Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!andante!princeton!rutgers!mtunx!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!clive
From: clive@drutx.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Goin' Crazy on a Mac, or, How I Love MPW "GlobalData"
Message-ID: <7812@drutx.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 May 88 02:47:25 GMT
References: <9395@apple.Apple.Com>
Organization: resident visitor
Lines: 64
Posted: Tue May 10 22:47:25 1988

From article <9395@apple.Apple.Com>, by dan@Apple.COM (Dan Allen):
> David Oster's advice is sound

Presumably with the small detail taken care of that's been reminded.

> and in fact is what Apple has done for
> versions of Yacc and Lex that are used internally.

Do these internal versions automate resourcing the data arrays?  In 
program development, which is much more interesting than porting, the
code generating those arrays changes often.  It's definitely worth it.

> They are built with
> the standard MPW C 2.0 and seem to work fine in building things like the
> CFront C++ preprocessor. (awk also mentioned).

When will we see this!!!  Soon, please! All of them, please!  Especially C++!
Especially the C++ hooked up to MacApp that's been talked about...

> 
> DISCLIAMER:  NO, these Apple internal versions of Lex and Yacc are NOT
> available for the public.  YES, I wish they were.  Lean on your favorite

I'd like to think you'd find an adequate market.  I would hope ownership 
wouldn't be a problem -- isn't it the code for these which is owned 
(hence you must be running workalikes with MPW), rather than the ideas?

The tools have some evident usefulness for straight Mac program development,
though syntactically driven solutions are usually (and properly) subordinate 
to visual ones here.  I have some ideas about how the two can helpfully mix 
for applications other than word processors et al, though these may just
be my own interests, and not main line.  It's also true that lex can be 
used for pattern recognition on other data than words, and very
effectively to build translators of all kinds, like across application
environments.

But also, a Mac with hard drive is quite an adequate single-person replacement
for a typical Unix software development environment, in terms of power.
I've written a lot of code on mine.

With the items mentioned above integrated with MPW's toolset, the picture 
would be pretty complete for an affordable personal workstation, on which to do 
commercial work.  At a very reasonable price.

Presumably this is a market of interest.  And so also might be the market for 
Macs created by software of interesting new kinds being written for them.

Think about the next time you have to write a controller for XYZ
industrial automation process.  Wouldn't you like to use a Mac for the
front-end, and probably processing engine too?

Accelerators like yacc and lex, and a building tool like C++ with MacApp 
classes to get the basic Mac interface and utilities properties easily, 
would make this a pretty going proposition.

And I'm sure an eminently more likeable one than O/P/S2.

N'est-ce pas?  Il faut user le Mac!

(for work; play is another topic altogether, and I'm starting to be
pretty sure the two don't much mix, in this life....)


Clive Steward