On 3/1/05 2:22 PM, Mike Lazear didst favor us with:
> 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.
I would like it better if it were more focused. I just find it takes longer
than I'd like to find the parts which interest me. Even then, sometimes they
overdo it IMO. If I want to learn how to use a nib to add a custom item to a
save dialog, for example, I don't need all the normal open dialog handling
code (I already have that) or a sample that adds 15 different items to a
save dialog, I just need to know the basic steps needed to add items to the
window.
> 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.
The headers are also very valuable when you want to know what's available if
you just read through those which are most essential to you. Searching the
headers tends to result in a lot fewer hits than Google when searching for
keywords. Someone asked the other day if there were a constant defined for
the command to show the character palette, 'chrp'. I searched the headers
for "chrp" and came up with one hit:
kHICommandShowCharacterPalette = 'chrp'
Googling for "chrp" is useless unless you're looking for the Canadian Human
Resource Planners web site. If you Google for "chrp Apple" you get hits
about the Common Hardware Reference Platform. Searching for "chrp" on
Apple's developer site gives you 53 hits and none of them on the first page
have anything to do with the character palette command.
> 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 have this one bookmarked, as well as several others:
Carbon Documentation List by title:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/index-title.html
and by date:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/index-date.html
Core Foundation Documentation
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/CoreFoundation/index.html
Technical Notes
http://developer.apple.com/technicalnotes/index.html
plus several more for specific technologies which interest me.
However, that said, I still go to the headers a lot. When the headers for
technologies such as HIToolbox contain documentation, that documentation is
available sooner and until the tech pubs people catch up more complete
and accurate than the web or PDF docs. The whole reason the engineers
started adding those comments is that tech pubs couldn't get the information
out quickly enough. They're still the first place information will appear in
my experience.
Larry
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