Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Getting started with Mac programming
Message-ID: <11542@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 25 Sep 89 14:58:47 GMT
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Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
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In article <7893@leadsv.UUCP> cberg@leadsv.UUCP (Charles R Berg) writes:

>I've been designing and building systems for 20 years.  I've programmed in
>most all of the well-known languages, on most all of the well-known systems.
>I'm not concerned by the level of difficulty.

I can relate to this.  I started in 1963, and I've programmed in
languages most programmers have never even heard of.  (I do have an
aversion to IBM, though, and only a couple of years' experience with
their machines and systems.)

I also have a full-time job, a wife with a full-time job, four kids,
and Suns at work.  This doesn't leave me much time, and the time I do
have is in small chunks at irregular intervals.  So it took me a
*long* time to climb up the steep learning curve of the Mac; I've
finally made it, but I'm still a real novice.

>BUT, clearly, the Macintosh is different than any other machine I've dealt
>with, so the question is -
>
>             What do I need to know to get started?

You *must* have Inside Mac.  There is no substitute.

In my experience, the first volume contains 90% of what I need to
know.  Most of the rest is in volume II, and I've hardly used III.
Volumes IV and V are more relevant to the SE and the MacII, but I have
only a lowly Mac+, so I haven't purchased them.  If you don't have a
lot of $$, you might wish to postpone getting the later volumes; but
sooner or later, you'll need them, so it's a matter of when to buy
them, not whether to buy them.

>The application I need to port is written in 'c'.  What compilers are
>available to me?  Where do I get them?

The only C compilers worth considering are Think C (formerly
Lightspeed C), and MPW C.  I'd get Think C; it's a super product, and
is substantially cheaper.  (Unfortunately, you need 2 Meg to make full
use of the symbolic debugger.)  I understand MPW has a bigger & better
support environment, and the environment is rather Unix-like, but this
is second-hand knowledge.

You have the same two basic options in Pascal, except that Think
Pascal's symbolic debugger fits very nicely on my 1 Meg machine.  I'm
not sure I could do it without a hard disk, though--I hope you have one.
You should be aware that, although you can program the Mac in either
language, the Macintosh ROM routines use Pascal calling conventions,
so it's a bit trickier in C.  Since your starting application is in C,
though, it's probably best to stick with it.

>  Obviously, the Mac user interface
>is vastly different than the user interface in the existing code.  How do
>you develop user interfaces on the Mac?  I'm assuming there are utilities to
>do this interactively.  Where do I get them?

Real Programmers don't use utilities.

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't been able to give Mac programming my
full attention.  There is a public domain (shareware?) program called
TransSkel, available in both C and Pascal versions, that is basically
a do-nothing skeleton that you can add to to make your own program.
This program may have helped others, but it wasn't enough for me.

What got me over the hump was Prototyper, by SmetherBarnes.  This is a
great interface-building program; works like MacDraw, handles
virtually all of the Mac user interface capabilities, generates C or
Pascal code suitable for any compiler you're likely to have.  Also
creates the resource files.  It has been criticized because it generates
redundant code--for every window you create, it generates very similar
code to open and handle the window--but I can live with that.  I have
found it very effective as a teaching tool;  if I want to do a
particular interface action, I have Prototyper generate the code for
just that thing.  Anyway, I highly recommend it.

>
>I'd appreciate any assistance anyone can offer.  Thanks.

A tip:  don't buy from stores, buy from one of the big mail-order
houses.  MacConnection (1-800-MAC-LISA) is my favorite.  Very
professional, great prices, great service, same-day shipping.

>Chuck Berg
>leadsv!cberg


-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)
-- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA  19301
-- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable.
* 20th anniversary?  Yeah, but it's 17 years since the LAST man on the moon! *