[comp.sys.mac] I need a good programming environment!

HLM6@PSUVM.BITNET (09/16/89)

Net People:
       I need a good development package for my MacIIx.  I would like it to be
fast, close to the machine, and have good I/O capabilities.  Object oriented
capabilities would also be nice ( I don't ask much, do I? :-) ).  Some of the
packages I have been considering are: Lightspeed C, Aztec C, QuickBASIC, and
TML Pascal.  Can anyone shed any light on my search?  Any languages you have
been very successful with?  I would appreciate any comments.

                                                   Haniff Murray,
                                                   Penn State

cooper@hp-ses.SDE.HP.COM (Ken Cooper) (09/18/89)

You might take a look at Smalltalk/V for the Macintosh, put out by Digitalk.
It is a very pleasant interactive programming environment, with a built-in
debugger, and oodles of source code.  There are also classes which provide I/O
access in a friendly way.  

And of course, being an implementation of Smalltalk, you couldn't get much
more object oriented.

leipold@eplrx7.UUCP (leipold) (09/19/89)

Have you tried MacScheme+Toolsmith (from Lightship Software)?  I've been
using it for over a year, and it's real nice.  It's a little slow for
heavy-duty number crunching, but I've used it to prototype some algorithms
for later translation to C, Pascal, and (gasp) FORTRAN.  It can generate
reasonably compact standalone applications.  And it even supports multiple
concurrent Scheme tasks, so you can experiment with parallel programming.

Scheme is a great language; it's only object-oriented when you want it to
be.  Also, the  best introductory computer science text in the known
universe (Abelson & Sussman, "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer
Programs") is in Scheme.  And yes, I have Digitalk's Smalltalk/V too; it is
a lot of fun, but more confusing to us old folks than "traditional"
object-oriented programming in languages like Scheme, Pascal, and C.

Disclaimer: I have no connection with Lightship Software whatsoever
(except that they're a _real_ friendly bunch of people to deal with).
-- 
"As long as you've lit one candle,                         Walt Leipold
you're allowed to curse the darkness."       (leipolw%esvax@dupont.com)
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