May 93 Letters
Volume Number: 9
Issue Number: 5
Column Tag: Dialogue Box
Dialogue Box 
By Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief
Not a C Fanatic!
[The following letter is in response to a letter in the April, 1993 issue of
MacTech Magazine. In that letter, the reader accused Dave Mark (our Getting Started
author) of being a C fanatic. In addition, he “defies us to show THINK C code that
performs some powerful actional that THINK Pascal code cannot.” But most
importantly, the reader felt that if “support is what you want, you should be using and
programming MS-DOS.” - Ed.]
Ahhh, once again I find myself painted as a C fanatic. I'm not, I promise!! My
point is a simple one. Look at the number of C/C++ books at your favorite bookstore.
Compare that to the number of Pascal books. Compare the number of copies of THINK C
sold per year to that of THINK Pascal. C and C++ are far more popular these days. I'm
not trying to give Pascal the bum rush. I like Pascal.
Personally, I prefer C, but I give Pascal full credit as a perfectly capable
programming language. Let's put it this way. If Pascal were by far the more popular
language, I'd be writing a Pascal column right now. But the majority has spoken...
- Dave Mark
MacTech Regular
Contributing Author
[We’ve said this before and we will say it again. Although C is the most popular
language on the Macintosh, it is not the only one. Many articles in MacTech Magazine
are in C simply because if the language is the most popular among readers, it is also
the most popular among authors. We will continue to publish articles in all different
types of languages. As the reader, you should read articles for their concept, not their
language. If you do this, you’ll be a better programmer (because you’ll understand
concepts better), but you’ll also be able to look at a much wider array of examples. -
Ed.]
Bring Back the Matching Program!
I very much would like to see the employee article publishing "matching
program reinstated by Apple. It's the program where Apple pays Apple employees
extra for publishing articles outside of Apple, specifically for the technical journals,
such as MacTech Magazine. Developers could always use the extra input, and everyone
would gain.
- William Modesitt
Maui Software
[William, we too would like to see this program reinstated. For some time, Apple
has looked to cut costs and this was one of the places that the ax fell. If you are truly
interested in getting this policy reinstated, write to Developer Services and tell them.
You can do this whether or not you are a developer. You can reach them online on
AppleLink at DEVSUPPORT. You can write to their internet address
“devsupport@ applelink. apple.com”. This Internet address can also be used from
America Online and CompuServe. If you want to call them, their phone number is
408/974-4897.
We do encourage you to do this. We put high priority on articles from Apple.
Apple just hasn’t put high priority on getting them to you! - Ed.]
Can we Get it Cheaper?
I have read every MacTutor from Volume 2. I happy to say that have enjoyed
reading and exploring them very much. I still remember first summer 1986. During
my holiday, I read all issues of beginning of that year laying in the sun. Reading
MacTutor gave me a lot and I really began to feel I’m almost a professional
programmer. With that courage your magazine gave me I began to make little programs
with Pascal.
That was six years ago. Nowadays, I’m very interested in OOP have began to learn
C. I am continuing as subscriber of your magazine and source code disks, but I have a
question. Is there any cheaper way to send international orders? I don't need them
very fast but I really do need them.
- Jyrki Uimonen
[Jyrki , believe it or not, we are sending the magazine in the cheapest possible
way. We are always looking for alternatives and we will pass along the savings to you.
For example, a few months ago, we found a better way to get to Canadians. The end
result was that we dropped their subscription price by about $20. We’ll continue to
look for something similar for our overseas readers. - Ed.]
Referenced by (2):