Mac Development

There are several freeware Mac development systems out there you can try if you are interested. Personally, I often use MacMETH Modula-2. It runs under System 6 or System 7, haven't tried it with System 8. I should post my version of it on the web as it has a library of Mac Toolbox routines that for some reason were not included in the usual release. Nice documentation, too. I'd also look at Pocket Forth (http://keaggy.intmed.mcw.edu/pf.html) which is probably my current favorite programming language. It is very small but fast and can be used to build nice little standalone apps. If you are curious as to how I have a recent article in Forth Dimensions that can be used as a starting point, just let me know. Others to try would be Yerk and Mops, both similar, both object-oriented Forths. Yerk is more likely to work on old Macs. I use them when the project is too large for Pocket Forth's dictionary (a 16-bit Forth, the others are 32-bit and very powerful, and very well documented) Aren't most of the IM books, at least the old ones, available from an Apple web site somewhere? I thought they were. Also, you'd be surprised (I am) at the amount of software that still runs on a 12 year old Mac SE under System 6.0.8! Finally, someone mentioned Apple's MPW as the way to get a CLI on a Mac. Another possibility is the Alpha text editor which has a command line shell and uses Tcl as its programming language. I don't think it runs under System 6, though. If you want one, write your own! Give the app the type/creator of the Finder, rename it Finder and put it in the System Folder. When the Mac starts up it will be used in place of the Finder. - Ron Kneusel rkneusel(a)mcw.edu