silverio@brahms.berkeley.edu (C J Silverio) (01/03/90)
I know it isn't fair to unload my spleen all over this network, but... I just bought APDA's "Programmer's Guide to MultiFinder," which is the definitive and pretty much only complete reference available. I did think that $20 was pretty steep for 96 notebook pages without binder or disk, but I am always willing to pay good money for quality documentation, so I didn't worry about it. However, as I began working through the documentation, I noticed that it seemed to be out-of-date. For instance, I recall there being more "SIZE" flags than were mentioned in the Guide. In particular, TechNote 205 mentions "getChildDiedEvents" and "32BitCompatible," which don't seem to be mentioned anywhere in the Guide. Now I am left wondering: exactly WHAT does this manual document? In other words, WHICH TechNotes does it incorporate? WHAT other materials should I read to piece together the "real story" of MultiFinder? Considering the importance of MultiFinder to Macintosh's business/science appeal, might I make some suggestions? Incorporate the Guide into Inside Mac volume VI. Update it and completely rewrite it. Give the Notification Manager its own chapter heading. In lieu of these suggestions, APDA might consider at least giving programmers a sporting chance to attaining "MultiFinder Awareness" by dropping specific clues about the nature of the coverage of the documents it sells, for instance, an exact publication date or software version number. Surely these would not greatly impact the staff. Programming Macintosh-style seems to be less about computer science than about detective work. And that's a big shame since there will, as a result, be some business/corporate software authors who look at the documentation and make the decision to avoid the Macintosh platform.