Date: Mon, 18 Jan 93 14:47 N
From: BOONE%RECHT.RUG.AC.BE@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU
Subject: [*] New Inside Macintosh Books Report
Greetings,
Recently i asked about the new Inside Macintosh books on the digest.
I got many replies from many helpful people. Many thanks to them!
I compiled all replies in a report, it might be helpful for other
people too !
Enjoy !
Dimitri Boone
Belgium / Europe
boone@recht.rug.ac.be
BTW : Could someone tell me the correct path and filename for obi-wan
4.0. I have no direct ftp-possibilities and have to retrieve all files
by ftpmail. I have succesfully downloaded the obiwan database but the
obi-wan application seemed to be moved or renamed. Thanks in advance!!
In Info-Mac Digest 11:7, Dimitri Boone asks what Inside Mac books he
should buy...
You might want to consider Symantec's new online version of Inside Mac.
I haven't seen it, but did receive a brochure on it in the mail. It has
all of Inside Mac vols 1-6, and has cross-referencing, hypertext
capabilities, etc. It's also cheaper: ăUS$80 I think. And it saves
trees!
If you're set on hard copies, you may want to check the prices at the US
mailorder houses like MacWarehouse, MacConnection, etc. They're cheaper
than bookstores, though I don't know how feasible or cost effective it
would be for you since you are in Belgium.
- John
John jfw@neuro.duke.edu Duke University Medical Center
Whitehead jfw@well.sf.ca.us Durham, North Carolina
*********************
You definitely want the new set, which is being published now. Your
guess is right: the new set merges all the information scattered over
the original six books, tech notes, and other sources, while deleting
obsolete material. The only reason you might want to look at one of
the original six is if you need information about something and the
new book that covers it hasn't been published yet. All of the new
ones should be out by the spring. Also, you probably won't need to
get all of the new ones, at least at first. Get the Overview and use
that as a guide to pick the ones you need.
Have fun.
Hal Perkins hal@cs.cornell.edu
Cornell CS
********************
From: kkirksey@world.std.com (Ken B Kirksey)
Subject: Inside Mac
Dimitri,
I'd suggest getting the New Inside Macintosh volumes and a copy of the
Think Reference 2.0. They should have the complete set of new IM out
by the end of the year, and the Think Reference will fill the info that's
in the volumes they haven't published yet. It would really be a waste of
money to buy the old IM at this point.
Ken
********************
From: hpj@cxa.daresbury.ac.uk
Subject: Inside Mac Books.
The new series of inside Mac book rearranges the information held in the first
6 books. The problems with the first series are that volume one still
contains relavent information ( for example Quickdraw) but also out of date
info (file manager).
The problem with the new series is that I don't think they have all been
published yet. If you are writting a simple application then you can get
away
with Vol 1, and 4 of the first series.
Another option is to buy the relavant issues of the new series and also get
a Database such as Think Reference or even Obiwan from info-mac, which contains
all of the toolbox calls but none of the background info.
Hope this helps.
Peter Hardman.
P.S I have volumes 1-6+ x-ref and find them okay. Especially since Vol 6
describes the order of relavance of the info in each volume.
_______________________________________________________________________
Peter Hardman hpj@cxa.dl.ac.uk | phardman@sunserver.ssci.liv.ac.uk
Network Manager
Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Surface Science
and Chemistry Department Manchester University
Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PL.
_______________________________________________________________________
********************
From: Eckehard Scharein <scharein@imdm.uke.uni-hamburg.dbp.de>
Subject: Inside Mac
Hi !
I formerly used the old IM (1-5) and was quite satisfied since I
used mostly im 1; I didn't need the technical information. But I
just got im 6 and things are a lot different. Along with Sys 7
many pieces of the system software have changed and you have to
consult either the new volume or the older or both. There is a
complicated graphic statinf for which manager you should consult
which volume in which order; up to 4 volumes per topic. So I
would opt for the new ones since you can leave out the ones you
don`t need (like the ones on QuickTime and the like). I think
there are 10 necessary new volumes and 5 optional ones.
Hope this helps
Greetings Ulf
********************
From: grant@itd.nrl.navy.mil (William Grant)
Subject: Question about Inside Macintosh books (Q)
get the new ones. The old ones are a mess to figure out which parts
you need. (This subject is covered in chapter 1 vol1, changes in
chapter 4 vol3, chapter 5 vol4, chapter 8vol5, and system 7 changes in
chapter 11 vol6.) you get the idea.
======================================================================
Disclaimer:
Whatever you say, say nothing, when you talk about you-know-what,
For if you-know-who should hear you, you know what you'll get.
Leprechaun Liam Grant@itd.nrl.navy.mil
Code 5541, NRL, Wash. DC 20375-5337, (202)767-0552 W (301)937-2567 H
*******************
From: walrath@faw.uni-ulm.de (Wayne K. Walrath)
Subject: Info-Mac Digest V11 #7
Dimitri,
I am also a beginning Mac programmer. You will, sooner or later, need
the information from the IM books. I need to keep this short right
now, so let me tell you what I have been doing, and we could talk more
later if you want. I have avoided buying the old IM series, and am
looking at picking up books which are most important to me from the
new series (I already bought the Files issue and will pick up Memory
soon). I recommend that you get a subscription to APDA's quarterly
journal called "d e v e l o p". Each issue has a wonderful journal
full of info which is a joy to read. More importantly is that each
issue comes with a CDROM full of source code and other goodies. You
get a full set of the Tech Notes (explaining difficult topics or
alerting you to errors, bugs, et. al.) Also on each CD are electronic
versions of the old IM series, and as far as I know, all of the
currently available new ones. (I don't yet have access to a CDROM
drive so I haven't looked through any of my CDs yet, but I have seen
several references to these items being there). I do have the old IM
(called SpInside Mac) in electronic version, as well as a couple of
the newest ones. So for the topics I am really interested in and use a
lot, I plan to buy the books. For the other stuff, I just use the
electronic versions. I think it will be a good compromise.
One other thing I suggest you buy is the Think Reference 2.0 from
Symantec. I am using the old version which only covers IM I-V, and I
love it. It is a hyperlink database of all the essential Toolbox
information. It is really worth it. Everytime I program, Think
Reference is running in the background. However, there is a new
shareware product out claiming to do essentially what this does: it's
called ObiWan and is available at Sumex. Check it out first. I
haven't had the time yet (make sure you get the database located in
the cp directory ).
write if you have any questions.
wayne
walrath@faw.uni-ulm.de
by the way, I forgot to mention that a subsc. to develop is only about
$30-40/yr-- it's worth its cost! You can call APDA at (800) 282-2732
or (716) 871-6555. Ask them to send you an APDA tools catalog--it's free.
********************
From: ed@titipu.resun.com (Edward Reid)
Subject: Inside Macintosh
The old IM series will not be updated, so is not a good buy. The only problem
with the new series is that it is not finished. I think the target for
completion is the end of 1993, but I'm not sure.
If you have access to a CD drive, and don't mind reading on the screen, an
attractive alternative is to get a copy of the developer CD. You can get it
cheaply by subscribing to _develop_, or even by just buying the most recent
back issue of _develop_ (US$10 plus shipping). The CD contains the old IM as
two Hypercard stacks, and the new volumes as they are released, in a new
DocViewer format, with the beta DocViewer program, which is a great improvement
over the hypercard stacks. The CD also contains all the Technical Notes, and
(I think) the Human Interface Guidelines, and other good stuff. And now that
Apple is charging for system software, it's the cheapest way to keep up with
that. 7.1 is on the latest CD.
Even if you can only borrow a CD drive, it's worth thinking about if you have
some space on your hard disk. The old IM requires about 37MB if you include
everything, but that includes pictures, which are not essential, so you can
actually get away with loading the 4.5MB stack for volumes 1-5 and/or the
similarly-sized stack for volume 6. The new IM (so far) requires about 18MB,
in 4 volumes ranging from 3MB to 8MB which can loaded one at a time. The Tech
Notes require about 11MB. The DocViewer needs about 700K of disk space.
Edward Reid (8*}>
eel: ed@titipu.resun.com or nosc.mil!titipu.resun.com!ed
snail: PO Box 378/Greensboro FL 32330
********************
From: GERHARD@ARIZVMS.BITNET
Subject: Apple's programming books
Hello:
The series 'by subject' replaces the IM series.
Get the new ones. They contain up-to-date info
that the IM series tends tolack (except the last
volume) They are also better written, IMHO.
Peter Gerhardstein (gerhard@ccit.arizona.edu)
********************
From: brg@dgate.org (Brian Gaeke)
The information on the front of the Inside Mac volumes ("This one tal ks
about the Mac 512k" etc.) is misleading. You really do need all 6 of
them. The new Inside Macs (NIM) are not due to be finished until the
middle of '94, and I have decided that I am going to wait. You can't do
hardly any programming using the currently available NIMs, so I would
say go for IM I-VI right now, and you can get the NIMs later. Either
way, you can't learn to program the mac without a _solid_ base in C o r
Pascal programming, so if you haven't that, then learn a language fir st.
Otherwise, dive right in! :)
Brian Gaeke -- brg@dgate.org = Internet
brgaeke@miavx3 = BITNET
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