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From: jdb@mordor.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: What makes programming the Mac difficult?
Message-ID: <10429@mordor.s1.gov>
Date: Thu, 4-Jun-87 12:09:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: mordor.10429
Posted: Thu Jun  4 12:09:21 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Jun-87 07:56:22 EDT
References: <869@apple.UUCP> <725@unccvax.UUCP> <1118@csib.UUCP> <729@unccvax.UUCP> <6512@ism780c.UUCP>
Reply-To: jdb@mordor.UUCP (John Bruner)
Organization: S-1 Project, LLNL
Lines: 50

I've been thinking about this subject for some time, but I still have
difficulty defining exactly why I find programming the Mac so much
harder than programming other machines (particularly UNIX machines).

I think that part of the reason for this perception is that (prior to
MacApp, at least) the Mac programmer has been required to worry about
a large number of interface-specific details, each of which is
managed through detailed data structures.  By contrast, UNIX programs
(other than screen editors or visually-oriented games) have a
significantly simpler interface to the underlying system.  I haven't
done much coding in X (or Suntools, or NeWS [what a stupid name!],
or ...), but I suspect that some of this advantage is now disappearing.
I have written (BSD) UNIX programs which play with different sockets,
XDR/RPC, NFS, etc. protocols, often requiring quite a bit of detail.
Transporting a simple UNIX-like program to the Mac (e.g. to run as a
tool under MPW) is not particularly difficult.

Ever since I first read *Inside Macintosh* I have felt that the
interface to the Mac O/S is too low-level.  (I am annoyed, for
instance, that if I'm using XON/XOFF output flow control the
received XON/XOFF characters which the serial driver receives not
only stop/start output but also are passed by to my applications
as input.)  One consequence of this low-level interface is that
enhancements and bug fixes invariably seem to break working
programs.

[One thing which makes UNIX easier for me is that I know how the
internals work.  (Or at least I once knew.  Our BSD kernel is huge,
and I can't claim to understand every one of the tens of thousands
of source lines.)  That understanding biases my comparison with the
Mac, because the familiar is always easier than the less-familiar.]

Some of my complaints about Mac development have been or are being
resolved.  These include slow/bad compilers and poor debugging
facilities.  MPW C is good (although slow), LightspeedC is very
fast and accepts modern C constructs.  I still sorely miss
multitasking, though.  I've heard all of the arguments about how
we don't really need multitasking if there's enough memory and
processor speed.  I don't believe them.  I know how I use my Mac
and how I use my Sun (and how I once used a V7 PDP-11), and I want
multitasking.

I've already been ridiculed for my editor preferences, so I won't
comment on that again.

The state of Mac program development is considerably different than
it was a couple of years ago, but I think it still has a ways to go.
-- 
  John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
  jdb@mordor.s1.gov	...!seismo!mordor!jdb		(415) 423-4848