info-mac@uw-beaver (07/30/85)
From: John M. Agosta <INFO-MAC-REQUEST@SUMEX-AIM.arpa>
INFO-MAC Digest Tuesday, 30 Jul 1985 Volume 3 : Issue 27
Today's Topics:
ETZH Modula Compiler now available
Switcher 4.0
Experiences with MacApp
Epson Connection
Davong Drives and AppleTalk.
Booting MacWorks
Using QuickDraw Pictures?
Comic book artist uses Macintosh as main tool
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Date: Fri 19 Jul 85 22:39:06-PDT
From: Elgin Lee <P.PAVANE%LOTS-B@LOTS-B>
Subject: ETZH Modula Compiler now available
THese are now files on <info-mac>:
mod.doc, mod1.hqx through mod13.hqx --
Modula-2 compiler. That's right, a free Macintosh
compiler! This was developed at ETZH at Zurich,
and is a port of Niklaus Wirth's original
five-pass Modula-2 compiler. For those who don't
know, Modula-2 is descendant of Pascal designed
by the same person (Wirth) who designed Pascal.
Documentation is in mod.doc. Note that you
will also need utility-packit.hqx to install the
compiler.
Elgin
------------------------------
Date: Wed 24 Jul 85 17:34:04-PDT
From: Jean-Luc Brouillet <BROUILLET@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA>
Subject: Switcher 4.0
Andy Hertzfeld has released a copy of switcher for general
distribution. This is the copy I believe is going out to dealers.
Since no further documentation came with this file, I have unpackaged
the shar file that came with version 2.0 and saved the documentation
in more palatable chunks as SWITCHER-DOC.HQX and SWITCHER-HINTS.HQX
The new version of switcher is saved in SWITCHER-V4.HQX
-jma
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 85 10:01:41 EDT
From: Mark H. Nodine <mnodine@BBNH.ARPA>
Subject: Experiences with MacApp
I have been using MacApp for about five months, so I can make some
comments about what it's like using it. The programming environment
which I have been using is a VAX 750 running Unix with SUMacC. MacApp
has only been released in Object Pascal for the Lisa development
system. Therefore, my first task was to translate all of the Object
Pascal code into vanilla C. The way I did this was by developing a
set of macros to use for method calls, object creation, and access to
instance variables (this last macro is useful since all the objects
are actually handles to the instance variables). I also developed a
class compiler which takes a class definition file as its input and
outputs a .h and .c file to define the structures for the class and
initialize the method pointers, respectively. Having done this, the
translation from Object Pascal to C was relatively straightforward,
with only the usual pointer problems that one always has with C (I
love C, I love C...). As a result of this process, my perspective on
MacApp is somewhat of a cross between a user of it and an implementor,
since I really had to understand most of the internals of it in order
to get it working.
I cannot compare MacApp directly with NEON!, since I have not worked
with the latter. MacApp is my first introduction to object-oriented
programming, and I must say that I find the paradigm a useful one for
organizing code. Most of the standard classes which MacApp defines do
NOT correspond to Toolbox types. The only real exception to this is
the TWindow class. The object system allows you to define one class
as a subclass of another, overriding any methods you want to handle
differently, and adding any instance variables which you require. The
major MacApp classes are:
TEvtHandler - any object which might want to handle idle, menu or key
events is a subclass of this. The event handlers are
chained together from whatever is the current target, and
get their chance to enable/handle menu items, or handle
idle/key events.
TApplication - subclass of TEvtHandler. Always use a subclass of it.
It handles events; desk accessories; the menu items
About App..., Quit, Close, New, and if a desk accessory
is active, Undo...Clear; and opening/closing documents.
TDocument - subclass of TEvtHandler. Always use a subclass of it.
Opens the window(s) for a document.
TFrame - subclass of [subclass of] TEvtHandler. This is the
hairiest class which is currently defined. It handles
coordinate transformations, scrolling, resizing, tracing
the mouse, and autoscrolling.
TWindow - subclass of TFrame. Handles activate, mouse down, and
update events, initiates drawing, and handles resizing
and moving of windows by the user.
TView - subclass of TEvtHandler. A way of looking at the data.
Handles drawing, highlighting of selections, and
printing.
TCommand - performs commands. Handles tracking and feedback for
mouse commands and undo/redo.
MacApp also has objects for a debugging window, TextEdit views,
filing, and printing. Of these, the only ones which I have so far
implemented in C are those dealing with files, so I can't comment
about all the debugging stuff.
In short, MacApp does a lot for you, but it frankly takes a while to
be able to wrap your mind around the concepts and utilize them
efficiently. One nice thing about MacApp is that you can put all of
their routines into a library and write your application without ever
needing to modify their stuff, since you can easily override anything
which you wish to handle differently. This is NOT true for skel, the
skeletal MacIntosh application archived on Info-Mac. MacApp is more
flexible and handles more of the problems than SimpleTools does. It
is compiler-intensive: I had to adjust upwards the symbol table size
of the C compiler.
I believe that MacApp was a faster way for me to develop my program
than writing from scratch and that the quality of my program is better
as a result.
Mark Nodine
Bolt, Beranek, and Newman Laboratories, Inc.
Cambridge, MA
mnodine@bbn-unix.ARPA
I have nothing to gain from any of the above comments. The comments
are my own and should not be taken as representing an official policy
statement of BBN or any of their family or friends. The usual
disclaimers do not quite apply, since we do have a licencing agreement
with Apple concerning MacApp. The above comments apply to release
0.2.
------------------------------
Date: 12 JUL 1985 09:20 CST
From: C27830AD%WUVMD.BITNET@Berkeley
Subject: Epson Connection
I have used the MacEnhancer a bit with my Epson MX-100. The results
were that it printed everything that the Imagewriter did without fail.
The only real problem of difference was that the aspect ratio was
changed so that things were wider than should be. I have no idea if
this is also true of other Epson printers, but I'd like to know. Hope
that a summary gets posted.
Art Denzau C27830AD@WUVMD.BITNET (314)889-5688
Dept. of Economics Box 1208
Washington Univ.
St. Louis, MO 63130
------------------------------
Date: 05 Jul 85 16:00 EST
From: CML5A9%IRISHMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA
Subject: Davong Drives and AppleTalk.
Apparently the driver resource number for the Davong drives is the
same as that used by AppleTalk. Davong has informed us they are
working on the problem but that was over a month ago. Has anyone
had similar experieces and/or solutions?
- Tom Dowdy
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 85 01:47:16 EDT
From: tmb%talcott@harvard.ARPA (Thomas M. Breuel)
Subject: Booting MacWorks
I am using a Lisa 2, 512k, with a 5M (external) ProFile harddisk.
Today I got the new version of MacWorks (MacWorks XL), and I installed
it on the harddisk. Unfortunately, at first, the Lisa was in a power
cycling loop. A look at the boot rom revealed that this situation could
be helped by clearing location $fcc189.
Not quite as easy is, however, to figure out how to set the
preferences, in particular the screen brightness. When booting from the
distributed MacWorks disk, it is set to some nice value, but when
booting directly from the harddisk, the screen brightness is too low. I
presume, the screen brightness is stored on the ProFile. Any
suggestions how to set it without bringing up the workshop?
Thomas.
(tmb%talcott@harvard.arpa)
------------------------------
Date: 24 July 85 15:45 EDT
From: K6QJDCSY%CORNELLA.BITNET@Berkeley
Subject: Using QuickDraw Pictures?
I'm currently working on a application similar to MacPaint, although I
need to store drawings as pictures rather than bitmaps. I need to know
if anybody has successfully been able to turn pictures 'on' and 'off' so
that only actual drawings (WITHOUT intermediate steps, like menu
drawing) are stored in the pictures. It would also be useful to be able
to save a picture into a file, then recall it later to append additional
QuickDraw calls. Does anybody know how to do these things?
--Pat Madden
K6QJDCSY@CORNELLA.BITNET
K6QJ%CRNLCCSB@CRNLCS.ARPA
------------------------------
Date: Sun 7 Jul 85 08:55:13-PDT
From: Jack <Palevich%hplabs.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa>
Subject: Comic book artist uses Macintosh as main tool
Mike Saenz (pronounced "science") is a Chicago based comic book artist
who uses a Macintosh computer with the MacPaint drawing program to
create a monthly comic strip titled SHATTER. His art is very
realistic -- many of his pictures look as if they were digitized.
(They are not -- he owns a digitizer, but hasn't used it yet.) He's
interviewed in issue #21 of "Comics Interview", published by Fictioneer Books
Ltd., Suite 301, 234 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001.
An excerpt:
Interviewer: And that's analogous to you, working on the Macintosh?
Mike: Yes, it's like you are looking through a little window drawing
with a pen up you wazoo. It is very hard to do. I don't recommend
this to anyone unless they are willing to devote at least six months
of their time to overcoming some of the disadvantages of the process.
I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages -- that is what kept
me in there. Other artists may feel the same way.
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End of INFO-MAC Digest
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