dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (02/03/90)
In article <1990Feb2.015621.12969@agate.berkeley.edu> silverio@brahms.berkeley.edu.UUCP (C J Silverio) writes: > I agree that Inside Mac is currently "a mess." but... > > I just got my copy of _develop_ and it is really quite excellent. Jam > packed with good quality sample source code, each article is an > advanced-level tutorial for the Mac programmer who wants to know "How > do I use ..." In many cases, the articles are written by the people > that wrote the system software in question. The editing is quite good > -- no stupid jokes, no cruddy english, straightforward and > well-written. This magazine is everything that MacTutor would wish to > be: accurate, good-looking, and correctly spelled. There just isn't > any "publicity/sales type material," either. Yup. It's nice to have a source for "straight from the horse's mouth" information, and code that can be trusted not to violate fifteen cardinal rules of safe Mac programming. > Frankly, I'm not all that sure what to make of the CD-ROM that came > with it, but this is mostly because I don't have a CD-ROM player. The > same code is available from APDA on regular disks. The CD-ROM is exactly what it says. It has the whole text of the issue available on-line, via a couple of applications (one for monochrome systems, one for color). It has all of the source-code. It has several of the applications in ready-to-run form. It's a nice thing to have, today. It will be VERY nice after a few more issues of "develop" come out, because each CD-ROM will be a complete archive of all issues to date. Rather than having to dig through a library of diskettes, and also keep a stack of magazines on the shelf, you'll simply be able to pull out the latest CD-ROM and yank the files you want. Let's see... at about 5 megs/issue, that's about 30 years' worth per CD-ROM... > I am really quite impressed with this trend in tech support materials. > Recently we have seen the introduction of DTS sample code, well- > written and very applicable to day-to-day programming; TechNotes in a > HyperCard stack, making them TONS easier to find and use; and now > _develop._ Agreed! Mac DTS, and the technical-documentation folks, have really been doing some high-class work lately! > Now if ONLY we could eliminate the delta document in Our Time..... Cosmic message... it's already being done. The SpInside Mac stack on the Release Version of the Developer Helper CD (a.k.a. Phil&Dave's) has all five volumes of Inside Mac... merged into the appropriate order... with obsolete materials deleted, and lots of cross-references to the Tech Notes stack. 10 megs of searchable text and data! If you want to see this available to people other than Partners and Associates, phone or write Phil Ostron (the Operations Manager at APDA) and urge him to get this CD-ROM into the APDA catalog. MAKE NOISE, PEOPLE! The fact that "develop" costs $30/year, and includes one CD-ROM per issue, should give you a real feeling for just how cost-effective the CD-ROM can be as a data-distribution medium. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 493-8805 UUCP: ...!{ames,apple,uunet}!coherent!dplatt DOMAIN: dplatt@coherent.com INTERNET: coherent!dplatt@ames.arpa, ...@uunet.uu.net USNAIL: Coherent Thought Inc. 3350 West Bayshore #205 Palo Alto CA 94303