Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!agate!bionet!raven.alaska.edu!milton!stevep From: stevep@wrq.com (Steve Poole) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: The Amiga's Future Message-ID: <1991Jun18.192240.2928@milton.u.washington.edu> Date: 18 Jun 91 19:22:40 GMT References: <376@orac.UUCP> <1991Jun15.170958.29852@neon.Stanford.EDU> Sender: news@milton.u.washington.edu (News) Organization: Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc., Seattle, WA Lines: 20 In article mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: >Anyhow, another reason why the Mac is so slow is that it was designed to >run Pascal programs. Pascal text strings aren't compatible with 'C' >strings... Pascal uses a single byte at the front that contains the length >of the string, and 'C' uses a null terminator. So these days, apps are >written in 'C'. The 'C' compilers provide a library routine called >ptoc() and ctop(), which convert the string formats back and forth. >This is NOT a fast operation... Really, you ought to do some Mac coding before you discuss handles and Pascal/C Toolbox ramifications. Most folks specify strings as resources and use appropriate Toolbox routines to manipulate them as Pascal strings. There's little need to perform conversion between formats; the convenience functions are useful mainly for quick hacks. I don't know who would be doing that kind of thing in a time critical place. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- INTEL 80x86: Just say NOP -- Internet: stevep@wrq.com -- AOL: Spoole -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------