Experience unfolds in a given order. Never before has the format
caused me
confusion for the particular piece of information I needed. Probably
this
is because I have not been using the *new* Carbon APIs much at all,
having
been involved in a catch-up carbonizing game with little budget to
support
it. Today and yesterday I had time to do some unpaid work, so for the
momeent I'm free to learn. ;)
6 months ago I was at the place you are now I still have nowhere near
the understanding that Bryan & Larry but I'm no longer at a 0-1 on the
understanding scale anymore.
The Carbon APIs are quite sizeable and it takes a long time to learn.
I've also realized in the process that we all learn in different ways.
Larry loves the headers but is not to crazy about the sample code. For
me the headers are useful when I already know the function needed and I
want to understand the parameters otherwise I just tend to get lost.
I've found the sample code extremely useful, though as Larry has
pointed out, you can't rely on it being the cleanest/best way to do
something.
Here's some of the documents/code I found useful:
I read Carbonevents.pdf (77 pages) and windowscontrols.pdf (130 pages)
I look thru sample code - DialogsToHIViews is a good one for Carbon
Events.
For sample code I opened up a number of the projects and just compiled
them (without looking at the code). I then run them, if what they do
looks interesting I look thru the code. If not, I just skip them and
move on to the next. Since I've compiled most of the sample apps I can
go back at a later time if the name seems to relate to what I want to
do at the moment.
Here's the process that works best for me (may not work at all for
someone else):
I always start in Safari. I have a shortcut that goes to the Apple's
Sample Code page http://developer.apple.com/samplecode/index.html
I search based upon some term that I think will get me close to
code/documentation that I need.
If I find something of interest I skim thru it looking for a function
name or constant that looks interesting.
I then do a new search looking for that function name or constant.
This usually gets me to a document or two and a couple of sample apps
to check out.
I already have the Sample Code on my computer so I then run them to see
if it's the behavior I'm looking for. If so, I check out the code.
For me this is an iterative process. As I look at code that does what
I want I find functions/constants that I need to know about. I then
read the headers for those, and if necessary, do another round of
searching in Safari.
The other thing that is very help (which you hopefully already know):
Hold the option key and double click on an API function and it takes
you to the documentation for the function. Hold the command key and
double click on any function and it takes you to the the definition of
the function if available or the declaration in case of Apple APIs.
Learning Carbon for me is definitely a discovery process..
Mike
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