Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!keith
From: keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: New Apple Self-Help Tools
Message-ID: <51773@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 20 Apr 91 23:05:18 GMT
References: <51554@apple.Apple.COM> <23337@unix.SRI.COM> <1991Apr19.100952.8759@chinet.chi.il.us>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 93

In article <1991Apr19.100952.8759@chinet.chi.il.us> laird@chinet.chi.il.us (Laird J. Heal) writes:
>Yes, that "announcement" was in extraordinarily poor taste.  I am simply
>astounded that it was accepted into comp.sys.mac.announce.
> 
>I stopped subscribing to the APDAlog because it was nothing more than
>$20 for Apple to send me their advertisements.  This "Developer Starter
>Kit" is nothing more than a similar, $125, version of the same.


Absolutely false! APDAlog is also blatant advertising for many 3rd
party products, too!   :-)

Actually, I don't think I should kid about APDA or the APDAlog. APDA
was _not_ set up as a way for Apple to make a quick buck. It was a
way to make development tools available to anyone who wanted them.

I hope that many people recognize the "Developer Resource Kit" for what
Apple intends it to be. Often goes up the cry "why doesn't Apple
support me in my development efforts!" Well, Apple does (see below),
and this is just another way that it is trying to help. 

If you think that Usenet is a great avenue for support, you should see
what you get on an electronic service _dedicated_ to the Apple II and
Macintosh like AppleLink. Yes, it costs some money, but doesn't
everything? Do you think that Usenet is free? If you're a student, what
do you think your student fees are for?


> 
>Even as an Apple Associate you have no access to what is most desperately
>needed, namely answers to the not-so-documented questions.  I finally
>gave up on my own particular use of Offscreen Pixmaps and wrote a local
>version of CopyBits(), limited because I did not need color translation
>and because I will write my own scaling/rotation at a later time.  If I
>had access to MACDEV like the old days, maybe I could have worked it out;
>for the stuff to the screen, I guess I should turn MacsBug loose on
>Photoshop...
> 
>It seems like, as time goes on, the more you pay Apple, the less you get
>in return.

I would definitely have to disagree with this!

When I first started working in DTS (Apple II and Macintosh sides), all
we ever did was answer E-mails and write technotes. That was it.

However, we realized that with the growing number of developers for
Apple products, that kind of support wouldn't be sufficient. Soon,
there would be more developers that any amount of DTS staff could 
support.

Since then, DTS has put together many different ways of supporting
developers. To name a few:

	- Developer Hotline (it used to answer simple administrative
	  questions. Now also answers technical questions for the
	  beginning programmer).
	- SpInside Mac (Inside Macintosh, inside your Macintosh!)
	- Technote stack (all Mac technotes in a HyperCard stack)
	- Q & A stack (FAQ)
	(By the way, the above three stacks are all linked together
	 and cross-referenced)
	- The Developer CD series (now in its 6th edition, contains
	  all the tecnical documentation and resources we could find).
	- DTS sample code (25 sample on how to do many common and
	  not so common things on the Mac. Several of these show how
	  to manipulate offscreen pixmaps, and quite likely could have
	  helped you in your own similar endeavors).
	- "develop", the quarterly technical journal, written by
	  Apple Systems engineers, DTS engineers, and 3rd party
	  developers who have "been there".
	- The WorldWide Developers Conference, which grows bigger
	  and better every year.
	- DTL, the Deveoper Technial Library on AppleLink. This is
	  a collection of all the questions and answers DTS has
	  received and given over the last couple of years. 

Please also note that many of these things are not solely the
domain of Apple Partners and/or Associates. Most of the above
are available on relatively free services, such as ftp sites
on these networks.

>-- 
>Laird J. Heal                           The Usenet is dead!
>Here:  laird@chinet.chi.il.us		Long live the Usenet!


-- 
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Keith Rollin  ---  Apple Computer, Inc. 
INTERNET: keith@apple.com
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"But where the senses fail us, reason must step in."  - Galileo