Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!bbn!rochester!PT.CS.CMU.EDU!andrew.cmu.edu!rs4u+
From: rs4u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Siegel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Prototyper vs. Doing it Yourself
Message-ID: <AWCzzgy00V48UYU0bT@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 14 Mar 88 15:44:44 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University
Lines: 43


        I've been reading the discussion of Prototyper on this board, and
despite the rather crass :-) plugging I've seen, it does sound intriguing.

        However, I resist using tools such as MacApp, or Programmer's Extender,
or MacExpress, or Prototyper, simply on the grounds that I'd rather do it
myself. If I do it myself, I've gained an insight into how things work; I've
gotten my hands dirty, and I know exactly where the bugs lie (if there are
any). The learning is sometimes more valuable than getting the job done. My
plotting program's been in continuous development for over a year (since the
last time I released it as shareware) and it bears no resemblance to its
previous incarnation; the interface is more standard, more intuitive, and
faster than previous versions. And I know a lot more about programming in
general, and about hacking the user interface toolbox, in particular.

        I guess the point is that I've done application development since
before the first toolkits came out, and I've written all of my interfaces by
hand. And enjoyed every minute of it. And I see no reason to throw out all of
my work at this point.

        Aside from the philosophical differences, the practical application is
that since I've done the interface already, it's a simple job to build up a set
of libraries, or even an application shell. Also, I can keep my code current
with the system by adding MultiFinder support, color capability, and so forth,
instead of relying upon someone else to do it for me.

        When I get Lightspeed Pascal with object support, I'm going to use it
to make my application smaller and more elegant, not just to run MacApp.

So call me crazy.

                --Rich

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Rich Siegel
Confused Undergrad, Carnegie-Mellon University

The opinions stated here do not represent the policies
of Carnegie-Mellon University.

Arpa: rich.siegel@andrew.cmu.edu
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,sun}!andrew.cmu.edu!rich.siegel
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