On 03.03.2008, at 11:14, Stuart Mingay wrote:
> I'd like to tinker around with developing some software for my (the)
> Newton, an MP2100.
On 3 Mar, 2008, at 10:40 am, matthiasm wrote:
> You will have to deal with tiny heap
> memory vs MMU-managed memory, vanishing memory blocks, virtual memory
> management, mixing of "C". assembler and Newton Script dues to missing
> interfaces, no C++ (or at least no true inheritance), and no more C-
> Compilers in existence that will generate the right calling convention
> for the Newton OS.
We desperately need more developers to bring new life to Newton -- is
this really the way to greet one?!
Stuart: you realise I am sure that the Newton development tools were
created when Mac OS 7 was the state of the art. None of them run
under OS X. There has been some work on creating OS X tools (thank
you Matthias) but I would say they are still somewhat experimental.
So Classic (or earlier OS) is really the only way to go. I haven’t
tried it myself but emulating an earlier OS using Basilisk sounds
promising since Classic doesn’t sound like an option for you.
If that means Newton development is a non-starter for you then I am
sorry, because Matthias is right, NewtonScript is a cool language. It
certainly won’t be hard to pick up for a seasoned pro like you. The
harder part, as with any platform new to you, will be to learn what
functions are available in the Newton OS.
So I would say, please think about setting up a development
environment. Start with the Newton Toolkit. Try evaluating
NewtonScript using the Inspector. Try building some of the sample
code to get a feel for the development process. Later you can move on
to native code modules (C++) and maybe encounter some of the problems
Matthias has outlined; but there are few applications that actually
*require* that stuff.
I hope I can welcome you to the select band of Newton developers. We
look forward to hearing about your efforts. And we are here to cheer
you along the way!
Simon
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Received on Mon Mar 3 06:49:25 2008
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