silverio@brahms.berkeley.edu (C J Silverio) (11/02/89)
I am sick to death of trying to code Mac applications with the existing documentation. Consider, for example, the case of TextEdit. It was originally documented in IM-I, then there were a few tech notes on it, then it was revised in IM-IV and again in IM-V, with a spate of additional tech notes following. One needs to obtain, read, and piece together all of these bits of info to use TextEdit with maximum effect. Why hasn't anybody done this piecing together already? What I want is a set of three-ring binders that contains one chapter per manager. Whenever Apple adds more documentation affecting that manager (a tech note, a new IM chapter, etc.), I want a revised version of the entire chapter, as well as a short, succinct notification of what changed. (I won't ask for "change bars" since everyone knows they were invented by IBM.) (Of course, if this information was to also be available as an updateable, monster Hypercard stack, I wouldn't complain, but frankly, I can read printed pages much more easily than computer monitors, so I'd also insist on paper copies.) I want sample code for everything, especially when a Tech Note would tell me that "you should write your code like this..." I would be tickled pink if this code was made available on disk. I want to be confident that at most any time, my manuals are up-to-date and definitive. I want to know that all the information is right there in that one document. Obviously, it is in Apple's very most bestest of interests to provide such a service, since it would simplify Macintosh programming immensely, and boost the number of programs out there. Apple also would have the enviable position of providing the definitive code examples as mentioned above, which I am sure just about every development system would beg to redistribute, customized for their product. Frankly, however, I couldn't care less if this documentation came direct from Apple, from APDA, or from some third-party vendor. I would be willing to pay dearly for this service. Although I am blessed with electronic availability of much of the information, it is annoying and difficult to stay up-to-date. I'd happily pay for the service of having it show up in my mailbox. I should also point out for the former-IBM-VP's-of-Marketing out there that this kind of service is exactly what Those Giant Computer Companies provide. I won't hear any arguments about how this kind of service would cost too much for "most users." They can live with the old way. I want, and am willing to pay for, a better solution. How 'bout it?
bezanson@adobe.COM (Brian Bezanson) (11/03/89)
Inside Mac is available from APDA in a 3-ring binder format (at least the
catalog lists it). It still wasn't available last summer due to printing
problems. Combine the 3-ring format with the technotes and you'd be able
to keep yourself up to date.
--
Brian Bezanson bezanson@adobe.com
Adobe Systems Incorporated The opinions expressed above are my
own and may not represent those of Adobe.silverio@brahms.berkeley.edu (C J Silverio) (11/05/89)
Brian Bezanson wants me to know that: Inside Mac is available from APDA in a 3-ring binder format (at least the catalog lists it). It still wasn't available last summer due to printing problems. Combine the 3-ring format with the technotes and you'd be able to keep yourself up to date. Well, that's a great thing, but I really want the chapters on Inside Mac themselves re-written to incorporate all the supplemental and "clarifying" information into the original texts. Think of how much easier this would make the Menu Manager, for example. Instead of the three IM chapters and numerous Tech Notes that chronicled its evolution and helped explain its gestalt, there could be one clear, concise chapter that had been re-written a few times. After all, the Menu Manager is really quite simple to use, once you clear the hurdle of collating all that information about it. Incidentally, it's also been pointed out to me that APDA has a library of sample code that covers many common Mac programming situations. I can't hardly wait to get it all.
sho@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Sho Kuwamoto) (11/06/89)
In article <1405@adobe.UUCP> bezanson@adobe.UUCP (Brian Bezanson) writes: >Inside Mac is available from APDA in a 3-ring binder format (at least the >catalog lists it). It still wasn't available last summer due to printing >problems. Combine the 3-ring format with the technotes and you'd be able >to keep yourself up to date. This doesn't solve the problem. What is needed is a 3-ring binder format where Apple, instead of (or in addition to) publishing new books, will fix errors, add pages, add sections to the 3-ring binder in a timely manner. It would be unacceptable to have to get a tech note, try to decide where in the binder it would be most useful/less confusing, and just shove it in. The 3-ring binder that apple gives is (to the best of my knowledge) basically a copy of the standard Inside Mac with the cover removed and holes drilled in it. Not very satisfying. -Sho -- sho@physics.purdue.edu <<-- what am I bitching about? I probably couldn't afford it anyways.