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From: resnick@cogsci.uiuc.edu (Pete Resnick)
Subject: Re: creating resources
Message-ID: <1991Mar23.005637.10537@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
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Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
References: <1991Mar22.163118.3560@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Distribution: comp
Date: Sat, 23 Mar 1991 00:56:37 GMT
Lines: 34

People have been complaining about my first statement, that the person
should really not create a resource and instead use the data fork,
accusing me of misunderstanding the problem. Let me clarify:

The tech note that I cited (I don't have the number handy) is entitled
"Don't Abuse the Managers". In reference to the Resource Manager, it
says not to use the Resource Manager as a data base. The original poster
wanted to save "thousands" of integers. When we get up into the range
of 4K of data that isn't particularly complex in format (unlike a PICT)
and may not *need* to be in memory all at once, it is more reasonable
to create a separate data file (not in your applications data fork, as
one person misunderstood) and save the information there. Not that 4K
is ridiculous to be in memory at once, but once we get into data that
size, using the data fork starts to seem reasonable. If, of course,
the person wanted to keep it all in memory, and needed it read in
conveniently, a resource I agree might be reasonable. The original
poster, however, was not indicating one way or the other.

The Resource Manager is a nice tool, but using direct file i/o to the
data fork is more efficent and more flexible. I was trying to give
the poster an alternative to what might have been a quick and possibly
misinformed judgement about what tool to use. The person sounded like
somewhat of a beginner to the Resource Manager, and I was providing
as much info as I could to be helpful.

Hope that clears some things up.

pr
--
Pete Resnick             (...so what is a mojo, and why would one be rising?)
Graduate assistant - Philosophy Department, Gregory Hall, UIUC
System manager - Cognitive Science Group, Beckman Institute, UIUC
Internet/ARPAnet/EDUnet  : resnick@cogsci.uiuc.edu
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