May 92 - Editor's Note
Editor's Note
Mary Elaine Califf
New Features for frameworks
In this issue you'll find the first appearance of a new section: Tricks of the Trade. This
section provides a place for short pieces (no more than three pages) that focus on the
process of development and the best use of our tools. This month, Robert Lenoil shows
us how to modify the startup process in order to simplify switching between versions
of MacApp. Future topics for this section might include tips on improving the
performance of the build process (other than purchasing a Quadra) and tips for
converting Object Pascal to C++. Any idea that you feel is worth writing about but
doesn't require a full-length article might belong in Tricks of the Trade.
This month we also have a guest editorial from Jeff Stulin on the subject of
object-oriented dynamic languages. This appears in conjunction with the
announcement of the new OODL SIG. I look forward, as I hope you do, to further notices
from this SIG as well as from the various regional MADA groups.
Another feature that I would like to implement is a Letters to the Editor column.
FrameWorks is written for you, but I can change it to meet your needs better only if I
know what those needs are. Please write to me, publicly or privately, and make your
opinions and ideas known.
ALSO In this issue
As always, the technical columns and features are the most important feature of
FrameWorks this month. In Children of the DogCow, Kent Sandvik identifies common
sources of bugs in MacApp programs and gives us some tips on both finding the
problems and preventing them from occurring. John Baxter's second article on
Prograph focuses on using it to create Macintosh applications. If you dislike the flicker
as your overly complex views respond to update events, see Ken Ryall's article. He
describes a unit that supports offscreen drawing in MacApp 3. Finally, don't miss
Lonnie Millet's article on exception handling. The first of two parts, it explains how
exception handling works in both MacApp 2 and 3.
Other items of interest include a brief overview of Frontier by John Baxter. As
always, James Plamondon provides coverage of the latest Bamada meetings. And, for
those who missed it, we have coverage of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.
FrameWorks depends on you
We will all miss Don Sawtelle, who did an excellent job as editor. I know that you join
me in wishing him well as he focuses on new pursuits. I hope that I will be able to
continue to improve FrameWorks as he did, but I can only do that with your help.
Write and tell me what you like about FrameWorks and how you would improve it.
Send in a review of your favorite book on object-oriented programming or of a useful
programming tool. Write that article you've been thinking about for the last six
months and send it in. Together, we can make FrameWorks even better.