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From: Lawson.English@p88.f15.n300.z1.fidonet.org (Lawson English)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: THINK and other C
Message-ID: <14327.285DA95A@stjhmc.fidonet.org>
Date: 16 Jun 91 18:57:29 GMT
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Jon Howell writes in a message to All

JH> I'm not going to be developing Microsoft Word or PageMaker, just 
JH> programming for myself. I've seen Think Pascal at school, and 
JH> I like the interface. I've talked with one person about compilers; 
JH> now I'd like to get as much input as I can. 
JH> - What's available? I've heard of Think C and MPW. (Apple's developer 
JH>  package, right?)

Think Pascal was used to develop PageMaker. Think C is the equivalent C. The
new Turbo C++ environment was modeled on THink C's. MPW is the package that
Apple uses to develop System 7, etc.

JH> - Does X compiler come with an assembler I can get to or use 
JH> inline? I  know a bit of 68K assembly that I'd like to use. 

Think C allows INLINE assembly. Think Pascal can link with Think C or MPW ".o"
files. MPW allows linking with MPW ".o" files, but I'm not sure about INLINE.


JH> - Will X compiler allow me to generate whatever sort of code 
JH> I want, such  as applications, control panels, inits... 

All of the above allow stand-alone code. Think C/Pascal can use the Object extensions
with stand-alone (with a bit of work), but MPW doesn't.

JH> - What's the best way to get comfortable with programming for 
JH> a Mac  environment? What books are good?

The Macintosh Programming Primer Vol 1 & 2 are good, as is the Macintosh Revealed
series. The Macintosh Inside Out series is a up-and-commer.

JH> - What's the best mac environment reference? Inside Macintosh 
JH> seems to  be the name equivalent to scripture

Inside Macintosh *is* scripture. That and the DTS tech notes. They are the official
Apple Macintosh programming manuals.

JH> To help clarify, my use of the assembler will be for doing my 
JH> own projects. Probably a lot of QuickDraw graphics, floating 
JH> point number stuff (this is starting to smell like fractals and 
JH> 3-D graphics, huh? :^), general hacking around.

Think C/Pascal (probably C) would be your best bet. You can use the TCL's to
develop your interface, and the INLINE assembly to do the nasty stuff with the
FPU (er, you DO have an  FPU, don't you? I don't recommend fractals without
one).

JH> Thanks for any input you can give me.

De nada.


Lawson







 

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