ssegan@dasys1.UUCP (Sascha Segan) (09/02/87)
Hi. Once again I must enlist the help of those on the Net to solve
the problems of a new Mac owner.
(1) Recently I got ResEdit off a BBS. Satisfied that it is "freeware" (right?),
I set out to edit my icons.
Nope.
What does this program DO????
HOW do you use it????
WHY does it have no docs????
(2) I also got a "shareware" C compiler, being interested in programming,
which I set out to use. Nope.
"All floating point and special functions are directly accessed through
the Macintosh Toolbox routines."
WHAT is the Macintosh Toolbox?
HOW do I use it?
(3) Mystified by these programming problems, I set out to find a BASIC
compiler, or interpreter.
DOES this exist?
(4) This is the really painful question.
WHY does my Macintosh SE/20Meg documentation not mention ANYTHING about
programming the damned box??????
Thank you,
----Sascha
Sascha I. Segan {allegra,philabs,cmcl2}!phri\
Big Electric Cat Public Unix {bellcore,cmcl2}!cucard!dasys1!ssegan!
New York, NY, USA {hoptoad,bc-cis,aecom,orville,raspi}!/
--
Sascha I. Segan {allegra,philabs,cmcl2}!phri\
Big Electric Cat Public Unix {bellcore,cmcl2}!cucard!dasys1!ssegan!
New York, NY, USA {hoptoad,bc-cis,aecom,orville,raspi}!/ mentat@auscso.UUCP (Robert Dorsett) (09/04/87)
In article <1172@dasys1.UUCP> ssegan@dasys1.UUCP (Sascha Segan) writes: >Hi. Once again I must enlist the help of those on the Net to solve >the problems of a new Mac owner. >(1) Recently I got ResEdit off a BBS. Satisfied that it is "freeware" (right?), >I set out to edit my icons. >Nope. >What does this program DO???? >HOW do you use it???? >WHY does it have no docs???? 1. It permits you to edit most common items in the resource fork of a file. Every file can be split up into a data fork and a resource fork. Applications normally store "transportable" data in the resource fork, so as not to re- quire a recompilation for every superficial change (such as translations to foreign languages). 2. Using ResEdit is beyond the scope of any one post. It is intended to be an intuitive learning environment. If you need documentation (and it appears you do) see APDA or contact a local users' group. I KNOW there's at least one manual out there; there's probabably more. >(2) I also got a "shareware" C compiler, being interested in programming, >which I set out to use. Nope. I don't know anything about the shareware Mac compilers, but I doubt if they are too sophisticated. If you want to program, pick a language implementation you can get some degree of support for, whether "official", on the net, or in periodicals. >"All floating point and special functions are directly accessed through >the Macintosh Toolbox routines." >WHAT is the Macintosh Toolbox? >HOW do I use it? The Macintosh ROM consists of a minimal operating system (no multitasking! :-)) and a fantastic set of programmers' library routines. These routines permit any program to access a *standardized* set of functions, such as generating windows, menus, etc. The last I heard, floating-point operations weren't in ROM; SANE has to be loaded from disk. Any comments from the net on that? >(3) Mystified by these programming problems, I set out to find a BASIC >compiler, or interpreter. >DOES this exist? Microsoft produces both a compiler and an interpreter. Both will accept the traditional line-numbered Microsoft Basic format, as well as a pseudo- structured free-code format. I would only recommend BASIC to people who already have a vanilla program that they MUST run. It's a very expensive way to program the Macintosh, and hardly an efficient one. >(4) This is the really painful question. >WHY does my Macintosh SE/20Meg documentation not mention ANYTHING about >programming the damned box?????? The Macintosh is not designed for programmers' use, although there are some splendid environments available. It is marketed to novice users, on the assumption that they won't need to know how to program. There is a sharp separation between the concepts of user and developer. Developers for the Mac work on a much more sophisticated level than any other personal computer. Apart from running programs in a generic BASIC simulator, the *novice* user (defined as not having any previous high- or low- level language or CS experience) doesn't have much hope of tapping the full power of the machine. If you want to program the Mac, I suggest you research the topic a bit. There are a number of Mac programming books on the market; publications such as MacWorld also treat the subject. Some of the novice-user introductions (with titles like "How to Use Your Macintosh") also treat the topic. Count on spend- ing a substantial amount of money for the Macintosh reference, "Inside Macintosh," and a good programming environment. -- Robert Dorsett {allegra,seismo}!sally!ngp!walt!mentat University of Texas at Austin {allegra,seismo}!sally!ngp!mentat mentat@ausco.UUCP