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| Author | State of Mac OS coding (Read 15552 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bolkonskij
Administrator 1024 MB  Posts: 2023 
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on: June 07, 2021, 18:31
EDIT: This topic has been split-off this thread and moved into the development section. (off-topic, but I just quit my day job as a web dev because I don't like the direction the modern web is heading. Nobody understands what he/she is building anymore thanks to js framework mania and a gazillion of dependencies ... pretty much what you described). We have less hardware projects for our old Macs, that's true. There's also a shortage of new native software. There has been, however, a couple of very promising web projects aimed at retro computers (68k.news, frogfind, wiby, our sister page Cornica etc. come to mind). And yes, I don't think the Mac is as difficult to code for as it was and is often portrayed. Actually the Toolbox API is pretty well documentated. I think the issue really is accessibility. There's Inside Macintosh either as book volumes (!) or pdf and then ... there's nothing. Ok, maybe not nothing. But very very few. I keep waiting for someone to come up with something that changes that but so far nobody has. There's been a good solid write-up about coding in Pascal by Ingemar Rangemalm that helps getting in. We've added a very basic guide on how to setup and get going with CodeWarrior and C but that doesn't help you if you just want to look up what parameters InitDialogs() takes. With a better and more accessible documentation we might actually accelerate native development for Mac OS. |
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Last Edit: June 08, 2021, 10:46 by Bolkonskij
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cballero
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1024 MB  Posts: 1176 System 7, today and forever
Reply #1 on: June 08, 2021, 06:10
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Would Mac programming videos make sense? Start with the install and setup process, then follow that up with the basics of programming and then build the ramp up into more complex development, step-by-step. This way, folks may be much more inclined to try it out if it's accessible visually. It's like a beginner's course in programming for the Mac where the instructor's virtual, so-to-speak 
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #2 on: June 08, 2021, 10:40
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I feel videos could be nice for the basics and to lure more people into it, but then these bases are already covered. Rough, yes. But if you're determined to get into it, it's all possible already. I'd say the difficulty of coding for Mac OS is noticably higher than copy + pasting of python scripts from Stack Overflow and if you don't have the motivation to read up docs, you're probably not going to make it in Mac OS development. So it requires either prior experience or a high level of motivation, determination and free time. What I feel might ease the pain a bit would be an online reference like www.php.net (needs a modern browser) that is searchable and possibly holds useful snippets for common tasks in C and/or Pascal. Because as a coder you *know* what function you'd like to use at this one moment, you just don't memorize the function name to e.g. load a resource. So you spend more time searching for a description of LoadResource(ID) instead of actually writing code. And that makes it tedious. An online reference might help...
Last Edit: June 08, 2021, 10:56 by Bolkonskij
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Knezzen
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Administrator 512 MB Posts: 608 Village idiot
Reply #3 on: June 08, 2021, 11:36
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I agree about the online documentation, Bolkonskij. It's probably quite trivial to extract the built in function documentation from say RealBasic and post it online. Would love to find a wiki platform that renders fine in older browsers, so everyone could contribute documentation and example code.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #4 on: June 08, 2021, 12:26
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hmm. I feel another phone call is in line 
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Knezzen
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Administrator 512 MB Posts: 608 Village idiot
Reply #5 on: June 08, 2021, 18:55
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Quote from: Bolkonskij hmm. I feel another phone call is in line Indeed! Would love to add this to System 7 Today to make it more development centric
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wove
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1024 MB Posts: 1363
Reply #6 on: June 08, 2021, 22:42
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I came to the Mac from a Commodore and I really missed having Basic built in, or any programming language for that matter. Hypercard and Applescript were excellent additions to the Mac. I found Hypercard in particular a real delight to use for creating very simple little "apps" that I could create for my own needs rather than having to use more general purpose applications foisted off on me.
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #7 on: June 11, 2021, 06:58
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Since my early computer days involved a Commodore 64 as well, I can totally relate to the joy of flipping that switch and almost instantly having the computer ready to work and type in Basic. But then I remember hunting for typos in 200 lines of code and... noooo.... :-) Hypercard is and was an awesome system that maybe received less praise than it deserved. Together with extensions it proved to be such a versatile system only to be marred by a gazillion of mediocre one-afternoon-productions that ruined its reputation. The reputation was the reason why I personally never had considered doing anything with it. About two years ago I took a first peek into it and was surprised at how much and how easy you can achieve simple results. Especially if you're looking for a typical Input / Output kind of program, this is so easy to write with Hypercard. Edit: Just added an entry for Hypercard 2.4 on System 7 Today's mainpage
Last Edit: June 11, 2021, 09:56 by Bolkonskij
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Bolkonskij
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Administrator 1024 MB Posts: 2023
Reply #8 on: July 27, 2021, 12:32
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I should add that https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/ (modern browser needed) has a whole virtual bookshelf of various kinds of Macintosh Programming books. Available for free, as a PDF. It's an amazing collection at your fingertips. If you ever wanted to get into coding, this is the best time. Go, learn, code and come back and present what you've done :-)
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reukiodo
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16 MB Posts: 22 
Reply #9 on: September 21, 2021, 07:26
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Wow! That's a really good resource! Now only if I had more time...
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