Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus/TricksOfTheMacGameProgrammingGurus.iso/Information/CSMP Digest/volume 3/csmp-digest-v3-023

Internet Message Format | 1995-06-07 | 67.3 KB | [TEXT/R*ch]

From: [e-mail] (Francois Pottier)
Subject: csmp-digest-v3-023
Date: Wed, 4 May 94 12:25:07 MET DST

C.S.M.P. Digest             Wed, 04 May 94       Volume 3 : Issue 23

Today's Topics:

        CCollaborator bug
        Embedding PICTS in TextEdit?
        How did YOU learn to program?
        How do I get machine-user name?
        How to: Aladdin-aware ResEdit (was Re: ResEdit + dctb = ID=01?)
        Window -> PICT question



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-------------------------------------------------------

>From [e-mail] (John Lindal)
Subject: CCollaborator bug
Date: 18 Apr 1994 20:50:46 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

I just found a really nasty bug in CCollaborator:

CCollaborator::DependUpon

first line should be:

if (itsProviders && itsProviders->FindIndex(aProvider) > 0) return;

This prevents providers from appearing multiple times in the list!

John Lindal


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Graham Cox)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 11:09:32 GMT
Organization: School of Information Systems, UEA, Norwich

In article <2ourr6$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (John
Lindal) wrote:

> I just found a really nasty bug in CCollaborator:
>
> CCollaborator::DependUpon
>
> first line should be:
>
> if (itsProviders && itsProviders->FindIndex(aProvider) > 0) return;
>
> This prevents providers from appearing multiple times in the list!
>
> John Lindal


Ah, that explains it! Thanks- this one was really pissing me off, having to
call CancelDependency before DependUpon every time- just in case.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love & BSWK, Graham

-Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong they may be...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Graham Cox)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 11:10:37 GMT
Organization: School of Information Systems, UEA, Norwich

In article <2ourr6$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (John
Lindal) wrote:

> I just found a really nasty bug in CCollaborator:
>
> CCollaborator::DependUpon
>
> first line should be:
>
> if (itsProviders && itsProviders->FindIndex(aProvider) > 0) return;
>
> This prevents providers from appearing multiple times in the list!
>
> John Lindal

Another thing I found, though this may have been fixed since v1.1, which I
am using, is that the 'reason' code gets truncated to a short somewhere
between BroadcastChange and ProviderChanged. This doesn't really cause a
problem if you use the numbering scheme that THINK specify for reason
codes, but I use four character strings as reason codes (I think this is
much neater- easier to remember and much easier to keep unique) so it was a
problem for me. The offending bug is caused somewhere in the bowels of the
CCollaborator code, which defines a temporary struct called (I think)
tInfo. Change the type of the reason field from short to long and all is
well.

On a general note, I wonder just how acceptable it is that this stuff is
occasionally a bit sloppy? For example, the CStdPopUpPane object is very
poor- I had to rewrite lots of it to get it to work the way I expected it
to. Another slap on the wrist for Symantec???

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love & BSWK, Graham

-Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong they may be...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------

>From [e-mail] (Graham Cox)
Subject: Embedding PICTS in TextEdit?
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 11:20:34 GMT
Organization: School of Information Systems, UEA, Norwich

I want to embed a PICT in TextEdit automatically. The idea I have is to use
an obscure char to indicate that I want a picture, followed maybe by its
resource ID. When I call DrawText or TEUpdate I want to trap this special
char by putting in a stdText bottleneck, load the picture and draw it, then
make sure that the following text goes after the picture. Is this a
feasible approach? Has anyone achieved anything like this using TextEdit-
if so is there any sample code kicking about anywhere?

-Tanx a lot.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love & BSWK, Graham

-Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong they may be...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Philippe Casgrain)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 17:29:20 +0100
Organization: Universite de Rennes-1, Fac. de medecine dentaire

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (Graham Cox) wrote:
> I want to embed a PICT in TextEdit automatically. The idea I have is to use
> an obscure char to indicate that I want a picture, followed maybe by its
> resource ID. When I call DrawText or TEUpdate I want to trap this special
> char by putting in a stdText bottleneck, load the picture and draw it, then
> make sure that the following text goes after the picture. Is this a
> feasible approach? Has anyone achieved anything like this using TextEdit-
> if so is there any sample code kicking about anywhere?

 That's almost exactly the way TeachText does it: when it sees an
"option-space" in the text, it takes the first PICT resource it finds in
the resource fork of the document and displays it, then resumes printing
the text. When the next option-space comes along, TeachText displays the
second PICT, and so on...

 So yes, i't been done before (TeachText uses TextEdit, how about
SimpleText?), but I doubt the source to TeachText is available. There might
be a snippet on ftp.apple.com, though.

Philippe
--
[e-mail], Mac Hacker Lite
  Sirius Cybernetics Corporation

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] ([e-mail])
Date: 20 Apr 1994 04:19:51 -0000
Organization: Delphi Internet Services Corporation

[e-mail] (Graham Cox) writes:

>I want to embed a PICT in TextEdit automatically. The idea I have is to use
>an obscure char to indicate that I want a picture, followed maybe by its
>resource ID. When I call DrawText or TEUpdate I want to trap this special
>char by putting in a stdText bottleneck, load the picture and draw it, then
>make sure that the following text goes after the picture. Is this a
>feasible approach? Has anyone achieved anything like this using TextEdit-
>if so is there any sample code kicking about anywhere?

Don't use stdText.  That's both overkill and unnecessarily complicating
things, and would also screw up hit-testing, if you could get it to
work.  What you want to do is p=TEGetPoint(offsetintotext), create a
rectangle based on p, and draw the picture in that rectangle whenever you
call TEUpdate().

Chris

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (David Oberst)
Date: Thu, 21 Apr 1994 00:00:40 GMT
Organization: Government of the NWT, Canada

Re: earlier messages about including PICTs in a TextEdit, and "the source
to TeachText" not being available.

True, but there is a shareware text editor out there called TexEdit (now
in version 2.3.1, which now opens up TeachText files, including the pictures.
The author offers to send the Pascal source via snail mail for $5 and a SASE.
BBEdit is available in the Infomac archives (text directory, I think), and
the author gives an email handle of     [e-mail]

    David Oberst/GNWT Bureau of Statistics/Yellowknife, NWT, Canada


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (MarkHanrek)
Date: 20 Apr 1994 16:59:02 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

>I want to embed a PICT in TextEdit automatically. The idea I have is to use
>an obscure char to indicate that I want a picture, followed maybe by its
>resource ID. When I call DrawText or TEUpdate I want to trap this special
>char by putting in a stdText bottleneck, load the picture and draw it, then
>make sure that the following text goes after the picture. Is this a
>feasible approach? Has anyone achieved anything like this using TextEdit-
>if so is there any sample code kicking about anywhere?

Locate a copy of "ShowHelp 2.0" which implements teachtext style text and
graphics in a help window. There you will find the source code that does it,
and also learn about a problem that has to do with updating, scrolling, nad the
hilite color ( as I recall ).

I know "ShowHelp 2.0" is on AOL.

Mark Hanrek


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Tom Dowdy)
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 1994 19:31:05 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.

In article <Philippe.Casgrain-190494172920@193.49.46.4>,
[e-mail] (Philippe Casgrain) wrote:

>  That's almost exactly the way TeachText does it: when it sees an
> "option-space" in the text, it takes the first PICT resource it finds in
> the resource fork of the document and displays it, then resumes printing
> the text. When the next option-space comes along, TeachText displays the
> second PICT, and so on...
>
>  So yes, i't been done before (TeachText uses TextEdit, how about
> SimpleText?), but I doubt the source to TeachText is available. There might
> be a snippet on ftp.apple.com, though.

SimpleText uses a similar mechanism, although it was slightly modified
due to one basic problem with this approach -- it's not very international
friendly.

TeachText/SimpleText use the non-breaking space character, which works
well for the roman script system, but not for most double byte (and
some other single-byte) script systems.  As a result, SimpleText has
to have localization strings to allow for the use of other characters
in these script systems -- but this means that documents aren't portable
across various localized versions of SimpleText.

A better way is to key off of some other unused attribute (such
as the color of the text) rather than the actual character content.
However, this level of change couldn't be done for this version of
SimpleText due to the need to be backwards compatible with documents
from previous versions of TeachText.

I'd recommend that other folks store the PICT information separatly
and not rely on the *content* of the strings for positioning information.
In that way, you can read in the document on any localized version
of your application and convert into the appropriate text-edit
trick you wish to use -- but not actual store this hacked-up-data
as part of your document format.

--
 Tom Dowdy                  Internet: [e-mail]
 Apple Computer MS:302-3KS  UUCP: {sun,voder,amdahl,decwrl}!apple!dowdy
 1 Infinite Loop            AppleLink: DOWDY1
 Cupertino, CA 95014
 "The 'Ooh-Ah' Bird is so called because it lays square eggs."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Jim Walker)
Date: 19 Apr 1994 16:34:27 GMT
Organization: University of South Carolina - Columbia - Computer Science


The TeachText method is what I used in my Show_help code, available by ftp
from bigbird.csd.scarolina.edu, pub/mac.
--

 -- Jim Walker  USC Dept. of Math.  [e-mail]

---------------------------

>From [e-mail] (Russ Blaine)
Subject: How did YOU learn to program?
Date: 18 Mar 1994 00:03:19 GMT
Organization: The Internet Access Company

How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

Just a general question directed to all members of the programming
community, out of curiosity. I'm teaching myself (well, trying..)
to program C using a book, its not too bad...

- ->Russ
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [e-mail]                                                 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
LAWYER: How did you happen to go to Dr. Cherney?
WITNESS: Well, a gal down the road had had several of her children
        by Dr. Cherney, and said he was really good.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Dale M. Greer)
Date: 18 Mar 1994 18:05:09 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Dallas

Russ Blaine ([e-mail]) wrote:
> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
> with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

> Just a general question directed to all members of the programming
> community, out of curiosity. I'm teaching myself (well, trying..)
> to program C using a book, its not too bad...

I took one class in FORTRAN because it was required for physics
majors.  This was just an introductory class, and I didn't really
learn much about real programming.  After that I just taught myself
the rest of FORTRAN, then BASIC, Z80 assembler, C, 8086 assembler,
FORTH, 68000 assembler, C++, etc.

With FORTRAN, I learned from books and other people at the university.
After that, learning the rest was fairly easy.  Programming is
programming.

--

Dale Greer, [e-mail]
"You can't just wake up and kiss the mirror and say 'I'm so purdy,
 I think I'll run for Governor.'" - Texas Gov. Ann Richards



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (MarkHanrek)
Date: 18 Mar 1994 13:14:02 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

It was simple.

I downloaded every cotton-pickin' piece of software that included C source code
(C in my case) and compiled it.

The process of figuring out how that is done, and why these programs fail and
learning to fix them, and why you know YOU don't want to write programs THAT
way, :) is an excellent way to learn.

The important thing here is that you learn by performing an activity that is
engaging, and is never overwhelming, and gives you a more frequent sense of
gratification, because you will only be trying to make little improvements to a
program here and there, and the next thing you know...

When one learns to program, one is usually learning TWO languages, the
traditional language, like C or Pascal, and also the Mac Toolbox (by far more
complex and potentially daunting).

Having fun, and maintaining interest, and SPENDING THE TIME IT TAKES, is
essential to being able to reach a point of being "capable" -- roughly a
man-year after you start ( though you can be instantly productive ).

Other than every piece of source code, get every bit of info, and access to as
many resources as possible, and make friends with other programmers. Saving
time is critical to success.

Have fun.

Mark Hanrek


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From Chuck Simciak <[e-mail]>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 22:36:31 GMT
Organization: Cleveland Clinic Foundation

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]> Russ Blaine, [e-mail]
writes:
>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
>with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?
>
>Just a general question directed to all members of the programming
>community, out of curiosity. I'm teaching myself (well, trying..)
>to program C using a book, its not too bad...

I started out by teaching myself AppleSoft (Basic) on an Apple 2+.  I
tried to move on to Pascal but lost interest after a while.  Then for
college I had to learn Pascal, and as I shifted over to a computer
science major took classes which introduced me to C and Prolog, and a
little bit of object oriented programming and 68000 assembly.  So far the
most important things that I learned did not come from a  book.  "What
makes up good programming Style?".  Such as using a format for naming
variables, strategies for breaking down problems into reusable code
segments, that sort of thing.

later....

    Chuck Simciak      !"The broken image of Man moves in minute by minute
   [e-mail]     ! and cell by cell.... Poverty, hatred, war,
police-
[e-mail] ! criminals, bureaucracy, insanity, all symptoms of
WRUW 91.1 FM Cleveland ! The Human Virus."           - William S.
Burroughs

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Marc T. Kaufman)
Date: 19 Mar 1994 01:20:39 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, Russ Blaine <[e-mail]> wrote:
>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
>with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

I went over to the campus computer center.  The director said: "This is the
manual, and that is the ON switch.  When you turn it off, let the drum cool
down for at least 5 minutes before turning it on again.  Goodby."  That
machine was a Royal-McBee LGP-30.  That's how it was done in those days.
When the center got a new machine, you went out and got a new hardware
manual.  Eventually you graduated to the Burroughs 220, the IBM 1401, the
709...

Marc Kaufman ([e-mail])


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Bill Stewart-Cole)
Date: 18 Mar 1994 20:30:05 -0600
Organization: Odyssey Ultraware Inc
St Louis, MO

Russ Blaine asks:

> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
> with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

Here's a oddball story...


In 8th grade Algebra our text included some BASIC. It wasn't covered in
class, and in 1977-78 there was no computer in the school system outside from
some IBM big iron at the central office chugging out grade info... But I read
it and learned a little.

In HS a few friends had Apples and commies, but my exposure was VERY limited.
There was some oddball mini at school but as a quasi-jock I chose swimming
and water polo over the computer club, and no coach in the USA would consider
allowing one day per fortnight off prractice for some geek club...

In college I had a part-time job in the library, 82-84. My boss had taken a
BASIC course and had written a little database running interpreted for
managing the filling out of incomplete serial volumes. On a Honeywell DPS8. I
read the BASIC docs at the Computer Center, lied about my abilities, compiled
the thing and impressed her with the speed boost. I spent many months
teaching myself BASIC and the timesharing OS (I want to say GCOS.... but my
memory is chancy and imperfect) while refining the program. I proceeded to
carelessly take advantage of sieve-like security so I had room to code and
play in, and got bit by a malicious hacker... I was one of many rogues
briefly blamed for a serious malicious crack.  Lost access, lost any hope of
access there. got some time in as well on a TRS-80 running Xenix (no
kidding...4 10Mb drives each the size of a AT case)

Changed schools, changed majors, took a basic 'Systems and Data Processing'
course that had some psuedo-assembly and pascal, plus was on a BITNET-linked
machine (WOW!) and was VERY interested. Got a used commie and 300bps modem
for it and worked from home(!)

I was awed by the Mac. I saw it and my first thought was how silly my coding
was compared to the guys who made this beastie run like this. but in 86 I got
access to the one Plus at my new college, and bought a cheap copy of Turbo
Pascal that I surreptitiously brought in and used. Coded some wierd stuff...
Figured out Mac programming from the TP manual and bookstore sessions with
IM. Taught myself the Pascal I had a taste of earlier along with the Mac
coding paradigm. Hacked an interface to _Launch even though the IM1-4 docs on
it were lousy, and TP ignored it. Coded a starchart plotter as an astronomy
class project and got an A for the course even though the rest of my work was
careless or missing. (lazy I am)

After a year computerless after college, and 3 years doing unrelated work, I
chucked a job I would never have been fired from mid-recession (91) and
started coding and consulting for the Mac freelance. I took a Unix C course
because I had to get a few hours of college CS anyway, and I haven't touched
Pascal in over 18 months.  Maybe CodeWarrior will get me back to it...

Basically I taught myself Pascal with a little VERY basic background and some
self-taught BASIC. I picked up C very fast because of the Pascal background
(C is Pascal abbreviated and without a net.... or at least more like Pascal
than either is like the BASIC I learned)  You CAN teach yourself to program.
On the Mac you really should have Inside Mac. Pascal is easier to teach
yourself than C, because it will catch your goofs instead of letting you do
stuff that is a little off (like treating a handle as a pointer... ) C++ (or
and OOP system) is easy to learn if you know the base language and have an
open minhd. It may even be easier to learn from scratch since you won't have
to unlearn anything.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Ken Long)
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 03:44:00 GMT
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

Learning how to program, and learning how to learn how = two separate things.

When I got my first computer that was current - a Mac 512 (wasn't even
all that current, but worked) - I was interested in learning to program
but had no idea how to start, and no one to ask about it.  I got no
manual with that Mac and learned the entire Mac interface by trial, error
and deductive reasoning.

I used to get disks of PD/SW from Best Bits and Bytes, in Van Nuys.
resEdit 1.2 was my favorite program.  I thought "Inside Mac DA" was some
sort of DA to tell you stuff about the internal workings of your Mac.

I bought Borland's Turbo Pascal for the Mac, but it assumed you knew how
to program - just wanted to change to Turbo.  I called Borland and said
they oughta say so on the box (bought at Egghead) and the "support"
person gave me a hard time.  I now use that disk for archive storage (not
S-7 compatible anyway).  I never knew Inside Mac even existed.

The next time I got into it was after 2 years of no Mac, and the purchase
of an LC.  By then I already had some IM volumes.  But it didn't take
very long to find out there was no established set of books or anything
to take a nonprogrammer to the point where he could at least write some
simple ones.  I don't mean copying code from a book and getting "talked
through it" - I mean learn enough to be able to create one on his own,
like you can with carpentry or other industrial arts, etc.

So, I figured the best way to learn to program was to get programs that
ran and see if I could find out what it was about them that made them
run.  What did they do, how did they do it, and when.  So I became a
source code junkie.

I'd trace a simple program in the debugger and if I didn't understand a
line I would look things up in IM from the line.  If it wasn't in IM, I'd
change something about the line - usually a value - and see what the
change did.  Then I'd change it back and try something else.

Also, I could recognise common aspects of various programs, and se
differences in them.  Recognizing differences, similarities and
identities, and eveluating relative importances is a key set of factors
to any learning process.  Comparing, examining, observing in operation,
commenting out, uncommenting, trying modifications, reading up on parts
of example source, and being able to locate a working example of any
routine or fragment of a program are all contibutors to the learning process.

What better source for the answer to a programming question than the
running output of a succesful programmer?.  What do I mean by successful
programmer?  One who wrote a program that runs.

Of course, I still have a long way to go to fill in all the gaps in my
learning.

Here's a tip, which I will not get into a position to implement:  Some
cracker-jack programmer, or group of programmers could make big bucks by
producing programming videos.  Sell them for $5.00 and have each one be
on one small subject - like one on regions, etc.  One on CDEFs, one on
pointers, one on setting up a menu bar from both code and resources.  Dig?

A guy buys all sorts of books on programming but just can't seem to get
"pointers."  He orders your tape on pointers, watches in on the TV next
to his Mac and finally gets them.  Why?  Because somebody SHOWED him,
intead of told him.  A potential gold mine, especially since the internet
is on it's way into the living room.

-Ken-

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Keith Rieck)
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 19:06:22 GMT
Organization: Whatsamatta U, Mooselvania

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:
|> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class?

I was about 14 when Radio Shack came out with the TRS-80.  Our local store
had a machine on display with the Basic manual sitting next to it.  I'd
study the manual and play with the machine until the sales clerk threw
me out.  Then I'd come back later and do it again.

A lot of us are self-taught, but it's alarming how many people I know
who have tried to start with C and have been blown away.  Typically, they
buy a top-of-the-line compiler and give up after reading the first 50
pages of their 500 page manual.  There are also plenty of otherwise
intelligent folks who enroll in introductory language classes, but never
get beyond hello-world.

I haven't used Basic in years, but I still recommend it to anyone who's
trying to learn programming.  It's got a very short learning curve and
they can start writing functioning programs in one afternoon.

--
/*   Keith Rieck   */int a[200],b=2,c,d=0,e;main(){for(;d<200;b++)for(c=0;;)
{e=a[c++];if(c>d||e*e>b){a[d++]=b;printf("%5d\t",b);break;}if(b%e==0)break;}}

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Chuck Hoffman)
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 1994 15:00:50 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]> Russ Blaine, [e-mail]
writes:
>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
>with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?
>

I learned FORTRAN in the Summer of 1965 at the U.S. Naval Academy.  Course
name was "Weapons 707."

--
Chuck Hoffman
GTE Laboratories, Waltham, MA, USA
617-466-2131
- ------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure why we're here, but I am sure that
while we're here we're supposed to help each other.
- ------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Jennifer Deats)
Date: 23 Mar 94 17:03:34 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey

Way back in 1984, my parents got a 128K Mac (and it still works well...as long
as the programs aren't expecting much in terms of hardware). At that point,
they decided to send me to National Computer Camp (NCC) in Connecticut. They
taught mostly on Apple IIs and a few TRS-80s. Basic, Pascal, and Assembly were
the languages they used. I learned an awful lot about some of the abilities of
the Apple II, largely from other campers who did alot of "let's see what
happens when I do this".

I didn't touch programming too much for the next seven years. Then I went into
computer science here and I'm stunned how fast Pascal came back to me. As for
other languages, some I learned through class, some I learned on my own, and
alot I learned through experienced programmers who also attend school here.

Just my 2 cents.

-Jennifer
--
|   Jennifer Deats  |    This sig is    |
|                   |  currently under  |
|     CIS Major     |    constuction    |

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Chris Gonna' Find Ray Charles Tate)
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 1994 19:54:36 GMT
Organization: DCRT, NIH, Bethesda, MD

How did I learn to program?

In 1981, my father purchased a *kit* for assembling a Sinclair ZX81 - the
machine that later appeared under the Timex brand, as the Timex-Sinclair
1000.  It originally cost about $100 in kit form.

That little, tiny box had one of the best BASIC implementations I've
ever used, packed into 8K of ROM.  It had a context-sensitive program
editing mode (gave you 'GOTO' when you hit the 'G' key, etc.), and would
syntax-check your program *as you typed it in*.  This was great for
learning the syntax of BASIC (for a 12-year-old kid).

A bit later on, I started fiddling with assembly language on that same
machine - it had a Zilog Z80 processor.  Nice machine, actually....  :-)

When I got to college, I had had enough experience with BASIC that my
father and older brother assured me that I wouldn't have much problem
learning FORTRAN, and so I jumped into the second-semester programming
course, which was supposed to *finish* teaching its students Pascal and
FORTRAN.  It was perfect - my first exposure to real data structures,
challenging (to learn Pascal fast enough to handle the supposition that
I already *knew* the syntax, etc.), and a good choice of projects.

The parts of it I remember were doing a single-source shortest-path
algorithm (taught breadth-first search, basic graph representations, and
queues) in Pascal, and a Choleski symmetric positive-definite matrix
decomposition in FORTRAN, using a compacted matrix representation.  That
one gave us a real feeling for what kinds of programming people who were
serious about it did.

In retrospect, I think Pascal is a better first language than C or FORTRAN,
since you have to deliberately avoid a lot of the 'sloppy' things that other
languages let you get away with.  That makes for better coding style later
on.

Penn State (my alma mater) also required a course in machine language,
in which we studied machine representation of numbers (well, integers,
and a *brief* exposure to some floating-point concepts - I didn't get
any real floating-point exposure until I took a Math-department course
in numerical methods), the basic operating principles of computers, and
various architectures from a programmer's standpoint.  Specifically, we
learned PDP-11 assembly language (the 'standard' stack-based machine,
with auto-increment and auto-decrement), as well as IBM 370 assembly
language (the IBM mainframes are not stack-based).  No RISC, alas; I
understand that not long after I took that course they started teaching
MIPS assembly language and concepts rather than PDP-11.

The only other real 'learn to program' course wasn't exactly that; it was
a class in abstract data types.  The text was Aho, Hopcroft, & Ullman;
I think it might be taught with Corman, Leiserson, & Rivest these days.
That's an important course - you need the knowledge of programming
technique that comes with studying the art of data structure design and
various programming approaches (dynamic programming, divide-and-conquer,
greedy heuristics - all the standards you *should* know).

My senior year I took a course in OS design, with implementation in teams
of three people.  It was a *ton* of work, but I'm glad I took it.  By
that time I had been programming professionally (summer job at NIST) for
several years, but hadn't don't anything of that scope.  It was a *fantastic*
learning experience for dealing with a very large project, and for learning
the ins and outs of a group project (code management, time management,
et cetera).

I think the basic curriculum I had was quite good.  Penn State's CompSci
department grew out of its Math department, rather than its Engineering
school, and I think it shows (lots of theoretical study, not so much
emphasis on digital engineering).  The course on formal language theory
was ... work.  :-)

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Tate            |  "I hate writing, and I hate statistics, but
MSD, Inc.                   |   most of all I hate writing about statistics.
                            |   I'd rather go to the dentist; at least there
[e-mail]   |   you get to spit."     -- Ed Sewell

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Christian Franz)
Date: Thu, 24 Mar 1994 08:55:44 GMT
Organization: Union Bank Switzerland, CH


Well, in '78 me and my brother saved anough money to buy us an Apple II.
I began with Basic, then Applesoft Basic and then got the hang of 6502 Assembler.
I remember having discussions with my brother about which programming language
was better since he used the UCSD Pascal while I wrote 6502. I often ridiculed
him for his choice.

Well, I went on and implemented my own little language (called CFDS, I only know
of a single other person who understands this language - hell, I was only 15 by
then).

Time went on and I finally went to university (ETH - Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, you know where Wirth hangs around). I got myself a Mac then and
was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of the OS and the built-in
routines, the guidelines you had to adhere to etc.

At ETH, I learned Modula-2 at first and then Oberon. Being an Assembly hacker, I
had some difficulties with the concept of procedural, strongly-typed languages. It
seemed all so clumsy while I could code the same problem in a very elegant 15-Byte
tight loop...
After about one year, my view started to shift. Suddenly I recognized the power
of languages like Modula or their ancestor, Pascal. Plus, someone sold me her
copy THINK Pascal. Now *that* was a development system that deserved its name.

After a while, I took a course in compiler design. Suddenly I *knew* why languages
such as C or Assembler could never match the elegance and fitness for servicability
that strongly-typed procedural languages have. And I have come to flushing when I
remember how I laughed into my brother's face when he used the clumsy UCSD when
he could have programmed assembler.

Nowadays I'm a fierce advocat of Pascal and Modula and have a strong dislike of
C or the ultimate insult to cs engineers, C++ (flame bait, do not respond!).
Of course I know there are times when you have to resort to extreme measures
(if you look at GrafSys, you'll notice that the ultra-fast Triangle routines are
done in 68K assembler). But I like to forget that whenever possible.

Ok, to sum it up, I have learned to program the wrong way all by myself. The
correct way I learned at the university. How to program on the Mac was a matter
of Trial And Error at first. Then, after I had mastered most of the problems,
I found this book 'Macintosh Programming Primer' which is IMHO one of the best
of its kind and would have saved me about a year. Note that it is not intended
for the beginner (in programming) but rather the experienced programmer who
switches to the Mac.


Cheers,
Christian

--
Christian Franz                        *              Union Bank Of Switzerland
[e-mail]         <- at home ->                     [phone]


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail]
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 16:27:22 GMT
Organization: UMASS DARTMOUTH, NO. DARTMOUTH, MA.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Keith Rieck) writes:
>In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:
>|> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class?
>
>I was about 14 when Radio Shack came out with the TRS-80.  Our local store
>had a machine on display with the Basic manual sitting next to it.  I'd
>study the manual and play with the machine until the sales clerk threw
>me out.  Then I'd come back later and do it again.

You mean someone else learned BASIC this way?  Yow.  They got so used to
kicking me out that they asked my mom if we were planning to move my
bedroom furniture into the store.

- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|James P. Burke       | This is some text that I like to put to the right of my|
|Very Small Animal    | name because it makes this space look less empty.      |
|[e-mail]    | Never put off 'till tomorrow saves nine. He who laughs |
|[e-mail]   | last is worth two in the bush. "The foot is a game."   |
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Michael Peirce)
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 94 14:44:42 PST
Organization: Peirce Software, Inc.

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, Russ Blaine <[e-mail]> wrote:
>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
>with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

I learned FORTRAN out of a book.  I wrote a bowling scores program
and finagled enough time on a old DEC RSTS system at the University
of Toledo to type it in and debug it.  About the same time I spent some
time at a summer NSF program at Indiana State and got to try my hand
at punching cards for a IBM/360.

The next year my high school got its first Commodore PET and I learned
BASIC (then taught the teachers BASIC).  I learned 6502 assembler
on the machine too, plus 1802 assembler on an ELF that my physics
teacher had bought.

During my freshman year at RPI I learned Pascal (by convincing them
I knew enough FORTRAN to skip that).  It was the first year they tought
Pascal instead of PL/I - thank goodness.  It was fun programming the
big IBM/3033 - I think I was in the last class that really spent much
time on the big mainframe.  By the time I graduated, the computer
geaks (like me) had moved on to Unix workstations and PCs.  Ah IBM
370 assembler, a dying skill (at least I hope so).

I learned the Mac on a 512K with Megamax C (it was cool to see it
use up screen memory when it had exhausted main memory - when the
cool patterns filled up the screen, you knew you were hosed).  I learned
C at the same time and grabbed as much sample code as I could and
spent lots of hours reading the paper back version of Inside Mac.


-- Michael Peirce        -- [e-mail]
-- Peirce Software, Inc. -- 719 Hibiscus Place, Suite 301
--                       -- San Jose, California USA 95117
-- Makers of: Smoothie & -- voice: +1.408.244.6554 fax: [phone]
--    Peirce Print Tools -- AppleLink: peirce & America Online: AFC Peirce

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (DSPman)
Date: 27 Mar 1994 19:55:01 -0500
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

Get Marksman 3.0 by IT Makers.  It is a code generation tool.  You
lay out the user interface and it generates most of the code you
need that would take you a long time to write.
Learning to program the Mac can be very difficult.  This program
got me over the hump by generating great skeleton code for a
program which I can study and ultimately understand.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Paul DuBois)
Date: 27 Mar 1994 21:14:07 -0600
Organization: Castra Parvulorum


>How did YOU learn to program?

Still haven't.
--
Paul DuBois
[e-mail]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Mats Ekberg)
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 1994 13:49:21 GMT
Organization: Erisoft AB, Sweden


In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (DSPman) writes:
[]Get Marksman 3.0 by IT Makers.  It is a code generation tool.  You
[]lay out the user interface and it generates most of the code you
[]need that would take you a long time to write.
[]Learning to program the Mac can be very difficult.  This program
[]got me over the hump by generating great skeleton code for a
[]program which I can study and ultimately understand.
[]

But that results in "regular" procedural programming.
Isn't it better to try to go object-oriented?

What is the experience of all You programmers, what are the major
differences between procedural and OO programming on the Mac?
Tools, code-size, speed, complexity, serviceability and so on...


[----------------------------------------------------------------------]
| Addr:  Mats Ekberg @ Erisoft AB  | Voice: [phone]             |
|        Box 920                   | Email: [e-mail]  |
|        S-951 28  LULEA           | Memo:  ERI.ECOM.EPLMEK            |
[----------------------------------------------------------------------]



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Deeny3)
Date: 9 Apr 1994 23:16:04 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

Nineteen years ago, I was working for my father, a consulting physicist. He had
a lot of programming he needed done (stuff that you could do in Excel now, of
course), and so he suggested that I take a class. I did -- and it's the only
one I ever took. Most of what I learned I learned at home or on the job. I've
programmed all my adult life and will continue to do so.

_Deirdre

In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:

>>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

Just a general question directed to all members of the programming
community, out of curiosity. I'm teaching myself (well, trying..)
to program C using a book, its not too bad...<<


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Brian Stone)
Date: 11 Apr 1994 20:25:14 GMT
Organization: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Deeny3 ([e-mail]) wrote:
: Nineteen years ago, I was working for my father, a consulting physicist. He had
: a lot of programming he needed done (stuff that you could do in Excel now, of
: course), and so he suggested that I take a class. I did -- and it's the only
: one I ever took. Most of what I learned I learned at home or on the job. I've
: programmed all my adult life and will continue to do so.

: _Deirdre

: In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:

: >>How did you learn to program? Did you take a class? Teach yourself
: with a book? Become an apprentice, or what?

: Just a general question directed to all members of the programming
: community, out of curiosity. I'm teaching myself (well, trying..)
: to program C using a book, its not too bad...<<



    Im following up on this just cause Im bored at the moment...

    I taught my self Basic on the Commodor 64 when I was 12.  I wrote
a few programs... nothing fancy.  Just messed around with sprites and
little animations.  My father saw that I was interested in this and
gave me his 64, while he was given a Lisa computer to do some consulting
business.  I was somewhat fasinated by this computer although I never
did any programing on it.  When the Mac Plus came out, my father bought
one.  I imediatly started playing around with it, I must have been 16
at the time.  When he bought Microsoft Q-Basic, that became my buddy
for the years to come.  I taught my self the inner workings of Q-basic
and started writting quite a few small games and other programs.  When
I was a Junior in highschool I took my first Pascal course.  However,
I never programed much in Pascal outside the class room.  I took two
years of Pascal, both in my Junior and Senior years.  I began college
as a traditional student, just after highschool.  In my first year I
took a FORTRAN course... probably more usless than Pascal.  In the
first semester of my second year I took an Ansi C course.  After that
course, I taught my self C++.  Since then, however, I havnt used
C much at all.  Im mainly a Basic programer... but Im slowly trying
to relearn C++.  I got a book on programing 3D graphics in C.  About
six months ago, I translated it into Q-Basic, and it works pretty good.
But, Q-basic is slow... too slow, and I need speed.  In fact, C is also
too slow for what I need, so part of my problem is porting certain
functions to Assembly code.  At the moment I am taking an Assembly
programing class for 386 processors, and I hope to use that knowlege
to help me write Assembly programs for the 6800x0 Motorola processors.
Eventualy I will use my knowlege of 3D graphics, Assembly, and C++
to write my biggest game yet.  Hopfully a 3D Space battle game, not
unlike X-Wing for PC's.  Ive already used 3D graphics in an Artillary
style game that I wrote in Q-Basic... but like I said before... its way
too slow.   I have not yet compleated the program, and the game dosnt
have any sound to it, so I probably will never release this game.  But
I hope to have my 3D space battle game out by the end of the year...
depending on if my sanity holds.


    From the man on a mission from God... and Mars,
        Brian "the man with a head of lettuce" Stone
        [e-mail]




+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Darko Volaric)
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 1994 03:53:00 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Keith Rieck) writes:
>>In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:
>>|> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class?
>>
>>I was about 14 when Radio Shack came out with the TRS-80.  Our local store
>>had a machine on display with the Basic manual sitting next to it.  I'd
>>study the manual and play with the machine until the sales clerk threw
>>me out.  Then I'd come back later and do it again.
>
>You mean someone else learned BASIC this way?  Yow.  They got so used to
>kicking me out that they asked my mom if we were planning to move my
>bedroom furniture into the store.
>
I did the same thing (but when I was about 10) but they let me stay since I'd
tell the customers what I was doing and what the computer could do. I probably
was responsible for more sales than the (rather ignorant) salesperson.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (John Jensen)
Date: 20 Apr 1994 05:24:46 -0700
Organization: KAIWAN Internet (310/527-4279,818/756-0180,714/741-2920)

Darko Volaric ([e-mail]) wrote:
: In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
: >In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Keith Rieck) writes:
: >>In article <2mar47$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Russ Blaine) writes:
: >>|> How did you learn to program? Did you take a class?
: >>
: >>I was about 14 when Radio Shack came out with the TRS-80.  Our local store
: >>had a machine on display with the Basic manual sitting next to it.  I'd
: >>study the manual and play with the machine until the sales clerk threw
: >>me out.  Then I'd come back later and do it again.
: >
: >You mean someone else learned BASIC this way?  Yow.  They got so used to
: >kicking me out that they asked my mom if we were planning to move my
: >bedroom furniture into the store.
: >
: I did the same thing (but when I was about 10) but they let me stay since I'd
: tell the customers what I was doing and what the computer could do. I probably
: was responsible for more sales than the (rather ignorant) salesperson.

Me too.  I had just finished a Fortran course at school (I was studying
chemistry).  I walked into a Radio Shack and looked at the BASIC manual
for the TRS-80.  It was a learn-as-you-go thing, so I just started
typing.  No one ever bothered me, and I walked out a couple hours later
knowing BASIC.

Thank you Radio Shack.

John

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Greg Landweber)
Date: 21 Apr 1994 17:04:58 GMT
Organization: (none)

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Darko Volaric) writes:
   >>I was about 14 when Radio Shack came out with the TRS-80.  Our local store
   >>had a machine on display with the Basic manual sitting next to it.  I'd
   >>study the manual and play with the machine until the sales clerk threw
   >>me out.  Then I'd come back later and do it again.

My school got a TRS-80 when I was 10, and I used to stay after school
to play on it.  I remember at one point it told me to "type mismatch".
Then, when I typed "mismatch", it said "syntax error".

The following year, my school got an Apple ][+, I learned Logo, and
convinced my parents to get me an Apple //e.  I learned Pascal the
following summer and took a data structures and algorithms class the
summer after that.  In high school, I wrote a grade book (jointly with
Dean Yu) and a class rank program for the teachers and administrators
in AppleSoft basic, and I fiddled a lot with Turbo Pascal (writing
painfully slow interpreters for Lisp and Logo, and a Star Trek battle
simulation based on a board game).

I was declared prophet by my A.P.Computers class, which decided to
start its own religion.  We waited for the second coming of the Timex
Sinclair, while taking our frustrations out on an empty husk of a
Franklin Ace (which came on a cart with boxing gloves).

I got a Mac when I went to college, and the rest is history.

BTW, I learned C somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.  I brought K&R
with me to read on a flight to England.  I read it again on the way
back, and I started programming in C when I got home.

-- Greg "Buttons" Landweber
   [e-mail]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Bootstrap1)
Date: 20 Apr 1994 23:45:07 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

I had watched a friend write a few little, ten-line BASIC programs making a dot
bounce around on screen on the TRS-80 locked in the back of one of the
classrooms.  The next year, while studying Trig, I asked my teacher if I could
try to program it to draw a circle.  With no manual, and only the experience of
watching my friend, I wrote the following program.

10 X = 0
20 X * X + Y * Y = 100
30 PLOT X,Y
40 X = X + 1
50 GOTO 20

Needless to say, it wouldn't run.  The next week she let me go to the computer
lab, where they had manuals, during class.  Within a couple of days I had the
program running, learned the fundamentals just browsing through the manual,
battled the notorious TRS-80 Mod 1 tape drive, then didn't write another line
of code for three months.  At Christmas my Dad bought an Apple II+ for our
family (this was '81) and I spent 60 hours coding the first three days we had
it.  Six months later I was interning at a startup, writing (not very good)
commercial software for the new IBM PC.

Nathan Tennies
Bootstrap Enterprises Inc

---------------------------

>From [e-mail] (John S. Cho)
Subject: How do I get machine-user name?
Date: Sun, 03 Apr 1994 16:23:48 -0800
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

I need some help obtaining the machine and user names from the Shared Setup
control panel. I've played around with the PBxxxx routines and the PPC
toolbox but got no where. Anyhelp would be much appreciated.

John


       ._/                      --=o0o=--    .
      ._/  John Seungwon Cho                ( "If not today, nor yet
 ._/ ._/  University of California, Berkeley `. tomorrow, then some other
._/_/_/  jscho@{soda,uclink,ocf}.berkeley.edu  )  day."    - Dream Theater

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Jump Long)
Date: 5 Apr 1994 00:04:01 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (John S. Cho) writes:

> I need some help obtaining the machine and user names from the Shared Setup
> control panel. I've played around with the PBxxxx routines and the PPC
> toolbox but got no where. Anyhelp would be much appreciated.

You can get those names from system resources -16096 (user name) and -16413
(computer name) using the GetString function.  As noted in the Technical Note
"AppleTalk, the Rest of the Story":

"System software version 7.0 allows the user to enter a personalized name by
which her system will be published when connected to an AppleTalk network. The
System 'STR ' resource ID -16413 is used to hold this name. The name (listed as
Macintosh Name) can be up to 31 characters in length and can be set using the
Sharing Setup Control Panel Device (cdev). This resource is different from the
Chooser name, System 'STR ' resource ID -16096. When providing network services
for a workstation, the Flagship name should be used so that the user can
personalize his workstation name while maintaining the use of the Chooser name
for server connection identification. It's important to note that the Flagship
name resource is available only from system software version 7.0. DTS
recommends that applications not change either of these 'STR ' resources."

- Jim Luther


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Jeff 31415)
Date: 19 Apr 1994 18:07:02 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

In article <[e-mail]>,
[e-mail] (John S. Cho) writes:

> I need some help obtaining the machine and user names from the Shared Setup
> control panel. I've played around with the PBxxxx routines and the PPC
> toolbox but got no where. Anyhelp would be much appreciated.

I don't know if this is a recommended way to do it, but I find that grabbing
the
appropriate STR# from the active system file works just fine (under System 7).
I haven't seen anything documented by Apple on this one.

Sorry, I can't find the code write now. Email me if you want me to search for
it in a more serious way.

-Jeff Abrahamson



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (John W. Baxter)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 08:17:36 -0700
Organization: Internet for the Olympic Peninsula

In article <2p1km6$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Jeff
31415) wrote:

> In article <[e-mail]>,
> [e-mail] (John S. Cho) writes:
>
> > I need some help obtaining the machine and user names from the Shared Setup
> > control panel. I've played around with the PBxxxx routines and the PPC
> > toolbox but got no where. Anyhelp would be much appreciated.
>
> I don't know if this is a recommended way to do it, but I find that grabbing
> the
> appropriate STR# from the active system file works just fine (under System 7).
> I haven't seen anything documented by Apple on this one.

Per Inside Mac: More Mac Toolbox, page 1-127--

User name is 'STR ' -16096
Computer name is 'STR ' -16413

I don't remember how far back into pre-history the above is true [by my
definition, System 6 is pre-history...others--correctly for their
purposes--disagree].

--
John Baxter    Port Ludlow, WA, USA  [West shore, Puget Sound]
   [e-mail]

---------------------------

>From [e-mail] (Eddy J. Gurney)
Subject: How to: Aladdin-aware ResEdit (was Re: ResEdit + dctb = ID=01?)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 20:54:52 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard VCD

Rich Siegel ([e-mail]) wrote:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>>This happens when I try to look at StuffIt Expander 3.0.7 or BBEdit
>>2.3.2 (I can open a single resource with BBEdit, but then crash if I
>>try to open another one).

>Out of coincidence, the two applications you tried both contain
>compressed resources. (They're compressed by a scheme that ResEdit
>doesn't know.) Try other examples, such as your copy of THINK C, or
>MPW, or whatever...

Or, make ResEdit aware of the Aladdin resource compression scheme.

Below are my instructions on installing the Aladdin resource
decompressor (found in the FreeWare "BBEdit Lite", which you will
need a copy of) into a fresh ResEdit 2.1.1. NOTE: I take absolutely
no responsibility for this patch; I was bored one weekend and decided
to see if I could get this to work. I feel I was successful; however,
I don't feel comfortable that the Aladdin resource decompressor is
properly "deinstalled" when you quit ResEdit. I'm not sure what effect
this has; everything SEEMS to work fine. The problem with ResEdit 2.1.1
is that it *already* adds a resource decompressor (the Apple one) when
you launch ResEdit. I intercept that patch, add the Aladdin version,
and then continue on and add the Apple version. FYI, they are patching
an undocumented (as far as I know!) trap, _A0FC, to implement resource
decompression. It looked like the Apple scheme does a tail patch on
that trap, so both decompressors work together. But I don't think the
Aladdin de-installer is ever called, since ResEdit probably just calls
_ExitToShell somewhere. SO... after you've used your "special" version
of ResEdit, you may want to restart.

THINK Reference also installs its own resource decompressor (you can
see the code patching _A0FC as well).  However it is different from
the Aladdin or Apple version...

Patching ResEdit 2.1.1 to use the Aladdin Resource Decompressor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What you will need:
A fresh (ie, non-patched) copy of ResEdit, version 2.1.1
A fresh (ie, non-patched) copy of the freeware BBEdit Lite, version 2.3.2
Experience using ResEdit to patch stuff. :-)

 1. Make a copy of ResEdit from the Finder. When we're done, this copy will
    have the Aladdin resource decompressor automagically installed when you
    launch this copy.
 2. Open the new copy of ResEdit in ResEdit. Whoa, like weird, man. :-)
 3. Open BBEdit Lite 2.3.2 in ResEdit
 4. (Optional). Double-click on the 'sicn' resource in BBEdit Lite and
    notice that 'sicn' 911 is "messed up" (because its compressed).  Don't
    open any DLOG's or anything, or ResEdit will CRASH!
 5. Click once on the "DCMP" resource in the BBEdit Lite window and choose
    "Copy".
 6. Select the ResEdit window and choose "Paste".
 7. Double-click on the CODE resource icon in the BBEdit Lite window. Select
    CODE resource 1, and choose "Open Using Hex Editor" from the "Resource"
    menu.
 8. Go to offset 0x005638 (very close to the end, should start with 4E71
    42A7 6100...) and drag select to the end of the resource (offset 0x0058FB,
    should end with A198 4ED1). Make sure you are selecting the hex numbers
    and NOT the ASCII representation on the right.
 9. Choose "Copy".
10. Close all the windows associated with BBEdit Lite, we're done with them.
11. Double-click on the CODE resource icon in the ResEdit window.  Select CODE
    resource 66, and choose "Open Using Hex Editor" from the "Resource"
    menu.
12. Go to the end of the resource (should end with 11C7 0A5E 4E75) and click
    after the 4E75.
13. Choose "Paste".
14. Move to offset 0x0005EC (this is in the newly pasted section, should
    start with FE9C 6100 0114) and select the "FE9C" bytes and change them
    to "FA24".
15. Close the CODE ID=66 hex editor window.
16. Select CODE resource 0 (the jump table) and choose "Open Using Hex Editor"
    from the "Resource" menu.
17. Move to offset 0x000010 (should start with 000C 3F3C 0042...) and select
    the "000C" bytes and change them to "05DA".
18. Select "Save" from the File menu.
18. Select "Get Info for <filename>" from the File menu and change the
    modification date (the "Modified:" field) to something *older* than
    the copy of ResEdit you want to run when you double-click on a
    ResEdit document.  Close the dialog and save the changes.  Why do you
    need to do this?  Since you now have two copies of ResEdit on your
    system, the Finder will launch the latest-modified version (which is
    your newly patched version). Since you will normally want to run the
    "non modified" version, just make the patched version older.
19. Quit out of ResEdit. The patch is complete and ready to go.  I have not
    noticed any side effects from making this patch, but that DOESN'T mean
    there aren't any!  At least you can view/edit/change Aladdin-compressed
    resources now.  NOTE: changing a compressed resource and saving the
    changes will save it in an uncompressed state!  The Aladdin decompressor
    does NOT warn you that the resource you're opening is compressed like
    the Apple decompressor does.
20. (Optional) Launch your newly modified ResEdit.  Open BBEdit Lite again,
    and verify that 'sicn' 911 is no longer "messed up".  Cool. :-)

--
Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW   Hewlett-Packard Company, Vancouver (USA!) Division
[e-mail]                       #include <standard-disclaimer.h>
"Failures are divided into two classes-- those who thought and never did,
      and those who did and never thought."     John Charles Salak

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Leonard Rosenthol)
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 1994 17:26:32 GMT
Organization: Aladdin Systems, Inc.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Eddy J. Gurney) wrote:

> Or, make ResEdit aware of the Aladdin resource compression scheme.
>
> Below are my instructions on installing the Aladdin resource
> decompressor
> [details removed]
>
   Just a reminder to folks that if you must do this, you can NO LONGER
distribute that copy of ResEdit as you have now added "Aladdin
Copyrighted" material that is NOT yours to redistribute.  As our box says
"Our Lawyers are Happy",  please keep them that way ;).

   On a related note, are there REALLY a lot of you who would like to be
able to modify our compressed resources?  Feel free to EMail me and let me
know if there are - maybe we can help...


Leonard
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Rosenthol                      Internet:       [e-mail]
Director of Advanced Technology        AppleLink:      MACgician
Aladdin Systems, Inc.                  GEnie:          MACgician

---------------------------

>From [e-mail] (-= Godfather Moof =-)
Subject: Window -> PICT question
Date: 13 Apr 1994 14:29:26 GMT
Organization: CS Outreach Services, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

Any people out in the cloud know how to convert a window to a PicHandle?

I've got a 256x256 window that I want to use as a pict...

Thanks.  Please reply to [e-mail].

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Graham Cox)
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 1994 11:23:31 GMT
Organization: School of Information Systems, UEA, Norwich

In article <2ogvk6$[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (-=
Godfather Moof =-) wrote:

> Any people out in the cloud know how to convert a window to a PicHandle?
>
> I've got a 256x256 window that I want to use as a pict...
>
> Thanks.  Please reply to [e-mail].


Try this:


PicHandle MakeWindowPict(WindowPtr theWindow)
{

    Rect        r;
    PicHandle    p;



    GetPort(&originalPort);
    SetPort(theWindow);
    r = thePort->portRect;
    p = OpenPicture(&r);
    CopyBits(&thePort->portBits,&thePort->portBits,&r,&r,srcCopy,NULL);
    ClosePicture();
    SetPort(originalPort);
    return(p);
}


Off the top of my head so check the function calls in case I remembered
them wrong.

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love & BSWK, Graham

-Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong they may be...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From jdm@newton (James D. Meiss)
Date: 17 Apr 1994 17:23:22 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Graham Cox) writes:
>
>
>PicHandle MakeWindowPict(WindowPtr theWindow)
>{
>
>    Rect        r;
>    PicHandle    p;
>
>
>
>    GetPort(&originalPort);
>    SetPort(theWindow);
>    r = thePort->portRect;
>    p = OpenPicture(&r);
>    CopyBits(&thePort->portBits,&thePort->portBits,&r,&r,srcCopy,NULL);
>    ClosePicture();
>    SetPort(originalPort);
>    return(p);
>}
>
>
>Off the top of my head so check the function calls in case I remembered
>them wrong.
>
    This code works, but mystifies me. Can someone please explain what
copy bits does here? It is reading and writing to the same block of memory?
Does it actually DO the memory writing, or is the instruction just recorded...
in this case how does the picture know how to execute the instruction? Of
course, I guess that the PICT must actually just get the bits in the picture
written to it, but how?

    Sorry for the ignorance, but thanks for you explanations!

    Jim Meiss
    [e-mail]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Graham Cox)
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 1994 10:59:45 GMT
Organization: School of Information Systems, UEA, Norwich

In article <2orraa$[e-mail]>, jdm@newton (James D. Meiss)
wrote:

> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Graham Cox) writes:
> >
> >
> >PicHandle MakeWindowPict(WindowPtr theWindow)
> >{
> >
> >    Rect        r;
> >    PicHandle    p;
> >
> >
> >
> >    GetPort(&originalPort);
> >    SetPort(theWindow);
> >    r = thePort->portRect;
> >    p = OpenPicture(&r);
> >    CopyBits(&thePort->portBits,&thePort->portBits,&r,&r,srcCopy,NULL);
> >    ClosePicture();
> >    SetPort(originalPort);
> >    return(p);
> >}
> >
> >
> >Off the top of my head so check the function calls in case I remembered
> >them wrong.
> >
>     This code works, but mystifies me. Can someone please explain what
> copy bits does here? It is reading and writing to the same block of memory?
> Does it actually DO the memory writing, or is the instruction just recorded...
> in this case how does the picture know how to execute the instruction? Of
> course, I guess that the PICT must actually just get the bits in the picture
> written to it, but how?
>
>     Sorry for the ignorance, but thanks for you explanations!
>
>     Jim Meiss
>     [e-mail]


As you correctly guessed, the copybits call is made just so that it gets
recorded into the picture- I think it does actually write over itself as
well but of course that doesn't matter. When you copybits with an open
picture, the picture records both the copybits opcode AND all of the actual
pixel data (and colour tables too- what a bonus!) When played back
DrawPicture knows that the port in question has changed and does the 'right
thing'. Stuff like this is why I'll never be a Windows programmer...

- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love & BSWK, Graham

-Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong they may be...
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

>From [e-mail] (Francois Pottier)
Date: 19 Apr 1994 14:52:41 GMT
Organization: Ecole Normale Superieure, PARIS, France

In article <[e-mail]>,
Graham Cox <[e-mail]> wrote:

>> >    p = OpenPicture(&r);
>> >    CopyBits(&thePort->portBits,&thePort->portBits,&r,&r,srcCopy,NULL);

>
>As you correctly guessed, the copybits call is made just so that it gets
>recorded into the picture- I think it does actually write over itself as
>well but of course that doesn't matter.

No, it doesn't write over itself, it would be a waste. When you call OpenPicture,
all Quickdraw bottlenecks (the standard drawing routines) are replaced with
recording routines. So the CopyBits call above is in fact *not* a call to
the usual CopyBits routine, but to a recording routine. Afterwards, calling
ClosePicture restores the usual bottlenecks.

--
Francois Pottier
[e-mail]

---------------------------

End of C.S.M.P. Digest
**********************