cy384
Well-known member
For modern development, it's usually pretty easy to find code examples. Stuff like stack overflow, online documentation, and github code search make most practical information very easy to find.
In the classic Mac era, there were a few sources of code I can think of:
* Apple SDKs and examples, either via FTP or CDs
* Apple documentation (Inside Macintosh etc.), mostly as PDFs or hard copy books
* Various third party books and textbooks, often with a CD of example code
* Some open source or free applications
* Magazines such as MacTech, sometimes also with CD archives
It's (mostly) still possible to find these, but they're archived in very disparate ways, and are rarely searchable. I think we're at a point where there is some renewed interest in classic Mac development, but so much information and cultural knowledge is functionally lost that it's hard to get much done without significant effort. Also, more online resources are slowly being lost to entropy and the decreased usability of search engines. I spent days just trying to figure out how to get good random numbers for ssheven! I found some strategies in a very old version of openssl, but figuring that out and finding that code was an adventure.
At a minimum, I would like to make a large pile of searchable code, probably in a git repo. This would at least make it easy to find references to particular function calls and APIs. More sophisticated, modern-style documentation would be great, but I don't think there are enough qualified people with interest in making such a thing happen. There are also significant challenges, like the disparities between 68k and ppc, the many system versions, the hardware diversity over time, compiler compatibility, and so on.
I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts others have about finding code and documentation for classic Mac development, especially if you have any easy ideas for improving the situation.
In the classic Mac era, there were a few sources of code I can think of:
* Apple SDKs and examples, either via FTP or CDs
* Apple documentation (Inside Macintosh etc.), mostly as PDFs or hard copy books
* Various third party books and textbooks, often with a CD of example code
* Some open source or free applications
* Magazines such as MacTech, sometimes also with CD archives
It's (mostly) still possible to find these, but they're archived in very disparate ways, and are rarely searchable. I think we're at a point where there is some renewed interest in classic Mac development, but so much information and cultural knowledge is functionally lost that it's hard to get much done without significant effort. Also, more online resources are slowly being lost to entropy and the decreased usability of search engines. I spent days just trying to figure out how to get good random numbers for ssheven! I found some strategies in a very old version of openssl, but figuring that out and finding that code was an adventure.
At a minimum, I would like to make a large pile of searchable code, probably in a git repo. This would at least make it easy to find references to particular function calls and APIs. More sophisticated, modern-style documentation would be great, but I don't think there are enough qualified people with interest in making such a thing happen. There are also significant challenges, like the disparities between 68k and ppc, the many system versions, the hardware diversity over time, compiler compatibility, and so on.
I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts others have about finding code and documentation for classic Mac development, especially if you have any easy ideas for improving the situation.