harrow@exodus.DEC (Jeff Harrow, NCSE LKG1-3/F16 DTN=226-7445) (04/01/86)
I can provide an initial, unbiased look at RASCAL: The released version represents the closest thing that I have seen to an integrated development environment which directly supports the Mac interface. RASCAL provides a single environment which contains an editor, compiler, linker, and execution supervisor. Now while this may sound like another "interpreter", it is NOT; the output of the linker (called a .OBJ file) is actually 68000 native code. The execution supervisor simply fields events to the proper place in your program. Well, if you're running under a supervisor, how do you get the double-clickable applications? When you have a program working the way you want it, you simply run a (supplied) utility against the .OBJ file which produces a full, standalone, double-clickable application (or, interestingly, another utility which will product a desk accessory, if you follow some guidelines in you source code). RASCAL lets you write "easy" applications as it will do most of the Mac interface work for you, but will allow you to take as much control at the event level as you wish. Although I haven't yet done a lot work work with RASCAL, at this point I can say that it appears to be the best Mac-integrated development environment that I've seen which produces stand-alone, native code. DISCLAIMER: This is my opinion only, and not that of my employer, and I have no connection with Reed College, etc. Jeff Harrow