cameron@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (Cameron Farquhar) (04/10/91)
For a friend..
I have recently sent away an order for Actor thanks to their special
deal going at the moment but I am unclear on a few things.
1) Do I need the SDK?
1a) If so, there are a few alternatives I beleive. What is the best one
to get?
2) After learning Actor I will probably be writing some database
applications. What is a good relational file manager? I have heard of
Wintrieve and dbVista which I think will work with Actor. Are there any
other good ones around. I do most of my programming with Clipper so am
used to having lots of powerful features provided free-of-charge.
3) Books. I have Petzold's book for Windows 2. Is it worth getting an
update or is there a more Actor specific book around?
Any or all help on this would be most welcome.
Thanks for any replies...cms2839@isc.rit.edu (a.stranger) (04/11/91)
In article <Wed_Apr_10_17:44:53_1991@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> cameron@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (Cameron Farquhar) writes: >For a friend.. > >I have recently sent away an order for Actor thanks to their special >deal going at the moment but I am unclear on a few things. > >1) Do I need the SDK? >1a) If so, there are a few alternatives I beleive. What is the best one > to get? no . all SDK functions can be accessed through actor , and the resource compiler is included . the *documentation* of the SDK functions leaves a lot to be desired , though , and if you plan to use them , some sort of reference ( like Petzold ) might come in handy . for the most part , though , you won't need them , and you may be able to use the documentation that's included with actor ( scant though it may be ) when you do . there are no " alternatives " to the SDK other than other languages ; that's what actor is . there are , however , alternatives to the resource compiler . by far the best and the most complete , of any that i have heard of , is the Whitewater Groups own Whitewater Resource toolkit . it will save you incredible amounts of time designing and testing resources , whether you program in Actor , C , or anything else . it's included free with Borland languages , but Actor owners have to buy it seperately . >2) After learning Actor I will probably be writing some database > applications. What is a good relational file manager? I have heard of > Wintrieve and dbVista which I think will work with Actor. Are there any > other good ones around. I do most of my programming with Clipper so am > used to having lots of powerful features provided free-of-charge. WinTrieve and Actor are made by the same company , so i'm sure they work well together . i can't comment beyond that , as i've never used it . >3) Books. I have Petzold's book for Windows 2. Is it worth getting an > update or is there a more Actor specific book around? > there's a book available called Object Oriented Programming Featuring Actor , but it's outdated , and , frankly , the Actor documentation is among the best i've ever seen ( i'm referring to the documentation on Actor itself , not the SDK functions ) . be prepared to spend a good amount of time browsing the demo programs , though ; it's one of the best ways to learn the language . -- @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ "Imagination keeps the shadows away - Xymox @ @~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~@ @ a.stranger - CMS2839@ritvax.isc.rit.edu @
adw@otter.hpl.hp.com (Dave Wells) (04/18/91)
From: cms2839@isc.rit.edu (a.stranger) |In article <Wed_Apr_10_17:44:53_1991@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> cameron@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz (Cameron Farquhar) writes: |>For a friend.. |> |>I have recently sent away an order for Actor thanks to their special |>deal going at the moment but I am unclear on a few things. |> |>1) Do I need the SDK? |>1a) If so, there are a few alternatives I beleive. What is the best one |> to get? | no . all SDK functions can be accessed |through actor , and the resource compiler is included . the |*documentation* of the SDK functions leaves a lot to be desired , though |, and if you plan to use them , some sort of reference ( like Petzold ) |might come in handy . for the most part , though , you won't need them , |and you may be able to use the documentation that's included with actor |( scant though it may be ) when you do . Only the most basic ACTOR programs can get away without calling SDK functions. If you want to use bitmaps, fill rectangles, use clipping, draw in different fonts or colors, use the Windows Clipboard, or use different cursors, you'll need to call SDK functions. (These are off the top of my head - there are many, many more examples.). The ACTOR documentation on the SDK is indeed abysmal. Try finding out about dialog box control notification codes from the ACTOR manual, for example. There are also many ACTOR functions which are uncommented straight-through calls to SDK functions - these are impossible to understand without SDK documentation (E.g. Window:changeMenu()). | there are no " alternatives " to the SDK |other than other languages ; that's what actor is . there are , however |, alternatives to the resource compiler . by far the best and the most |complete , of any that i have heard of , is the Whitewater Groups own |Whitewater Resource toolkit . it will save you incredible amounts of |time designing and testing resources , whether you program in Actor , C |, or anything else . it's included free with Borland languages , but |Actor owners have to buy it seperately . And note that you need either the SDK dialog editor or the WRT to realistically build dialog boxes. *In principle*, you could do it using the SDK documentation and a text editor, but it would drive you mad very quickly. >3) Books. I have Petzold's book for Windows 2. Is it worth getting an > update or is there a more Actor specific book around? > | there's a book available called Object |Oriented Programming Featuring Actor , but it's outdated , and , frankly |, the Actor documentation is among the best i've ever seen I'm afraid I disagree. There's *lots* of it (1200 pages), but it's more like a cosy fireside chat than a language definition. The documentation of the ACTOR kernel methods is also of an extremely low standard (compared to the SDK documentation or the UNIX 'C' library for example). |. be prepared to spend a good amount of time browsing the demo programs |, though ; it's one of the best ways to learn the language . Indeed, if you find learning by example, experiment and guesswork stimulating, and you have the time to do it, you'll probably be quite happy with ACTOR. If you want a fast learning curve and you want to produce something reliable, ACTOR is the wrong choice. Also, be aware that the system has many unchangeable arbitrary limits (maximum number of objects, maximum dynamic memory, maximum static memory, maximum stack size, maximum method size, maximum class comment size, maximum .h file size, off the top of my head - again there are probably more). If you want to build a large system which will grow, you'll eventually run into one of these, and what will you do then? (We have this problem, and it looks as if we may have to throw away 2 man-years of effort as a result). ACTOR is quite suitable for hobby work, but don't stake your career on it. Dave Wells