Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!eos!labrea!decwrl!decvax!tektronix!reed!kamath
From: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Apple II source and binaries???
Message-ID: <8770@reed.UUCP>
Date: 13 Apr 88 01:37:49 GMT
References: <8804101825.aa02650@SMOKE.BRL.ARPA>
Reply-To: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath)
Organization: Reed College, Portland OR
Lines: 66

In article <8804101825.aa02650@SMOKE.BRL.ARPA> abc@BRL.ARPA (Brint Cooper) writes:
>
>Gene Sampieri asks:
>
>> Is there a group for source and binaries for the Apple IIe/c?  I can't
>> seem to find one in our list.
>
>Not for source, and that's the irony.  All that hex code that is posted
>to apple2-L and would be posted to a comp.apple.binaries newsgroup first
>exists source code somewhere.  There aren't very many wizards
>programming in hex!  Yet, people are chafing at the bit to get hex code
>which they cannot read and whose functionality they can only guess at.
>I don't understand why folks aren't clamoring for a comp.apple.sources
>group where original source (including assembler source) code would be
>posted.
>
>_Brint

Oh, people, stop!

Come on.  Look how hard it was to get comp.apple.binaries!  You really think
people are gonna want to hassle with yet another group?  no.

Look, in the unix world, only sources are distributed (for the most part),
as the definition of unix calls for portability of source, not binary code.

In the micro world, it's a little smaller.

When you buy a program, does it come with source?  In the unix world, you
almost always have the option (sometimes at a cost of several thousand
dollars) to get the source, and sometimes you *only* get the source.  I for
one really like the PD and shareware route, as you can *sometimes* get the
sources.

On the otherhand, keep this in mind.  On the net, you can always try to
contact the author to try and get the source.  I will be more than glad to
give people the source for *my* stuff.  I will also post it.  Don't think
that the name means it will contain *nothing* but binaries.  After all,
merlin Pro (dos 3.3) keeps it's files in binary form.  I could always claim
it was binary, not source code.

But what's the point!  How many times do we hear about Amigas or Macs in
comp.sys.apple?

Spare me!.  It does *not* mean binaries only.


Sorry about being so livid, but it's a real sore point.  It's
(comp.apple.binaries) just a place to distribute programs, in whatever form
we wish.  I could send it in digitized cassette form, but what good would it
do? (Based on the old cassette copying routines.)

Sean Kamath

Sorry if there are a lot of typos in this.  I know that in my post about a
sys file I made a few mistakes, and yes, the 200 was supposed to be a 2000.
However, I'm not using DCOM, but rather ProTERM, which has a really horrid
vt100 emulation (the normal problem of motion outside a scrolling region,
but it get's confused in vi as well!).  All because I wanted to download
files, and I get distracted.  Poor Robin.  Gotta go.


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