Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!jesup From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Macintosh OS Message-ID: <12407@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 8 Jun 90 00:23:38 GMT References: <1990Jun6.055847.14995@d.cs.okstate.edu> <:SY35CD@xds13.ferranti.com> <1990Jun7.142800.4113@csrd.uiuc.edu> Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax (Randell Jesup) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 29 In article <1990Jun7.142800.4113@csrd.uiuc.edu> bruner@sp15.csrd.uiuc.edu (John Bruner) writes: >This is precisely one of my complaints about windowing systems in >general. The implicit assumption seems to be that all programs should >be restructured into big event loops. An application which doesn't >call GetNextEvent() or XtAppProcessEvent() or whatever on a regular >basis is "not well-behaved." Never mind that the application might >have some complex long-running task to do. To operate "properly" it >must artificially break up its computation into small pieces that can >be executed in between calls to the event handler. Theoretically this >can always be done, but is the added complexity during programming, >debugging, and maintenance worth it? Under Intuition (the Amiga windowing/UI system), an application can be well behaved without ever calling GetMsg(w->UserPort). At one level, you can run in a virtual terminal under a shell and know nothing of windows. At another level you can open a window to output and use it as you see fit (like display the results of a fractal) and let Intuition handle all window events and refresh for you ("smart refresh" - i.e. backing store for hidden areas). Or you can get refreshevents, get notified of mouse clicks, movements, menu selection, gadgets, etc if you want. Plus you can segregate a task into a UI process and a computation process, as has been mentioned. Disclaimer: I work for Commodore, and love pre-emptive multitasking. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com BIX: rjesup Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"