Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!seismo!vrdxhq!verdix!ogcvax!omssw2!reed!maclab
From: maclab@reed.UUCP (Mac DLab)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: ResEdit is *already* customizedable (Re: Ten Challenges)
Message-ID: <3345@reed.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-May-86 16:50:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: reed.3345
Posted: Fri May  9 16:50:27 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 14-May-86 06:04:53 EDT
References: <21100039@orstcs.UUCP> <3342@reed.UUCP>
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Lines: 35

> 
> In article <21100039@orstcs.UUCP> nathan@orstcs.UUCP (nathan) writes:
> > Ten Challenges:
> > ...
> > Myers Challenge #7:
> > ...  I propose a core program which itself is little more than a
> > resource mover.  It would load an edit module for each resource
> > type, as needed, from a separate file identified by the resource
> > name.  The interface for such modules could be very similar to
> > that for DA's, so existing compilers could be used to create
> > the edit modules.  Supporting a new resource type would require
> > *no* changes to the core program.  Bugs would be easily localized.
> > The core program would be small enough to be a DA.
> 
  Bart Massey responds: 

> Gee, what a coincidence!  That's exactly how *ResEdit works now*!  The
> reason that ResEdit is so large is that (a) the core program just plain
> needs to be a lot more complicated than the average DA, and (b) there
> are a bunch of editors in there already!  There's even a facility for
> writing a resource description template, so that one doesn't have to
> write a custom editor for every new resource type!  

Yes, ResEdit is "expandable", but Bart, you and I both know what a nightmare
the pickers are --  they are a big pain to write, and overly complicated.
I would suggest another challenge:  I challenge someone to write, in English,
an article on how to create a ResEdit picker.  I know there is documentation
already, but it is a joke, and it is not very widely distributed.  A well-
written document with a simple, solid, example could probably get published
in MacTutor, and earn the author a few bucks.

And by the way, I think Nathan's ten challenges are a great idea, and 
I trust we all shall rise to them!

Scott Gillespie