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From: lippin@skippy.berkeley.edu (The Apathist)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple Printer Drivers (Was:Microsoft cuts corners, actually)
Message-ID: <13679@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 29 Aug 88 09:03:10 GMT
References: <77.23156CF6@mailcom.UUCP> <2943@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> <9942@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <3750@polya.Stanford.EDU>
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Recently kaufman@polya.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman) wrote:

>The gripe printer DRIVER writers have is not so much that the
>interface is not documented (it is,... well enough), but that there
>has been no thought given to printer devices that are not isomorphic
>to laserwriters and imagewriters.  AND, it has so far been impossible
>to enforce APPLICATIONS adherance to the fine points in the
>guidelines.

As a printer driver writer, I have to object.  I've seen only a few
scraps of documentation from Apple on writing printer drivers since
the IM phone book, and that only gave a few hints, which were taken
out of the later documentation.  Most of the info that's available is
from people outside of Apple who've taken the system apart to see how
it works.  Mostly it's "Apple's drivers do this; if you do almost the
same thing, maybe your driver will work."  (Mine even worked with a
program from the M-company.  I was surprised.)

On the other hand, your point is well taken.  I'd rather have my
driver break with a few system releases while Apple tries to get
things right, than have them document, and thus freeze, the printing
manager in its current, rather brain-damaged state.

You've got to know when to code it,		--Tom Lippincott
	      know when to log out,		..ucbvax!math!lippin
	      know when to single-step,
	      know when to run...