Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!ucbvax!NISC.SRI.COM!cwilson
From: cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: Apple File Exchange (apology to Matt)
Message-ID: <20804@fs2.NISC.SRI.COM>
Date: 7 Sep 90 08:10:20 GMT
References: <44419@apple.Apple.COM> <1990Aug31.062233.10716@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <1990Aug31.205240.16853@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu>
Reply-To: cwilson@NISC.SRI.COM (Chan Wilson)
Organization: Network Info Systems Ctr., SRI Intl., Menlo Park, CA.
Lines: 46

In article <1990Aug31.205240.16853@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu> toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:

>However, I maintain that AFE Mac->Prodos sucks raw goose eggs. Chan Wilson's
>program performs the same function much more quickly -- my mentioning the
>P8 block driver was a misguided attempt to stay technically accurate while
>describing the program's translation speed.
>
>What I really meant to say was that Chan Wilson's program performs the HFS to
>Prodos transfer at the fastest rate supported by its O/S environment, and that
>Apple File Exchange currently can't make anything near that claim.

Hmm, just have to step in here and drop my .02 on the floor.  :)

a2fx achieves the speed it does because it's doing straight block 
reads off of the disk.  Once it's found where the file is, away it
goes, only stopping to write out the buffer when it gets full.  
Pretty simple, so it's pretty fast.   The thing that really 
astounded me was the speed at which it reads the directory... considering
all the code I wrote, it's still bloody fast... unless the catalog
happens to be scattered all over the disk, like one that someone sent
me. 

I don't know if there's such a thing as READ_BLOCK in the MacOS world.  
It'll be real interesting to see what the speed difference is when
I get around to writing a GS version of a2fx, which will use the fst
calls...

Speaking of a GS version, what's the interest level on something
more akin to AFE (Mac), where you can have different translators and
such?    Considering that I haven't even written a single line of
GS-specific code, it'll take a day or two, but is the interest there?

Plug-n-play translators... Unix troff to Appleworks.  Microsoft
Word to Appleworks.  Lotus 123 to Appleworks....

food for thought.  Feedback?

>Todd Whitesel
>toddpw @ tybalt.caltech.edu

--Chan
			   ................
    Chan Wilson -- cwilson@nisc.sri.com <!> I don't speak for SRI.
Janitor/Architect of comp.binaries.apple2 archive on wuarchive.wustl.edu
			      "a2fx it!"
			   ................