Developer CD Series 1993…ch: Other People's Memory/ADC Developer CD (1993-03) (''Other People's Memory'')_iso/Dev.CD Mar 93.iso/Development Platforms/CSMP Digests/csmp-v1-021.txt

Text File | 1992-11-18 | 37.4 KB | 1,036 lines | [TEXT/MPS ]

C.S.M.P. Digest             Wed, 18 Mar 92       Volume 1 : Issue 21

Today's Topics:

    GameMaster - Mailing List/summary of suggestions and bugs
    How to tell if you've got a DialogPeek or a WindowPtr?
    How do you find something in memory fast?
    Using Fonts in Application
    A question on clipping
    Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
    Prograph experiences?
    TeachText doesn't reply to 'odoc' events.  Why?
    (Q): How do I execute UpdateEvents?
    Dialog Boxes & float variables in THINK C


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

From: [e-mail] (Rhys Hollow)
Subject: GameMaster - Mailing List/summary of suggestions and bugs
Organization: University of Western Australia
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1992 04:24:24 GMT


  Well,

   a while ago I posted a request for ideas/suggestions and programmers
for GameMaster and its rulebooks.  I got a lot of replies, and a lot of
useful suggestions, and I thought I would summarize them here in the
hope to get some more :)

   First I would like to announce that due to the kind efforts of a
Steve, GameMaster now has a mailing list.  The mailing list will start
off as a developer list for helping people write their own rulebooks,
but might eventually turn into a 'I want to play this game' list.  If
you are at all interested in GameMaster, join the list.  You can always
unsubscribe later.
  To subscribe to the list, mail me (Rhys) at [e-mail].

  Now first of all I will list the games people suggested be written as
rulebooks.  Take a look at the list, and if it gives you any more ideas,
or you think you would play one of them if it was written, let me know.
We still need programmers.  Come on guys (and gals)! I wrote a rulebook over the
weekend.  It took me two days, and most of that was drawing the
graphics!

  Suggested rulebooks.
  --------------------

  light cycles
  2 player shoot-em-up with obstacles
  nethack style co-operative game
  Spectre/Battlezone
  a Mazewar like game
  Checkers
  Chinese Checkers
  Go
  Risk
  Poker
  Tennis
  Mastermind
  Crib  (or was that cribbage?)
  Hangman
  Scrabble
  Stratego

  bear in mind that GameMaster only handles 2 or less players (not
counting computer players).  This list is only a suggestion list.  If
you have any better ideas, let me know!

  Here is a list of the complaints/suggestions people gave me about
GameMaster and its rulebooks.

  Complaints/Suggestions
  ----------------------

  Need Help command for each rulebook
      This is a good suggestion, and easy to implement.  GM 2 will have
      it.

  Need colour, resizable windows.
      GM 2 has colour now, am still working on resizable windows.

  Downloading too much of a security risk
      I had a big discussion with the person who said this (hi Stephen :)
      We eventually agreed to disagree.

  A finger-like function, to see if a person is running GM
      I'm working on a program (well actually I'm delegating :) that
      allows you to telnet to it and say 'Im available for this game'
      May be a while yet though.

  need more rulebooks that utilise the element of secrecy between the
    two machines.
        Agreed.  but what ones?  and why won't anyone write them?

  Chess -  doesn't handle stalemate
           forces you to move the piece once you pick it up
           doesn't change the board orientation depending on what side
              you are playing
           no visual indication of check or mate.

        An upgrade to the chess rulebook is coming.  Just as soon as I
        get some mac time.

  Needs multiple players.
      Tell me about it.

  Can't find anyone to play with.
      Working on it.  Join the mailing list, it might help.

  Don't have Pascal, want the C interfaces (Dave!  where are you?  :)
      three of four people mailed me asking for C interfaces.  Sorry
      guys!  I'm working on it.  any day now!

  Derfball -  what is it?
     a source of confusion to many people, that's what it is.  I think I
     will release a 'one player' version.  When I get the time of course.


  Well that's about all really.  I have one third party rulebook in the
pipeline (Mancala), I wrote a rulebook over the weekend (Isolation), I'm
working on a generic card player,  I'm trying to get resizable windows
into gamemaster, while putting in Help commands and preferences and
computer players.  I need some HELP!  I need to be able to get on with
GM 2 while other people start writing rulebooks.
  GM 2 will handle colour and possibly resizable rulebooks, but the
GM/Rulebook interface will not change!  All rulebooks written for GM 1
will work perfectly with GM 2.  To take advantage of colour, only slight
alterations to existing rulebooks is needed.  And that's only if you
want them to come out in blazing colour!

   Thanks to all the people who replied to my earlier post.  And thanks
in advance to all those who reply to this one.

  So, if you want to subscribe to the GameMaster mailing list, drop me a
line at [e-mail].  If you have any more suggestions, or you
wish to write a rulebook, drop me a line.

  Rhys.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhys Hollow ([e-mail]) "ee'er by gum he's a bad'un!" -DangerMouse.




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

From: [e-mail] (Mike Engber)
Subject: How to tell if you've got a DialogPeek or a WindowPtr?
Date: 12 Feb 92 00:49:48 GMT
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences


Right now I'm using:

static Boolean IsDLOG(WindowPtr w){
    return GetHandleSize(((DialogPeek)(w))->items) > 0;
}

Can anyone think of a better (safer way)?

And I have a plausible use, I'm writing a CDEF that behaves differently
depending on if it's in a dialog or in a window. You see, GetDItem bombs
if you pass it a WindowPtr.

Please cc via email if possible.

-ME



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

From: [e-mail] (Keith Rollin)
Subject:  How to tell if you've got a DialogPeek or a WindowPtr?
Date: 14 Feb 92 03:23:13 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Engber) writes:
>
>Right now I'm using:
>
>static Boolean IsDLOG(WindowPtr w){
>    return GetHandleSize(((DialogPeek)(w))->items) > 0;
>}
>
>Can anyone think of a better (safer way)?
>
>And I have a plausible use, I'm writing a CDEF that behaves differently
>depending on if it's in a dialog or in a window. You see, GetDItem bombs
>if you pass it a WindowPtr.

Two comments:

o First, if you need two different kinds of CDEFs, then write two
  different CDEFs. Or, at least, attach some significance to the
  variation code of the control. Use one variation for windows, and
  another for dialogs. I think it's a very bad idea to have a control
  that magically changes depending on what kind of window it's in.

o Second, to answer your question, take a look at the windowKind
  field of the window record. This field contains dialogKind for
  dialogs, and userKind or greater for document windows.

--
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keith Rollin           ---            <Taligent .signature under construction>
Disclaimer: Pretty soon, I really _won't_ be speaking for Apple...



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

From: [e-mail] (John Wallace)
Subject:  How to tell if you've got a DialogPeek or a WindowPtr?
Organization: TRW Data Systems Center, Redondo Beach, CA
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 92 02:20:53 GMT

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Engber) writes:
>
>Right now I'm using:
>
>static Boolean IsDLOG(WindowPtr w){
>    return GetHandleSize(((DialogPeek)(w))->items) > 0;
>}
>
>Can anyone think of a better (safer way)?
>
>And I have a plausible use, I'm writing a CDEF that behaves differently
>depending on if it's in a dialog or in a window. You see, GetDItem bombs
>if you pass it a WindowPtr.
>

You may want to store the information about your window/dialog in its
refCon.  This avoids a call to GetHandleSize when it is a window and
the items field contains garbage (which may actually reference a valid
handle in which case your call would mistakenly return TRUE).

If you allocate the window/dialog's memory in the heap you could also
write:

function IsDialog(window : WindowPtr) : Boolean;
begin
    IsDialog := GetPtrSize(Ptr(window)) = SizeOf(DialogRecord);
end;


Hope this helps!
John

- -
John Wallace        [e-mail]




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

From: [e-mail] (Nicholas Jackiw)
Subject:  How to tell if you've got a DialogPeek or a WindowPtr?
Date: 15 Feb 92 21:08:40 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Mike Engber) writes:
>
>Right now I'm using:
>
>static Boolean IsDLOG(WindowPtr w){
>    return GetHandleSize(((DialogPeek)(w))->items) > 0;
>}
>
>Can anyone think of a better (safer way)?

If it's a window, instead of a dialog, then DialogPeek(w)^.items is
undefined.  GetHandleSize on it is likewise undefined.  It's only
luck that it should be returning zero to you.

Try instead checking WindowPeek(w)^.windowKind=dialogKind.


--
                              --- * ---
Nick Jackiw                  [e-mail]   | [e-mail]
Key Curriculum Press, Inc.   Applelink:KEY.EDUSOFT | [phone]
                              --- * ---



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

From: [e-mail] (Matt Mora)
Subject: How do you find something in memory fast?
Date: 13 Feb 92 00:59:41 GMT
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA

After seeing all these post about how to fill a block/copy
a block of memory really fast, I was wondering if anybody
has done the same thing for finding a string in a block of memory.
Right now I'm using munger but I would like to port my program to other
platforms and it won't have a munger function.

Thanks

Matt




--
___________________________________________________________
Matthew Mora                |   my Mac  [e-mail]
SRI International           |  my unix  [e-mail]
___________________________________________________________



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

From: [e-mail] (Nicholas Jackiw)
Subject:  How do you find something in memory fast?
Date: 15 Feb 92 21:17:45 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Matt Mora) writes:
>After seeing all these post about how to fill a block/copy
>a block of memory really fast, I was wondering if anybody
>has done the same thing for finding a string in a block of memory.
>Right now I'm using munger but I would like to port my program to other
>platforms and it won't have a munger function.
>
>Thanks
>
>Matt

Well; first let it be said that one can do much better than brute force.
If you consider a search for pattern of length A in a search field
length B;  brute force has a worst case proportional to A*B (though in
many applications, like English text, you're much more likely to run at
or near A+B).  S. A. Cook came up with a proof that a you can always do
it proportional to A+B; Knuth-Morris-Pratt is the name given to the
standard implementation of this machine.   There's also the Boyer-Moore,
which is usually even better, because it examines only a fraction of
the characters.

Unfortunately, I can't explain how any of these works.  It takes a good
CS primer a dozen pages to work through them; and while I've occasionally
followed such chapters through with understanding, a week or two later
my ability to summarize them grows dim.  Fortunately, I can put you on
to good references.   Check out _Algorithms_ by Sedgewick (ISBN 0-201-
06673-4; Addison-Wesley) for an overview of the field, or any of Knuth's
articles or texts on the subject.

--
                              --- * ---
Nick Jackiw                  [e-mail]   | [e-mail]
Key Curriculum Press, Inc.   Applelink:KEY.EDUSOFT | [phone]
                              --- * ---



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

From: [e-mail]!gluttony.reed.edu!pcalahan (Patrick John Calahan)
Subject: Using Fonts in Application
Date: 13 Feb 92 07:28:01 GMT
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

I've written a Mac application which needs to use several fonts which may
not be in the user's system file.  What is the best way to make fonts
stored in the application's resource fork available for use by the
application?



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

From: [e-mail] (David Phillip Oster)
Subject:  Using Fonts in Application
Date: 17 Feb 92 06:06:53 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]!gluttony.reed.edu!pcalahan (Patrick John Calahan) writes:
>I've written a Mac application which needs to use several fonts which may
>not be in the user's system file.  What is the best way to make fonts
>stored in the application's resource fork available for use by the
>application?

Inside Mac Vol 6, Script Manage chapter, has a section on a reserved range of
font ids for fonts that are captive to an applicationn. You'll probably
want to name the fonts with a leading ".", or "%", this bit of magic keeps
them from showing up in the font menus. If you _do_ want them to show,
then you might do what Hypercard does, and put up an annoying dialog telling the
user to install the missing fonts.
--
-- David Phillip Oster - At least the government doesn't make death worse.
-- [e-mail] = {backbone}!well!oster



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

From: [e-mail] (Kenneth Anderson)
Subject: A question on clipping
Date: 13 Feb 92 18:59:45 GMT

I have a question about setting the clipping region to acheive a particular
effect.  I am programming my first After Dark module, so I'm doing something
simple with rectangles to get my feet wet.  I blank the screen, and then
create a whole bunch of rectangles (determined by value set by the user)
and then randomly I would like to select one of the rectangles and change
its pattern. I also treat the blankrgn (the entire screen) as a rectangle,
so every now and then I change the pattern of if with the following
call...

  FillRgn(blankRgn,ThePattern);

Where ThePattern is one of the system-defined patterns.

My problem: When I do this, I erase all of the rectangles that were
previously there.  They, of course, begin to appear again, when I
change their pattern, but only for a brief time, before the above
call erases (actually fills is the better word) them again.

My question:  How can I set the clipping region, so that the blankrgn's
pattern changes, but the rectangles that are already on the screen remain.

What I have done:  I have tried several solutions.  I keep my rectangles
in an array.  I loop through this array, doing something like the
following...

RgnHandle aRgn = NewRgn();
RgnHandle clipRegion = NewRgn();

for (i=0; i<CurrentIndex+1; i++)
{
   OpenRgn();
   FillRect(myarray[i].aRect,ThePattern);
   CloseRgn(aRgn);
   UnionRgn(clipRegion,aRgn,clipRegion);
}

So hopefully the above code will create a region which is the
union of all the rectangles displayed on the screen.  Now I
want to fill the screen with a new pattern, but I don't want to
fill any portion of the screen that is in clipRegion.

So what should I do now?


Any help or info would be greatly appreciated, either post or send
mail, I read both....

Thanks in advance,

Ken Anderson



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

From: [e-mail] (James M Synge)
Subject:  A question on clipping
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 17 FEB 92 11:01:24

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Kenneth Anderson) writes...
>My question:  How can I set the clipping region, so that the blankrgn's
>pattern changes, but the rectangles that are already on the screen remain.
>
>What I have done:  I have tried several solutions.  I keep my rectangles
>in an array.  I loop through this array, doing something like the
>following...
>
>RgnHandle aRgn = NewRgn();
>RgnHandle clipRegion = NewRgn();
>
>for (i=0; i<CurrentIndex+1; i++)
>{
>   OpenRgn();
>   FillRect(myarray[i].aRect,ThePattern);
>   CloseRgn(aRgn);
>   UnionRgn(clipRegion,aRgn,clipRegion);
>}

I think you may have reversed the regions.  clipRegion is the area in which
you don't want to draw.  So you need to subtract this region from the
blankrgn, and to draw into the resulting region.

James



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

From: [e-mail] (Ken Whaley)
Subject: Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Date: 13 Feb 92 20:11:40 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
something?  Is this information published?

Thanks,
    Ken
--
Ken Whaley                                        [e-mail]
                                                         or
                          [e-mail]



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

From: [e-mail] (Pete Resnick)
Subject:  Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1992 23:20:00 GMT

[e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:

>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>something?  Is this information published?

You can find instruction timings in the Motorola MC68000 book, which
includes timings for the 68000, 68008, 68010, and 68H000. As far as I
know, they stopped publishing them for the 68020, 68030 and 68040
because there were so many variables they couldn't get reasonable
times, or something like that.

pr
--
Pete Resnick             (...so what is a mojo, and why would one be rising?)
Graduate assistant - Philosophy Department, Gregory Hall, UIUC
System manager - Cognitive Science Group, Beckman Institute, UIUC
Internet: [e-mail]



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

From: [e-mail] (Povl Hessellund Pedersen)
Subject:  Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Date: 14 Feb 92 12:02:21 GMT
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark

[e-mail] (Pete Resnick) writes:

>[e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:

>>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>>something?  Is this information published?

>You can find instruction timings in the Motorola MC68000 book, which
>includes timings for the 68000, 68008, 68010, and 68H000. As far as I
>know, they stopped publishing them for the 68020, 68030 and 68040
>because there were so many variables they couldn't get reasonable
>times, or something like that.

In my copy of the Motorola 68030 manual there is instruction timins
for all the instructions. You have to calculate them yourself, using
the basic instruction timing, add time for addressing modes, and then
asee if there is some head/tail overlap that should be removed when
the stuff is in the cache.

My manual is the 2nd/3rd or 4th edition. I am not sure which one.
--
Povl H. Pedersen (External student at dept. of CS, student at dept. economics)
[e-mail]   /   [e-mail] ( soon to be closed )
- -
Testing for .signature virus .....    No virus found. Posting proceeds...



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

From: [e-mail] (Mike Farren)
Subject:  Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Date: 14 Feb 92 19:40:11 GMT
Organization: Nowhere Man, Inq.

[e-mail] (Pete Resnick) writes:
>[e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:
>
>>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>>something?  Is this information published?
>
>You can find instruction timings in the Motorola MC68000 book, which
>includes timings for the 68000, 68008, 68010, and 68H000. As far as I
>know, they stopped publishing them for the 68020, 68030 and 68040
>because there were so many variables they couldn't get reasonable
>times, or something like that.

I've got a copy of the "MC68030 Enhanced 32-bit Microprocessor User's
Manual", Motorola part number MC68030UM/AD, and it devotes a rather
large amount of space to instruction timings.  Rather useless information,
though, since instruction timing on an MC68030 is extremely dependent
on the *exact* circumstances of instruction execution - what's in the
cache, what's not in the cache, external memory speed, etc.

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Farren - no longer employed by Commodore.  Still only my opinions,
and not those of any organization.



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

From: [e-mail] (Thomas R. Kimpton)
Subject:  Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Date: 14 Feb 92 18:39:19 GMT
Organization: Digital Technology, International

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Pete Resnick) writes:
>[e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:
>
>>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>>something?  Is this information published?
>
>You can find instruction timings in the Motorola MC68000 book, which
>includes timings for the 68000, 68008, 68010, and 68H000. As far as I
>know, they stopped publishing them for the 68020, 68030 and 68040
>because there were so many variables they couldn't get reasonable
>times, or something like that.
[deleted]
>Pete Resnick             (...so what is a mojo, and why would one be rising?)

Look in section 9 "Instruction Execution Timing" in
"MC68020 32-Bit Microprocessor User's Manual" Second
Edition.  I don't have my '030 manual here, but I
think it has the same section,  the '881/'882 book
has the same section (section 8, though), I don't have
the '851 book here either, but I think it has the
same section also.

Note that the instruction times are split into
the basic instruction timing, and into the
operand fetch/store timing.  It also shows timing
for instructions in cache with instruction pipeline
overlap, cache no overlap, no cache no overlap.


--
- -
Tom Kimpton                            [e-mail]
Digital Technology Int.                [phone]
500 W. 1200 South, Orem UT, 84057      FAX [phone]



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

From: [e-mail] (Andrew R. Southwick)
Subject:  where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1992 04:38:20 GMT

In article [e-mail] (Mike Farren) writes:
>>[e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:
>>>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>>>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>>>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>>>something?  Is this information published?
>
>I've got a copy of the "MC68030 Enhanced 32-bit Microprocessor User's
>Manual", Motorola part number MC68030UM/AD, and it devotes a rather
>large amount of space to instruction timings.  Rather useless information,
>though, since instruction timing on an MC68030 is extremely dependent
>on the *exact* circumstances of instruction execution - what's in the
>cache, what's not in the cache, external memory speed, etc.

I have the M68000 users manual and a programmers manual for the 68000 series
as well.  The programmers manual covers the instructions and their uses.
Good for learning the lingo.  It is the same information in the users manual
but it covers all of the processors, the floating point instructions,
etc.  M68000, 020, 030, 040, 851, 881, and 882 are covered in the prog.'s
manual.  The users manual has, other than introductory material, timing in
the form of the number of cycles used for each instruction.  It would be
helpful to take a look at a 68030/040 or whatever users manual for
yourself to decide if it has what you are looking for.

-ars
[e-mail]  Andrew R. Southwick




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

From: [e-mail] (Paul Russell)
Subject:  Q: where to find 680x0 instruction timings?
Date: 17 Feb 92 10:45:00 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex

>From article <[e-mail]>, by [e-mail] (Pete Resnick):
> [e-mail] (Ken Whaley) writes:
>
>>I've looked both in the Motorola User's and Programmer's manuals (albeit not
>>extremely carefully), and in a third party 68030 book I just bought.  I can't
>>find cycle counts for individual instructions.  Have I just overlooked
>>something?  Is this information published?
>
> You can find instruction timings in the Motorola MC68000 book, which
> includes timings for the 68000, 68008, 68010, and 68H000. As far as I
> know, they stopped publishing them for the 68020, 68030 and 68040
> because there were so many variables they couldn't get reasonable
> times, or something like that.
>

Programmer's Assistants from Aladdin includes a DA called Bean Counter,
which totals up cycle counts for you when you type in 680x0 source
(I think you can paste source into it too).

Unfortunately Aladdin seem to have become very unreliable with their
support (eg: ShortCut hasn't been updated for System 7.0 yet) so
I'm loath to give any of their products my full recommendation
at present.

//Paul

--
|  Paul Russell                  |  "Microsoft MS-DOS 5.0 gives your  |
|  Dept Experimental Psychology  |   computer something you'll both   |
|  University of Sussex, Falmer  |   love - an extra 45k memory."     |
|  Brighton BN1 9QG, England     |        -- Microsoft advertisement  |



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

From: [e-mail] (Jeff Cantwell)
Subject: Prograph experiences?
Date: 14 Feb 92 20:42:51 GMT
Organization: Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Nashville, TN, USA


We are thinking of using Prograph as a development platform for a
variety of tools.  Right now we are basically a Smalltalk-80 group.
How difficult is it to learn Prograph?  How long does it take to come
up to speed? How hard is it to do graphical visualization tools in
Prograph? Has anyone done anything like this?  We are thinking of
starting simply and doing some basic charting tools (bar charts,
plots, flowcharts, etc).  Is this possible in Prograph?  Any advice
would be appreciated!

--
Jeff Cantwell, Vanderbilt U. CIS Box 1804, Sta. B Nashville, TN 37235
  Internet: [e-mail] Bitnet: CANTWEJR@VUCTRVAX
    Phone: [phone]  Fax: [phone]
       2 Cor. 12:9 "Power is perfected in weakness."



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

From: [e-mail] (James M Synge)
Subject:  Prograph experiences?
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 17 FEB 92 11:11:15

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Jeff Cantwell) writes...
>
>We are thinking of using Prograph as a development platform for a
>variety of tools.  Right now we are basically a Smalltalk-80 group.
>How difficult is it to learn Prograph?  How long does it take to come
>up to speed? How hard is it to do graphical visualization tools in
>Prograph? Has anyone done anything like this?  We are thinking of
>starting simply and doing some basic charting tools (bar charts,
>plots, flowcharts, etc).  Is this possible in Prograph?  Any advice
>would be appreciated!

Suggestion: subscribe to the info-prograph mailing list by sending a
request to [e-mail].  Once you're on the list
(you'll receive a reply), ask your question of the readers of the list.

I just bought a copy of Prograph 2.5, and am going through the tutorials
(necessary because it is so different from the previous languages I've
used).

I've quite excited by the language and programming environment. The fact
that I can add/change code as I'm running the program, and have the
interpreter automatically rollback to just before the changed code makes
developing code a pleasure.  And the excellent support for the basics of
the Macintosh interface (windows, scroll lists, buttons, etc.) makes it
possible to built elementary applications quickly.  I don't yet know how it
is going to compare to Think C and TCL when it comes to more customized
graphics applications.

The major drawback is that it is non-standard.  I understand that TGS is
working to port Prograph to Unix platforms, and that should improve the
situation.

James Synge



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

From: [e-mail] (Jonathan Greenfield)
Subject: TeachText doesn't reply to 'odoc' events.  Why?
Organization: CIS Dept., Syracuse University
Date: Fri, 14 Feb 92 13:27:47 EST

I have found that whenever I send an 'odoc' event to TeachText, I do
not get a reply (at least, not within the default timeout preiod of
about a minute).

The document gets opened by TeachText without any trouble, but no reply.

Any explanations?

Thanks.

--
J. S. Greenfield                                         [e-mail]
(I like to put 'greeny' here,
but my d*mn system wants a
*real* name!)                        "What's the difference between an orange?"



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

From: [e-mail] (Ed Lai)
Subject:  TeachText doesn't reply to 'odoc' events.  Why?
Date: 17 Feb 92 15:52:17 GMT
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Jonathan Greenfield) writes:
>I have found that whenever I send an 'odoc' event to TeachText, I do
>not get a reply (at least, not within the default timeout preiod of
>about a minute).
>
>The document gets opened by TeachText without any trouble, but no reply.
>
>Any explanations?
>

The version of TeachText in the system 7.0 does not use the Apple Event
Manger, so don't expect it to honor the reply flag.

/* Disclaimer: All statments and opinions expressed are my own */
/* Edmund K. Lai                                               */
/* Apple Computer, MS37-UP                                     */
/* 20525 Mariani Ave,                                          */
/* Cupertino, CA 95014                                         */
/* [phone]                                               */
zW@h9cOi



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

From: [e-mail]
Subject: (Q): How do I execute UpdateEvents?
Date: 17 Feb 92 10:21:06 GMT
Organization: Harvey Mudd College

Here's a fairly straightforward query:

    How do I implement window updates after I get an UpdateEvent?

This is a little less stupid than it may seem. I am a C programmer, brought up
to speed on the Mac by Dave Mark's series. Mark only includes sample code for
an update that occurs *in a window with a PICT associated with it*, nothing
about refreshing text-filled windows, etc. Before I go rooting through the TCL
source code to find the way they do it for a "generic" window, what do YOU
suggest? "Programming for System 7" advises attaching a handle to any given
window's RefCon in order to store data, but I'm not sure what type of data I
need to store to refresh a window. I'm sure there's a simple solution, but I'm
at a loss to the answer. Source code would be *much* appreciated.

Andy Francke



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

From: [e-mail] (Jon W{tte)
Subject:  (Q): How do I execute UpdateEvents?
Date: 17 Feb 92 16:59:28 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

.claremont.edu> [e-mail] writes:

   Here's a fairly straightforward query:

       How do I implement window updates after I get an UpdateEvent?


This is one of the classic humps to overcome. There are two ways of
doing it. If your data is expensive to compute; you could just associate
a bitmap with the window, draw into the bitmap and post an update event
to get the data displayed - update events should just copy from the
bitmap (probably stored in the wRefCon) into the window.

The "better" (less memory-intensive way) is to create a few structs for
your various window kinds:

typedef struct fooWindow {

    short        windowType ;
    Handle        fooData ;
    Rect        fooRect ;

} FooWindow ;

typedef struct barWindow {

    short        windowType ;
    short        data [ 10 ] ;

} BarWindow ;

You then create a window by creating a struct, filling it in with
initial data, creating the window and stuffing a handle containing
this struct into the wRefCon. Updates and clicks and whatever are
simplest handled by checking the short first in the handle, and
then switch (or table-of-function-lookup) on that value.

Or you could use the TCL and have no need to handle widnow updates
at all; your panes will get Draw messages whenever necessary.

--
This Signature is distributed under the conditions of the Signature License,
available at a fee from   [e-mail]  (Jon W{tte)  Reading the Signature
implies that you accept to be bound by the terms in said License. Should you
not agree on any of these terms, you must return the Signature unread to me.



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

From: [e-mail] (Stephen M. Youndt)
Subject: Dialog Boxes & float variables in THINK C
Date: 17 Feb 92 13:50:11 GMT
Organization: HaL Systems, Burke, VA

I'm trying to write a small routine in THINK C that displays a modal dialog
box and read in 3 values.  I've found the routines that allow me to convert
extended to string and vice-versa, but what I'd really like to do is convert
extended to float, so that I can do some real arithmetic without incurring
all the overhead and ugliness of repeated SANE calls.

On a side note, what documentation is recommended to someone doing lots of
FP work. I have IM I-VI, but have been unable to find a way to make this work.
Is the Guide to Numerics also considered a must have?

Answers w/ references or better yet, examples, will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance. -- SMY
- -
Stephen M. Youndt       10201 Chase Commons Drive #106    Phone: [phone] H
uunet!hacker!steve      Burke, VA 22015                          301-294-0162 W



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

From: [e-mail] (Doug McNaught)
Subject:  Dialog Boxes & float variables in THINK C
Date: 17 Feb 92 17:41:08 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology

Steve, mail to you bounced, so...

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Stephen M. Youndt) writes:
>I'm trying to write a small routine in THINK C that displays a modal dialog
>box and read in 3 values.  I've found the routines that allow me to convert
>extended to string and vice-versa, but what I'd really like to do is convert
>extended to float, so that I can do some real arithmetic without incurring
>all the overhead and ugliness of repeated SANE calls.

  Bad news--as far as I know, SANE is used for all floating point, whether
it's float, double, or extended. It's all done in 80-bit extended precision,
too, so float is just a way to store limited precision values in less space,
and you may actually incur more overhead from converting float->ext->float
each time. The compiler, of course, generates the SANE calls for you, so you
don't actually have to do the traps yourself, unless you're doing something
SANE-specific, like setting the rounding mode. The speedy alternative is to
set the compiler to generate 6888[12] calls, but then you lose generality.
(And lose completely, if you have a Classic like me :-( )
  If you really want to learn about this stuff, the _Apple Numerics Manual_ is
indeed what you want--it has a quote something like "Is it really better to
get the wrong answer fast?"
  NOTE: The above is gleaned from reading IM in detail, the Numerics Manual
once, and using THINK Pascal extensively. I haven't used C much but don't
think it does things very differently.
luck,
doug

--
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Go Skins!!<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
<> Doug McNaught                          [e-mail] <>
<>  Help!!! I'm addicted to *Spaceward Ho!* Is there a support group? <>
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Go Skins!!<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>



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End of C.S.M.P. Digest
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