Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!dlyons
From: dlyons@Apple.COM (David A. Lyons)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Re: GS/OS Close(0)
Message-ID: <51234@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 5 Apr 91 20:47:19 GMT
References: <51129@apple.Apple.COM> <1991Apr3.222202.15461@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 30

In article <1991Apr3.222202.15461@nntp-server.caltech.edu> toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:
>[...]
>To make a multifinder work, the O/S _MUST_ have Set & Get calls to inform
>it when the current process changes. This is why I think the facility should
>be built into GS/OS -- we will be patching the hell out of the system already
>in order to insure that GS/OS and the tools are informed when the CurrentOSApp
>changes.

Whether it's in the OS or somewhere else, the $65,536 question is how to
*make* all of the Get/SetCurrentOSApp calls at the right times.  If any of
them have to be made by the applications, that's a problem.

>Dave, we've heard too much of "kludging it in won't work because of THIS" --
>we're not interested in kludges. We want to know if the software teams can
>add something to the system itself, so third parties won't have to waste
>memory and execution time forcing the present system to do it.

I didn't mean to come across as "it will never work, here's why."  I pointed
out some tricky problems that would need to be dealt with.  If all of them
turn out to be solveable, great.  "Kludginess" does not bother me in itself,
as long as I have a detailed understanding of the interactions going on &
the conditions under which it will work.
-- 
David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
America Online: Dave Lyons                |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875
GEnie: D.LYONS2 or DAVE.LYONS         CompuServe: 72177,3233
Internet/BITNET:  dlyons@apple.com    UUCP:  ...!ames!apple!dlyons
   
My opinions are my own, not Apple's.