Getting Started
Volume Number: 8>replyPtr Issue Number: 1>replyPtr$ Column Tag: Getting started>replyPtr@ >replyPtrZ My First Macintosh . . .>replyPtro 8How does one get started programming on the Macintosh?>replyPtr 4By Dave Mark, MacTutor Regular Contributing Author>replyPtr $PI bought my first Macintosh in March of ‘84, during the “first hundred days”.>replyPtr RThough it might seem silly to some, MacWrite and MacPaint changed me completely. I>replyPtr Qdrew pictures of my dog. I wrote letters to everyone in my Rolodex. I was hooked.>replyPtr $@Being a long-time programmer, my immediate goal was to create my own>replyPtr Hsizzling Mac application. I read through the doc that came with my Mac. Absolutely no>replyPtr Thelp there. I asked my friends. I even asked my Mom. Finally, I asked my cousin Eldin.>replyPtr„ +Bingo! He laid the whole thing out for me. >replyPtrÔ$L“For starters,” he told me, “you’ll need to pick-up something called Inside>replyPtrCustomGetFile SMacintosh. It’s the only technical documentation available. You pay $150 to Apple and>replyPtr Pthey’ll send you two 3” binders stuffed with all manner of technical material.>fixBtnName DConcentrate on the QuickDraw chapter. That’s where it all starts.”>fixBtnName$MWith that sage advice, I started my career as a Macintosh developer. In those>replyPtr Pdays, there weren’t a whole lot of technical resources available to help me along. Now,>fixBtnName7 [the choices are endless. If you’re just getting started with Mac development, or if you’d>replyPtr Xjust like someone else’s viewpoint, stick around. In the next few pages, we’ll explore>fixBtnNameO Mthe vast array of Macintosh development options from an economic perspective.>replyPtr !Spending Your Hard-Earned Money>replyPtr $LWouldn’t it be nice if everything you needed to program your Macintosh came>fixBtnName Qwith it for free. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Programming the Mac can be>replyPtr Yincredibly expensive. In this section, we’re going to talk about priorities. What should>replyPtr Qyou spend your money on? What should you buy and what order should you buy it in?>replyPtr $PFor starters, you’re going to need a Macintosh with at least 4 Mb of RAM and at>fixBtnName Uleast a 40 Mb hard drive. You can program with less, but this is one area I wouldn’t>replyPtr skimp on.>replyPtr $OIf you’re going to program with MPW, C++, and MacApp, you’d better plan on at>replyPtr Rleast 8Mb of RAM and at least 80Mb of hard drive space. You’d also better plan on>fixBtnNameÊ Nrunning System 7 in 32-bit mode with virtual memory turned on. MacApp is cool, but>fixBtnNameÚ )it really sucks up memory and disk space.>replyPtr Buy A Development Environment>replyPtr$POnce you’ve installed your memory and connected your hard drive, get yourself aapplication) Ocompiler. Although there are other alternatives, for my money, Symantec and Apple are>replyPtr5 Sthe only real players. Symantec offers both THINK C and THINK Pascal. Apple offers the>replyPtrA MMacintosh Programmer’s Workshop (MPW), with compatible compilers for C++, C,>replyPtrM WPascal, and other languages. In general, the THINK compilers are much easier to use and>replyPtrY Vto learn, and offer faster compile times. MPW i