Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!claris!UUCP!peirce From: peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Why I Would Like "True Multitasking" Message-ID: Date: 29 Jun 91 05:33:42 GMT Reply-To: peirce@outpost.UUCP (Michael Peirce) Organization: Peirce Software Lines: 34 X-Mailer: uAccess - Mac Release: 1.5 You forget that the Mac was not designed to be a *programmers* computer, rather it was designed to be a *users* computer. On the original Mac you couldn't even program on it - you had to compile your code on a Lisa, then bring it over. The trade off is that to make easy to use programs, it's often somewhat of a pain to program. Having said that, you might check into using MPW. MPW *was* meant to be a programmer's environment - even if it had to sacrifice some Mac-ness. With MPW there's more to master than with THINK C, but it provides a nice command line environment - not unlike a Unix or VMS system. And, here's really why I recommend it to you, you can write non-Mac-like programs as an MPW tool that MultiTasks without dealing with event loops. All you need to do is sprinkle calls to SpinCursor() throughout your code. Not only does this spin the cursor, but using a little magic it takes care of all the event stuff for you enough that you can switch to other programs in MultiFinder and run other Apps (like terminal sessions) while your CPU bound non-Mac-like program churns away. The MPW shell will contain all your program's output (from either printf or writeln calls) and you can even redirect it (like in Unix or VMS). If you've used "big" machines, you'll feel right at home in MPW. Try, you might even like it... -- michael -- Michael Peirce -- outpost!peirce@claris.com -- Peirce Software -- Suite 301, 719 Hibiscus Place -- Macintosh Programming -- San Jose, California 95117 -- & Consulting -- (408) 244-6554, AppleLink: PEIRCE