Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac:28352 comp.sys.mac.programmer:5011
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ukma!gatech!mcnc!ece-csc!jnh
From: jnh@ece-csc.UUCP (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: New Mac Programmer -- HELP!  *Commentary added
Message-ID: <3955@ece-csc.UUCP>
Date: 14 Mar 89 18:45:29 GMT
References: <67@sppy00.UUCP> <169@indri.primate.wisc.edu>
Reply-To: jnh@ece-csc.UUCP (Joseph Nathan Hall)
Distribution: na
Organization: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Lines: 41

In article <169@indri.primate.wisc.edu> bin@primate.wisc.edu writes:
>
>Of course, you have to be able to get source code, and since HARDLY
>ANYONE POSTS ANY --- STILL!!! --- you may be out of luck.
>
>Paul DuBois
>dubois@primate.wisc.edu		rhesus!dubois
>bin@primate.wisc.edu		rhesus!bin

( Hi, Paul ... )

Well, sure, so far as IM goes, it's not bad.  My point is just that it doesn't
go far enough.  The lack of source code is miserable, especially for us
1980s-style "C" programmers.  (Well, OK, I suppose you're still a Pascal
type yourself; nevertheless ...)

I've heard from a few people since my last posting who seem to concur that
the lack of *real* programming references is acute, and that there is not
much of a consensus, additionally, as to how one should organize a Mac
application internally, particularly the event loop.

I'd like to suggest that we USENET-ters produce a "Mac Programming Guide."
In particular, we should produce a document describing, in detail, a good,
workable event loop with support for everything; in addition, we should come
up with a collection of efficient paradigms for dialog handling, menu
item dimming/hilighting, file save & load, text editing, etc.  Also, we should
try to explore the general issue of event-driven programming as opposed to
"conventional" programming, and what the differences between the assembler,
Pascal, C and (hopefully!) C++ programming environments are.

I'll be more than happy to take comments and suggestions by e-mail and post
them, and I might be willing to organize and edit the project, since I
have considerable interest in it.

Any takers?

-- 
v   v sssss|| joseph hall                      || 201-1D Hampton Lee Court
 v v s   s || jnh@ece-csc.ncsu.edu (Internet)  || Cary, NC  27511
  v   sss  || the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of my
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