Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!ncar!tank!nucsrl!accuvax.nwu.edu!jln
From: jln@accuvax.nwu.edu (John Norstad)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Re: New Mac Programmer -- HELP!  *Commentary added
Message-ID: <10330152@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 89 19:22:52 GMT
References: <3949@ece-csc.UUCP>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 55


FLAME ON...

You guys are all wimps :-)  You remind me of the people
who ask me if I know of any good books on C - I tell
them to read Kernighan and Ritchie and they give me a
dumb look and whine that "it's tooooo hard to understand."

There's TONS of good Mac programming books and sample code
readily available.  My favorite books are the pair by 
Scott Knaster, and Joel West's book on MPW.  You can
also buy books devoted to C programming on the Mac,
Pacal programming on the Mac, assembler programming on
the Mac, and even MacApp programming on the Mac. 
They're all filled with many, many sample programs
and code fragments.  Apple also gives away a number
of sample programs.  You can also find lots of sample
code and useful information in MacTutor magazine.  Even
Byte magazine, that most unlikely source of Mac info,
has started to jump on the bandwagon.

So stop complaining!  When I started Mac programming
in April, 1984 at Odesta we didn't have any of this
stuff.  Inside Mac was looseleaf, and we got new 
chapters and revised chapters monthly from Apple.  That
was it - there were no other sources of information on
Mac programming.  For that matter, we also didn't have
ResEdit, MPW, LSC, or any other decent programming tools.  
Programs had to be built on a Lisa and downloaded to a 128K 
Mac over the serial ports.  It took 45 minutes to make a one 
line change to Helix. So if you think things are hard now, 
you should have been around back in the "good old days".

I also can't agree with the complaints about Inside
Mac.  I've found it to be exceptionally well-written,
clear, and concise.  Yes, it has too many errors, and
yes, some of it could written more clearly, and yes, it 
slights C in favor of Pascal, and yes, the information 
is spread out over too many places, but compared to most 
other technical manuals I find it quite good.  People who 
complain about it would be better off if they spent more
time reading it (and by reading it I mean cover-to-cover,
all 5 volumes).

...FLAME OFF

p.s. - I also think the TMON manual is pretty good.  So there.

John Norstad
Academic Computing and Network Services
Northwestern University

Bitnet: jln@nuacc
Internet: jln@acns.nwu.edu
Applelink: a0173