Subject: Possible projects

From: [email-masked] (Don Yacktman)
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1993 23:09:32 -0600

Folks, just a quickie note here...

If you're itching to lend a hand to actually coding something,
but have no idea where to start, take a look in the Temp area
of the MiscKit.  I tend to be very busy, but I have a lot of
sketches of various interesting objects in there, and if there
is one that interests you, I'd be happy to accept any code or
modifications that you'd like to add.  The only two to watch
out for are (1) the ProgressView, a modification of the one
in the NS Dev Tools manual (chap 18), which I've been extending,
and (2) Scott Anguish's ClockView; if you have suggestions on
that one they should go to him directly.  You also might check
out the ToDo list and offer a hand to authors listed there, if
you like; it's up to them to decide whether or not they want help.
If you have a project already that you'd like to contribute,
let me know and I'll put it in the in progress area.  Also, if
there's something in the license or charter that you don't like,
which may be possibly holding you back, let me know now!  I'm
working on yet another draft, and you really ought to complain
to me now so that I can get it finished off once and for all. :-)

Well, enough of that.  I know that many of you are planning on
_using_ the objects, and don't much care about contributing.
That's fine, too, but if there's stuff in the license that
bothers you, let me know!  If there's certain objects you think
ought to be written by somebody, say so!  In other words, it
doesn't matter whether you are developing or using the kit;
comments and wish lists are welcome.  I want this to be the
best thing around, and without constructive criticism, nothing
gets better.  And I know that you can't possibly like _all_ my
ideas, after all, even I throw out the obsolete ones after
they cause me enough pain!  :-)

And, as release-itis is about to strike again, I hope to make a
new release of the MiscKit next week, probably on Tuesday.  That
will give those who don't read e-mail over the weekend a chance
to bug me before the next release.  Unless something major is
wrong with the license, we'll tentatively go with the one in
that release, so _be_sure_you_like_it_  or forever hold your
peace.  Now's your chance to be a major influence.  One the
license is set, only contributors, by vote, will be able to
change it!

And again, let's start hearing about code.  What contributions
could/would you make?  What would you like to see?  Seems for
all the railing about details on shared resources, no one has
yet produced an object or objects with enough shareable resources
to make it worth attempting.  And frankly, I doubt sharing
resources will ever be worth the hassles, the more that I look
at it.  Look at Scott Anguish's ClockView, especially in the
next release, for a great example of a PB subproj that encapsulates
the resources in a developer-friendly way...avoiding that mess
entirely.  Also, if you are preparing an object for inclusion,
make sure that class names and #defined constants and typedefs
all use the "Misc" prefix, but **not** methods.  Also, it is up
to you to decide whether or not to use Misc with static functions.
It's not necessary at all for those.

Well, feedback, anyone?  (I've heard from only about 4/70 of you
so far...and I'm sure the other >60 have opinions, voiced or not!)

Later,
-don

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From: Scott Anguish <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 02 Oct 1993 01:57:56 -0400

The only two to watch
out for are (1) the ProgressView, a modification of the one
in the NS Dev Tools manual (chap 18), which I've been extending,
and (2) Scott Anguish's ClockView; 

	I've added some functionality to the ClockView, and have renamed
	the classes and files to conform to the MiscKit guidelines.  I
	have some of the documentation written and formatted, although in
	doing so I've decided to rename a few methods and move some instance
	variables into a more 'private' interface.

if you have suggestions on that one they should go to him directly.

	Oh yes please!

	And although Don says that people don't have to conribute, it sure
	would be nice if someone else would!  At this point it would be 

	quite uplifting to here from others who want to contribute code
	or objects, instead of just suggestions about the license! :-)
	
	If you don't want to write an object, or don't know of one to write
	either do like Don said and get the ToDo list (which is pretty sparse
	right now) or volunteer to work on the Revision Control System or something
	like that.
	
I want this to be the best thing around, and without constructive
criticism, nothing gets better.  And I know that you can't possibly
like _all_ my ideas, after all, even I throw out the obsolete ones
after they cause me enough pain!  :-)

	I'd like to see this get much bigger too!  More objects!  and some
	tools! and a brand new car!

And, as release-itis is about to strike again, I hope to make a
new release of the MiscKit next week, probably on Tuesday.

	I'm aiming to get Don's okey dokey on the MiscClockView for this
	release.  He's pretty busy though, the guy he is working on stuff
	for is a real jerk! :-o

--
- Scott Anguish -
[email-masked] (NextMail)
[email-masked] (comp.sys.next.announce submissions)

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From: [email-masked] (Steve Hayman)
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1993 23:25:54 -0400

> a background-view class that would let us draw nice lines in nibs without
> using a Box object (which is just plain gross!) 

FYI, before anybody rushes off to implement this good idea,
University of Houston has a (free) palette of simple views called
UHShapes that does exactly this. (and more - it will draw simple
circles and rectangles as well as lines, in various colours and orientations.)

You can ftp it from uhoop.egr.uh.edu, it's in 

	/pub/objects/UHShapes/UHShapes_1.1.compressed

They have another palette called UHSelectView, which is a handy
object that swaps views around in response to user input.  like
the Inspector panel in Workspace.

Handy.

Steve