Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!umich!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!chuq
From: chuq@Apple.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Some Human Interface (was: System Error = 03)
Message-ID: <38412@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 7 Feb 90 17:38:50 GMT
References: <1990Feb4.224159.26586@athena.mit.edu> <2820@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu> <886@gistdev.gist.com>
Organization: Fictional Reality: where your dreams can come true
Lines: 46

joe@gistdev.gist.com (Joe Brownlee) writes:

>>What does this mean?  I keep getting System Error #03 and a crash [...]

>For a machine that is based on friendliness and ease of use, the the error
>handling capabilities of the Mac OS are dismal.  How many messages do we see
>here asking for info on bomb IDs, file I/O errors, or Sad Mac codes?  Doesn't
>that say something about this whole issue?  Wouldn't this be something that
>could be improved relatively easily?

Well, it could be improved (probably should be). Easily? That's another matter.

One major reason the error handling is the way it is is because when you
call the error manager the system is in a corrupted state (by definition).
It can't assume that the OS is working properly, that quickdraw is working
properly -- that ANY of the toolbox, or for that matter, the hardware, works.
This is especially true of the sad mac codes, where there's been a
catastrophic error that's bad enough the system can't boot.

The error manager basically has to do everything itself. The question is,
what level of tradeoff is acceptable between ROM size, memory usage (since
the error manager has to be resident in memory: remember, when it's called,
you can't trust loading stuff off disk into memory) and effusiveness. When
it was first written, the ROM was tight on space and system memory had to be
limited (there was only 128K, remember). 

Easily? There are a lot of complications to 'fixing' the error manager.

>Note that I am _not_ flaming the people who post these questions -- they
>shouldn't have to hunt all over for error code meanings.

Agreed. One option is the System Error DA, which I find immensely useful.
It's about 30K. What I question is whether it's worth putting that 30K into
your system heap permanently just in case you get a system error. Isn't it
better to have it there when you want to look at it but not having it take
up your RAM? (30K is the size of the suitcase, which I'm using as a broad
round number). Maybe a better option would be to bundle it (or a similar DA)
with the systems and not take up system space or (worse) ROMs that would be
out of date with every release of software.

-- 

Chuq Von Rospach   <+>   chuq@apple.com   <+>   [This is myself speaking]

Rumour has it that Larry Wall, author of RN, is a finalist in the race for
the Nobel Peace Prize for his invention of the kill file.