On Wednesday, June 26, 2002, at 01:38 AM, Johannes Gebauer wrote: > On 25.06.2002 21:45 Uhr, Philip Aker wrote > >> For the purposes of learning C/C++ on Macintosh, use Apple's >> free MPW/ResEdit combo for OS 9 or Project Builder/Interface >> Builder for OS X (also free). Finale used to be built with MPW. >> Until Finale becomes Carbonized you would have to use MPW to >> create plugins or buy CodeWarrior. However you don't need a new >> version. I think you could use as low as CW Pro 1.2 to compile a >> plugin. On EBay you'd be looking at something like $13.50 for a >> starter CD and $20.00 for a full product that can compile >> plugins. That's an incredibly good price for something as >> powerful as CodeWarrior.
> I still don't quite understand: Do I need Codewarrior at all or > will MPW be enough to get me started developing plugins? I would say that creating plugins with CodeWarrior is much easier than MPW. Technically speaking, Finale Macintosh plugins are in the "custom shared library" category. This environment is already set up for you in the CodeWarrior sample projects in the PDK, whereas to get the same in MPW is quite a bit of work because you would have to transpose the CW environment over to MPW. For the purposes of getting started, I'd say that the money paid for used CodeWarrior version would be a good investment considering the time=money aspects involved. I should point out a few factors here: 1. The process of learning the C/C++ language. 2. The process of learning one or more compiler environments. 3. The process of applying the above items to the creation of plugins. For #1, it hardly matters where you start. For #2, CW is a very plush point and click user interface while MPW is primarily a console based interface with incredible scripting powers. For #3, while the skills learned in creating MPW shared libraries would be valuable in terms of knowing how things work at very low levels, it's not really necessary. Most likely, you would want to spend that time working with the structures and APIs of the PDK. Note also that Project Builder/Interface builder moves much closer to the CodeWarrior type of integrated development environment (IDE). > I ask because I do have certain ideas for plugins, but I think > they may not be so interesting to other people, so I'd like to > see first if I can learn to do this myself. In my estimation, you would become a very fine plugin developer because you have excellent observational and deductive reasoning skills. If I could break it down a little further, what you'd be learning is a few applications (some compilers/some resource editors) and the language (some vocabulary, grammar, and syntax). For me, this would reduce to finding the kind of C/C++ tutorials that you feel most comfortable with. If one author's style doesn't appeal to you, look around for something else--there are hundreds available. I hesitate to suggest a specific study path because I'm generally more interested in the Macintosh user interface issues than the other plugin makers. However, one thing that is always beneficial is to have a good knowledge of algorithms and code efficiency. No doubt everyone who has written some code has seen at a later point in time where he or she could have done something in 10 lines instead of 50. Finally there is the tiny PDK chat list to join. You can find the link on Jari's site as well as extra tips and code. Best wishes, Philip Aker http://www.aker.ca § _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
