5 ms·

Should have started with Hello world first. Introducing newbies to variables to do a Fibonacci sequence is very hard for them. Nice use of the vMac emulator.

setpatchaddress 5y ago
If one’s going to argue about choice of first programs, a proper Hello World on classic macOS requires the use of the Mac Toolbox. Using the bundled Think C console isn’t really producing a Mac-native program.
- wwweston 5y ago
  Where's a good place to find a guide to that?
  - lioeters 5y ago
    You can search for "Toolbox" and "Tool Box" here: Vintage Macintosh Programming Book Library - https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/ https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/
  - duskwuff 5y ago
    The definitive reference is Apple's own Inside Macintosh. Many parts of that are still available on the Apple developer web site, e.g. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/mac/pdf/MacintoshToolboxEssentials.pdf https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma... https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/mac/pdf/MoreMacintoshToolbox.pdf https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma... For a more directed and more C-oriented walkthrough, the Macintosh C Programming Primer was a pretty common go-to. It's been out of print for ages, of course, but there's a PDF available at: https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Macintosh_C_Programming_Primer_1992.pdf https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Macintosh_C_Prog...
kmill 5y ago
Don't you think it's a bit odd that the example program uses short-circuiting booleans as conditionals and uses the fabled downto operator?[1] The article's not teaching how to program, it's just showing you how to set up THINK C -- the intro suggests that the target audience is programmers ("I can see [...] that you, too, are a programmer.") [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1642028/what-is-the-operator-in-c-c https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1642028/what-is-the-oper...

setpatchaddress 5y ago

If one’s going to argue about choice of first programs, a proper Hello World on classic macOS requires the use of the Mac Toolbox. Using the bundled Think C console isn’t really producing a Mac-native program.

wwweston 5y ago
Where's a good place to find a guide to that?
- lioeters 5y ago
  You can search for "Toolbox" and "Tool Box" here: Vintage Macintosh Programming Book Library - https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/ https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/
- duskwuff 5y ago
  The definitive reference is Apple's own Inside Macintosh. Many parts of that are still available on the Apple developer web site, e.g. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/mac/pdf/MacintoshToolboxEssentials.pdf https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma... https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/mac/pdf/MoreMacintoshToolbox.pdf https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/ma... For a more directed and more C-oriented walkthrough, the Macintosh C Programming Primer was a pretty common go-to. It's been out of print for ages, of course, but there's a PDF available at: https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Macintosh_C_Programming_Primer_1992.pdf https://vintageapple.org/macprogramming/pdf/Macintosh_C_Prog...

kmill 5y ago

Don't you think it's a bit odd that the example program uses short-circuiting booleans as conditionals and uses the fabled downto operator?[1] The article's not teaching how to program, it's just showing you how to set up THINK C -- the intro suggests that the target audience is programmers ("I can see [...] that you, too, are a programmer.") [1] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1642028/what-is-the-operator-in-c-c https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1642028/what-is-the-oper...