Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!earleh
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: My 256K ROMs aren't smart enough, or Are Apple ROM programmers sloughing off?
Message-ID: <10775@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 7 Nov 88 15:24:39 GMT
References: <3f84800b.59b7@sauron.engin.umich.edu>
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 37

In article <3f84800b.59b7@sauron.engin.umich.edu> mystone@sol.engin.umich.edu 
	(Dean Yu) writes:
...
>  So.  What's the story?  If it sounds like I'm ticked, I am.  I'm getting
>tired of trying to write neat programs, and finding out that there are
>problems with the ROMs.  How are we supposed to expect to write decent
>programs if the tools which make the Mac the Mac don't work like they're
>supposed to?

     Repeat after me:

Write a line of code.
Look at what really happens with a debugger.
Write another line of code.
Look at what really happens with a debugger.
Write another line of code.
Look at what really happens with a debugger.
Repeat...

     I've been through this a million times.  All sorts of Toolbox
functions fail to function in the documented manner, or in what I
THINK is the documented manner.  Half the time, it's me.  Half the
time, it's the documentation being ambiguous.  The other half, it's
the ROM.

     The only way to make steady progress when entering the realms of
functions which you have not used before is to look at the return
value[s] the first few times you use them.  Sure, it seems to take a
little longer this way, but you KNOW how the call works after you do
this a few times, and don't get bitten later.

     Another thing.  This is not a problem which is unique to the
Macintosh.

Earle R. Horton. 23 Fletcher Circle, Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 643-4109
Sorry, no fancy stuff, since this program limits my .signature to three