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From: macman@wpi.WPI.EDU (Chris Silverberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Why aren't 7.0 aliases real?
Message-ID: <1991Apr8.032938.9249@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 8 Apr 91 03:29:38 GMT
References: <1991Apr7.221543.3719@athena.mit.edu>
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Lines: 27

In an article mlwiese@mit.edu rambles:

>I was disappointed to discover that aliases in 7.0 are only an illusion
>presented by the Finder and StdFile. This means that NO application is 7.0
>compatible without a rewrite to support aliases, IMO. Yeah, aliases are a new
>feature, but I expected them to work everywhere and so will a lot of other
>users.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean... yes, the alias is really just
a simple 1k file, but you'd never notice this unless you go back to System 6.
For instance, ANY program that displays an open file box will access the
real file when you select the alias... automatically... it doesn't matter
WHEN they were written.  Even things like Disktop will launch or open
an alias correctly...

Programs that perform disk management type stuff will likely need to be
updated for various reasons when system 7 comes out, but it's fairly simple
from the programmer's point of view to recognize the new features of 7.

- Chris


 
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