Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!voder!cullsj!david
From: david@cullsj.UUCP (David Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Wanted: Actor, Microsoft Windows Toolkit
Summary: Microsoft strangles Actor
Keywords: actor, windows, toolkit, oop, object
Message-ID: <591@cullsj.UUCP>
Date: 24 May 89 18:48:39 GMT
References: <1072@koko.CSUStan.EDU> <2512@PEDEV.Columbia.NCR.COM>
Distribution: na
Organization: Cullinet Software, San Jose, CA
Lines: 39

In article <2512@PEDEV.Columbia.NCR.COM>, rogerson@PEDEV.Columbia.NCR.COM (Dale Rogerson) writes:
> 
> In theory I really like Actor, but in practice it fails.  It takes alot of
> memory to run Actor.  It is difficult to bind an application, i.e. make a
> stand alone program.  The smallest code size is > 75k and more realistically
> about 200k.  For my applications this memory requirement is excessive.  
> Actor does not do a good enough join of isolating one from Windows this makes
> it more difficult to use than I would like.  Learning to program Windows is not
> easy.  However, with Actor you must also learn Actor, OOPs, and Windows all at
> the same time.  This is even more difficult.  
> 
> As I said before if you can get an educational discount then buy Actor. It is
> fun to play with.  I use it for quick and dirty things instead of BASIC.  If
> you want to write Windows programs you will still need to get the development
> kit from Microsoft to really understand what is happening.
> 

I heartily agree with Dale Rogerson's assessment.
I've used Smalltalk/V by Digitalk for over a year now and love it, but to
develop software that can be used by users without Smalltalk, I must pay
$500 anually - cheap by commercial standards, but I'm not commercial.
So I hoped Actor would give me distributable software that I could develop
using OOP. I was bitterly disappointed. The MAIN problem is Windows.
It's dictatorial, obstinate, mean and petty. And Actor is ineffective at
shielding you from Windows' tyranny. One of the nice things about Smalltalk
is its robustness: you can get away with so much without crashing the system.
Not so with Actor - I quote the manual:
"MS-Windows isn't very forgiving when you specify the name of a nonexistent
menu--it crashes...Again, MS-Windows is very picky about menus. It is 
important to spell the name of the menu correctly..."
You see what I mean? 
So in summary, I say if you're committed to Windows for some unfortunate
reason, try and break the commitment. If you're unable to, then Actor may
help you but you'll definitely need the Microsoft development kit and
lots of drugs. If you want to learn OOP, go with Smalltalk/V. Their manual
contains a much better tutorial, in my not-so-humble opinion.

David L. Taylor
My employer sez: "David Taylor's opinions? Who's David Taylor??"