q4kx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Joel Sumner) (05/04/91)
In article <1991May3.203535.20959@nntp-server.caltech.edu>, toddpw@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes: > ericmcg@pnet91.cts.com (Eric Mcgillicuddy) writes: > >>Apple has absolved itself of all responsiblity for native mode Apple II >>development. Wanna program a GS? Get a Mac. > > Parts of APW are officially owned by ByteWorks and licensed by Apple -- > whenever they tried to develop APW it took forever because they had to > coordinate with ByteWorks about the changes and what was permissible > under the license. > > MPW was developed internally at Apple and had no such restrictions, plus > they had lots of enterprising Mac programmers who wanted a decent programming > system with real shell commands :) so they worked long and hard on MPW without > anything holding them back. I have no problems with Apple giving Byteworks its shell. I would just hope that they never stop producing their compilers, then we are dead. What I do take issue with is APDA. Good lord, I just got the APDAlog for April 1991. On the cover it has all sorts of little pictures of various things they offer in the development arena. Even the Apple II is represented there. They have a caption below boasting... "Developer Resource Kit - AppleLink 6.0 - deveop subscription - Developer University course catalog - and more...see page 12 " I was quite encouraged by this bit at the bottom. This was quickly dispelled on page 4. There was a layout that was similar to an ad. It had a caption "Get Started" advertising specials on compilers "for programmers who are getting started in Macintosh programming". Thanks APDA. What about pepole who write me who want to get started in Apple IIgs programming? What about them? This is a catalog for 'APPLE' programmers and developers, not 'MACINTOSH'. Next to the "Get Started" was "Get Connected"... "AppleLink Now you can subscribe to AppleLink, Apple's official online information and communication network, giving you a direct line to the Apple community and allowing you to connect with other developers who share your programming and development interests. AppleLink gives you the ability to read the latest product and program information, look up specifications for Apple and third-party products, send and receive fully formatted disk files, find information about hardware and software solutions, join in informative discussions on development tools, exchange ideas and information with other developers, and much more." Sounds neat eh? Only $70. But you need a Mac to connect with it. It is not even offered for the IIgs. Thanks. Finally, there was "Get a Bundle" which details a developer resource kit including - a subscription to AppleLink (need a mac) - a subscription to develop (some Apple II stuff) - a subscription to APDAlog (whoopie!) - a Developer University course catalog (Mac courses only.) - the Macintosh Directory of Development Services. - the Developer Resource Guide to help you get started in [ahem] Apple programming. (Make that 'Macintosh programming' please) [end of APDAlog] This kind of thing really annoys me. I can understand why Apple has MPW and their compilers. Actually, I am glad that they provide the possibility for cross-compilation. That way if you have a Mac, you can still use it for Apple II programming. But I really dislike the way Apple does nothing to encourage people to program for the IIgs. The DTS guys are invaluable in helping those that already develop for the IIgs. They know everything there is to know about the IIgs and provide a great service. But they will only be good as long as there are still Apple II developers around. Apple does nothing to get people to Program for the IIgs. For a full year, I scoured sample code to try and figure out how the hell the ToolBox works. It wasn't until A2U was offered on GEnie (maybe things were done before on Compuserve, I don't know) that I actually started learning the proper ways to go about doing things. Source code is fine, but most people would cringe at some of the errors that exist in the source that comes with compilers. For 6 months I had no idea how to do a ToolTable because TML set the 'minVersion' fields to $0001 for version 1.0. This should have been $0100 but I knew no better. I don't like releasing my source, not because I am afraid someone will steal it, but because I know that I am doing things incorrectly and I don't want to provide a bad example. I admit I have never been to KansasFest, (though I would have been there last year if it had fit into my schedule) but you will notice that is run by A2 Central, not Apple. I wish Apple would offer some incentive to beginning Apple IIgs programmers because I think that would really benefit the base of Apple IIgs users and programmers. But it doesn't appear that this is going to happen. end. {of repeat soapbox until done;} -- Joel Sumner GENIE:JOEL.SUMNER This .sig may not be used q4kx@cornella.ccs.cornell.edu q4kx@cornella for public viewing or q4kx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu q4kx@crnlvax5 rebroadcast without the .................................................... express written consent The impedance of absolutely nothing is 377 ohms. of major league baseball.
mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com (Morgan Davis) (05/05/91)
In-Reply-To: message from q4kx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu You ought to send your comments about APDAlog to Rick Fleischman. I think his net address is rickf@apple.com. Could the Apple II DTS guys confirm? UUCP: crash!pro-sol!mdavis AOL, BIX: mdavis ARPA: crash!pro-sol!mdavis@nosc.mil GEnie: m.davis42 INET: mdavis@pro-sol.cts.com ProLine: mdavis@pro-sol