Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!lll-lcc!well!ewhac
From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: RESOURCES (as in disk-resources)
Message-ID: <5886@well.UUCP>
Date: 5 May 88 23:22:28 GMT
References: <8805040914.AA24466@cory.Berkeley.EDU>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: Slow-Witted Weapons Experts, Ltd.
Lines: 66
Summary: Good Stuff, Maynard!

In article <8805040914.AA24466@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes:
>
>	I have been refining my ideas on disk resources.  What you see below
>is the culmination of that (so far) in a preliminary document.  I intend
>to implement this over the summer and into the fall semester.
>
	I found it hard to follow in a few places; you were a bit too terse.
But aside from that, I have a few comments.

>Side note II:  If enough people fall in love with this, it will *replace* 
>IFF.  [ ... ]

	Based on this statement alone, I support Matt all the way :-).
I can't *stand* dealing with IFF.

>    value   =	GetResValue (handle, resname, how)   structures <= 8 bytes only.
>		    Instead of allocating space for this resource, assume
>		    it contains an integral value and return that value,
>		    allocating nothing.
>
	Duhhuh?  I don't geddit.

>    char ** =	GetResList  (handle, wildcard, how)
>		    char ** array, list of known resource names matching
>		    the */? wildcard name
>
	One of the good points the IFF designer made in his &^$@&^% document
was that you'll never be able to specify all the possible combinations of
whatever the programmer may care to match against.  Therefore, he asserted
that it was better to say something like:

	GetNextRes (handle, how);

	And let the application worry about excluding what it's not
interested in.  It also makes your job as the library author easier,
since you don't have to put in all the pattern matching stuff.

>    char ** =	GetStrList  (handle, wildcard, how)
>		    char ** array, list of known structures matching
>		    the */? wildcard name.
>
	I have a problem with your use of the abbreviation "str" to mean
"structure".  "Str" connotes the word "string" (character array) in my mind,
and would appreciate the use of "struct" or "struc" instead.

>    RESINFO:

	Things start to get muddy for me around here.  A clarification would
be much appreciated.

>    STRINFO:
>	Information about a structure.	Any referenced or subreferenced
>	structures are included.  All structure ID's are renumbered
>	according to their entry #, starting at ID 1.
>
	You lost me....

	Unless you have any objections, Matt, I'm going to cross-post this
to BIX, since David Joiner (talin@BIX) is interested in this very thing, and
would like to see a single standard.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape  ihnp4!pacbell -\
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
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