[comp.sys.mac] Re^4: Multiple monitors

kempf@tci.bell-atl.com (Cory Kempf) (01/09/90)

folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) writes:

[I write:]
>>Why on earth would you care?? [re: existance of multiple monitors
for programming]

>The Following is Speculation by a Beginning Mac Programmer:

>I think I might know what's going on here.  In general, any application ever
>written for a Mac (that followed IM guidelines) will work transparently on
>multiple monitors--or so I assume.  HOWEVER, the keyword is "transparently".

>Say, for example, you wanted to write a debugger that popped up on the second
>monitor.  
>					Another example would be, say,
>an After Dark (a screen blanker) routine.  You might want each screen to 
>have its own copy of the animation going at once, not one huge,
>screen-spanning animation.

Ok, I'll buy into that... but it is streaching the imagination to
accept.  And 99.44% of the time, it doesn't apply.  By the same token
though, if you are going to be writting debuggers or other unusual
applications (e.g. screen savers), you should be an experienced
programmer on that machine... experienced enough to realize that what
you are doing is not the normal case... and that you shouldn't be
flaming the mac for not bending over backwards to support your unusual
application -- at the expense of someone else.

>if you wanted things to come up on a second monitor, you have to do something
>about it.  Is this correct?

Depends... what you should do is come up on the main monitor the first
time, then remember where you are moved to.  When the program is
restarted, you should come up where you were put last (assuming that
it is still a valid location -- otherwise use the main screen).  Since
you should be doing this anyway, even for a single monitor system,
there is no special casing involved.  And it really is pretty trivial.-- 
Cory Kempf		Technology Concepts	     phone: (508) 443-7311 x341
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