han@Apple.COM (Byron Han, fire fighter) (05/14/88)
In article <1911@rayssdb.ray.com> dwh@rayssdb.ray.com (David W. Humphrey) writes > Can someone please offer an experienced Mac user and a budding Mac > programmer some sound advice as to how to get started in Mac pro- > gramming? I have a 512Ke, but am considering selling it and getting > an SE or a II. By what I've read, I think MPW seems like the best > thing to buy, but I see that a lot of people use Lightspeed C. > > Also, what documentation and independently written texts do you > recommend? I have vols. I & II of _Inside Mac_ and plan to by > the rest. I just finished reading _MPW and Assembly Language > Programming_ by Scott Kronick. The book is great, but I feel like > there should be a vol. 2 to go along with it - it seems incomplete. > Easy part first - documentation Inside Macintosh I - basic stuff required. Inside Macintosh II - file system, drivers, etc, finder interface Inside Macintosh III - not really necessary Inside Macintosh IV - good book. Mac Plus stuff, HFS Inside Macintosh V - SE/II. New Sound Manager, Color QuickDraw, etc. lots of stuff in System 5.0 and 6.0 backpatched to +/SE Inside Macintosh XREF - not really needed. Macintosh Technical Notes - really good to have around. Development Environments - harder to answer C - Lightspeed C and MPW C -------------------------- Lightspeed C is a faster compiler and has automated primitive project management. Cannot mix C and Pascal code. Lightspeed C is cheaper. MPW C requires purchasing MPW Shell/Assembler product which provides professional development environment with lots of tools. Lightspeed C is MultiFinder compatible. Version 3.0 of Lightspeed C (soon to come) will feature source level debugging. Version 3.0 of MPW (which will come out this year probably) will have source level debugging, and professional project management suitable for large multiple programmer projects. Pascal - Lightspeed Pascal, Turbo Pascal, MPW Pascal ---------------------------------------------------- Lightspeed Pascal has source level debugging. Version 1.11a or so (the latest) is NOT multifinder compatible. Automated primitive project management. Cannot mix C and Pascal code. Cheaper than MPW Pascal. MPW Pascal requires purchasing MPW Shell/Assembler product. Turbo Pascal is from Borland International and like Lightspeed Pascal NOT MultiFinder Compatible. It does not have any project management at all. Version 3.0 of MPW - see above. THINK is rumoured to be working on a MultiFinder compatible version of LSP. Performance of MPW is probably not going to be pleasing unless on an '020 machine. Development under MPW is really nice under MultiFinder and sufficient memory for a decent sized RAM cache. 2Meg minimum under multiFinder. For development on an SE/Plus, the THINK Technologies products would probably be nice for C or Pascal. Or Turbo Pascal. Debuggers --------- Thw two biggies are TMON and Macsbug. There are people who will swear by one or the other. They are playing feature tag. MacsBug can handle 68881 and 68851 opcodes, TMON cannot (as of version 6.0B1 and 2.8x respectively) Good luck with Macintosh Programming - lots of patience and perserverence helps. As well as the ability to laugh at oneself when one discovers dumb mistakes. This is NOT an official endorsement or position of Apple Computer, Inc. I have no connection with the MPW Projects at Apple. I have no connection with Symantec Corporation (parent of THINK Technologies). I have no connection with Borland INternational. This is an informational posting only. -- Byron Han, Communications Tool "OS/2 - Half of an operating system." Apple Computer, Inc. MS 27Y ------------------------------------- ATTnet:408-973-6450 applelink:HAN1 domain:han@apple.COM MacNET:HAN GENIE:BYRONHAN COMPUSERVE:72167,1664 UUCP:{sun,voder,nsc,decwrl}!apple!han