Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!decwrl!sun-barr!apple!mattd
From: mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Toolbox Reference Errata
Message-ID: <31468@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 24 May 89 00:08:44 GMT
References: <8905211959.AA07191@crash.cts.com> <11617@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 60

In article <11617@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> dcw@athena.mit.edu (David C. Whitney) writes:
>
>How about two $30 books titled "Apple //GS Toolbox Reference", vols 1
>& 2? The first release was buggy, and they fixed some and reprinted.
>If you happened to buy a copy of the first release, well tough. Shell
>another $30 to get the new copy (or $60 to get them both). Now, they
>send bug fixes to APDA, and you can get cheap unbound xeroxes for $15
>or something.
>
>This should not have happened. Something like a programmer's ref
>(which was in beta test through APDA for some time) should go to
>quality press *without bugs.* It annoys me when I have to shell out
>money for bug fixes. I don't mind a hoot to pay for real upgrades, but
>publisher's mistakes should be taken up by the publisher - not the
>poor dope who bought it too early.
>
>Dave Whitney	A junior in Computer Science at MIT
>dcw@athena.mit.edu  ...!bloom-beacon!athena.mit.edu!dcw  dcw@goldilocks.mit.edu
>I wrote Z-Link & BinSCII. Send me bug reports. I use a //GS. Send me Tech Info.
>"This is MIT. Collect and 3rd party calls will not be accepted at this number."

All right, Dave, we could try it this way - every time we add a new tool, or
find a bug in an existing tool, or change the way the tools work to add new
or enhanced functionality - we just won't tell anyone.  That way your Toolbox
Reference set will never become obsolete.

The Toolbox and the Manuals were evolving and changing at the same time.  We
didn't wait until the Toolbox was super-solid and pretty much unchanging
(around 3.1, by most accounts) before *starting* to write the Toolbox Reference
set - Apple went ahead with them at the same time knowing that most people
would want the information, given the caveat that it could change.

If you don't want to have to replace beta manuals with final ones, then don't
buy beta manuals.  You may wait a year or two longer than your competition to
start writing programs, but you'll save $50 or so for your effort.

My APDAlog (actually, Llew's) shows the _Toolbox Reference Update_ at $30.
Your current books aren't "obsoleted"; this new one supplements them.  It 
tells you what changes have been made, what errors we've found, and adds
new documentation for four new tools.  There will be more coming this summer
from APDA to document the 5.0 additions, including TextEdit, the Resource
Manager, super controls and the thousands of other enhancements made for 5.0.
For those who want the information; I suppose there is a school of thought that
says that 5.0 was unnecessary since it makes the existing Toolbox Reference
set a little out of date.

Developing for a machine that is not dead involves changes to the documentation.
It's called "the cost of doing business," and while not cheap, it's far better
than being assured nothing in the system is ever going to change again.


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