Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!mips!apple!keith
From: keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Why I Would Like "True Multitasking"
Keywords: multi-tasking
Message-ID: <54496@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 1 Jul 91 00:35:57 GMT
References: <1991Jun28.005152.5815@cs.sfu.ca> <54465@apple.Apple.COM>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 33

In article <54465@apple.Apple.COM> bc@Apple.COM (bill coderre) writes:
>lupini@cs.sfu.ca (Peter Lupini) writes:
>|So here are my questions:
>|1) Am I missing something obvious here?  I am assuming that I have to make my
>|  program "multi-finder" aware or something, and make it be smart about not
>|  taking all the cpu time while it is running.  This seems to be an incredible
>|  pain when I'm just writing quick 'n dirty programs which may be used for 
>|  only a week or so.
>
>Peter: Without getting into a big argument about what "true
>multitasking" is ("I dunno, but I knows it when I sees it") let me
>just give you a pragmatic answer about writing your programs.
>
>The bad news is: yes, you do have to write your programs in a special
>way to allow Multifinder to switch them to the background.

I missed the rest of Peter's post, but it seems to me that the "bad
news" as Bill puts it is not really relevent. In order to live with
MultiFinder, you just have to call GetNextEvent like you would in every
other application anyway. You only have to "write your programs in a
special way" if you want to be an Exceptionally Good Citizen. If Peter
is writing throw-away code, then he doesn't need to do this.

Of course, if you use a class library like MacApp or TCL, then you
don't even have to think about any of this; the class library will
handle it for you.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Rollin  ---  Apple Computer, Inc. 
INTERNET: keith@apple.com
    UUCP: {decwrl, hoptoad, nsc, sun, amdahl}!apple!keith
"But where the senses fail us, reason must step in."  - Galileo