files, completes, and then the INIT 31 mechanism continues with the >next file -- therefore each file is touched at least twice! Point 1 -- So put the bloody INITs in the Communications folder, not in the System Folder! That's probably where most users would think they belong anyway; you'll be saving everybody a bunch of support calls. Notice that the error of putting it into the System Folder rather than the Communications folder *can* be flagged by software ("You need to put this into the Communications folder instead" -- the software can even move itself there) but the opposite error cannot be automatically corrected, since an INIT placed in the Communications folder will never get run as things stand. Point 2 -- I think it's folly to have a ton of INITs and CDEVs, for reliability and compatibility reasons. It's not a configuration you should break your back to support in the friendliest way possible. Point 3 -- If the file system caching mechanism works properly, then the information on those files should still be in memory during the second loop. If the information is not still in memory, then the cache mechanism is not working properly, and should be fixed. Point 4 -- Any supposed B*-tree database manager that requires a humanly noticeable time to retrieve a mere hundred records is brain dead. >>I think the advantages of not installing the Toolbox in the already >>badly overloaded System resource file speak for themselves, though I >>will be glad to enumerate them if necessary. I don't see any serious >>problems with this approach; it seems like a simple technical solution >>to a serious user interface issue. > >I do! It takes too long already to boot up a machine, and this suggestion just >doubled the time necessary! Granted, the System file is getting full, but by >looking at the time and processing savings, you'll be glad it's in the System >file! See Point 1.... -- Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com "Don't talk to me about disclaimers! I invented disclaimers!" - The Censored Hacker