Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!hc!lll-winken!uunet!mcvax!ukc!tcdcs!tcdmath!gwills
From: gwills@maths.tcd.ie (Graham Wills)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: MacApp questions
Message-ID: <700@maths.tcd.ie>
Date: 23 Mar 89 16:03:18 GMT
References: <568190@vaxa.uwa.oz> <27618@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: gwills@maths.tcd.ie (Graham Wills)
Organization: Maths Dept., Trinity College, Dublin
Lines: 41

In article <27618@apple.Apple.COM> keith@Apple.COM (Keith Rollin) writes:
>In article <568190@vaxa.uwa.oz> a_dent@vaxa.uwa.oz (Andy Dent, ph: 09 380 2620) writes:
>>I'm looking for general comments on using MacApp, particularly with either
>>Object Pascal and Object Assembler.
>>
>>1)  What's the speed like on a MacPlus?
>>    - is it heavily dependent on CPU power or on disk speed?
>>    - if more memory helps, has anyone tried Virtual ?
>
>One of the myths about MacApp is that it is a dinosaur (big and slow). While it
>can be considered as large, this is due to the amount of functionality it
>gives you. Also, I wouldn't consider it slow, even on a Mac Plus.
>

  I've been writing a spatial data analysis - graphic - package using MacApp.
  I had previously written a large time series data analysis program of the
  same style using MPW Pascal.  My conclusions about the difference ?

  The Std. Pascal program is about 33% smaller than the MacApp one probably
  will be at a similar development stage.

  The MacApp program is *much* easier to read, understand, bug-fix, etc.

  The MacApp program is *slightly faster* overall.  This is due to the
  fact that when writing code, you tend to add features to it one at a time
  as you implement them (Now I'll write cut&paste, now import/export).
  This means you tend to write patches, Ifs, cases and other not-so-hot code.
  This code is usually not part of an overall plan, so it is slower and more
  difficult to maintain.

  MacApp is slower for doing fancy graphic stuff using objects, and can
  cause memory problems if you have too many objects...

  Overall, I keep looking at my old program and thinking " Now, if this were
  MacApp, I could .... "

  One caveat, using MPW on a Plus is not fun. Compile and Link times are a
  wee bit long. I'd stick to Lightspeed on a Plus, but try very hard to
  justify a SE/030 to run MPW... and MacApp.

	-Graham Wills, TCD, Ireland.