Re: Cocoa's Popularity
Re: Cocoa's Popularity
- Subject: Re: Cocoa's Popularity
- From: joie <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 18:32:28 -0600
i'd like to respond to this, but allow me to first disclaim the
following:
Ever since I was very young, I've been a fervent advocate of the
Platform- Mac OS on a Mac machine. For all my life(except when using my
trusty IIe) I've used a Mac of some sort. It wasn't until a few years
ago I delved very deeply into the guts of the OS, and it wasn't until
this year I began coding, first in 'straight' console C, and then
Objective-C with Cocoa. Cocoa is a development platform that is just
like the current incarnation of Mac OS- Some of it is open(nee Darwin),
much of it is quite accessible, and some seems to remain hidden- This is
what we live with, true. In the future, the hidden bits will become
less and less so. And so, having made my statement of commitment to
both the Mac platform and Cocoa, and my great respect of NeXTStep, I
shall begin:
Regardless of NeXT's origins, they(and they, note that, not
'Steve'- the man is an icon, but Steve does not [entirely] Apple make)
came up with some very, very neat things. NeXTStep has a very nicely
done interface, and a lot of very compelling and neat ideas. Providing
such powerful development opportunities as existed in NeXTStep, and as
now exist in OpenStep/GNUStep and Cocoa, was, I believe, the ultimate
purpose(though not intentional) of NeXT. The OS was good- is good in
its new form, Mac OS X. What these OSes lack somewhat in speed, they
more than make up for in their interface. Let's use the metaphor of a
hammer, since Project Builder uses it as its build icon.
Say that you have two hammers. One is very, very powerful, the
fastest and sturdiest hammer in all the world. The second hammer isn't
as sturdy, and won't necessarily get jobs done as quickly. Now, based
on 'power', one would choose the former hammer. However, consider that
the former hammer has a handle made of razor blades and spiky bits, and
also has the added stipulation of smacking you in the head whenever you
use it. The latter hammer, on the other hand, has a cushy, soft, gel
grip. The choice now is clear.
Interface does matter, and it can mitigate and temper the need for
raw 'power.' What good is a tool that isn't fun to use? This is part
of the reason why electric screwdrivers are so popular- they're fun.
Granted, these two cases are extremes. However, Apple, again nee
NeXT, has opted to give its users a better experience, albeit a little
bit less powerful- however, as many have shown, it is possible to
remove Apple's handle to reveal the nubby spikes beneath- not quite as
sharp as FreeBSD's, but the the reduced weight after removing the gelly
handle makes up for some of the power/speed gap. I love the GUI of Mac
OS X, but it was using OS X that made me realize how invaluable a
command line was- I go back to OS 9 and I'm constantly trying to open a
Terminal, pull up the Dock, do something like that..
Apple has given us a rather powerful OS(not the 'most powerful in
the world', but not unacceptably far from it), and the tools to do
things with it, to make things for it, to play with it. We pay a
premium for a slightly less powerful, but much, much more fun to use
hammer. I enjoy, really enjoy making applications using Cocoa. Cocoa
and Objective-C are the "right" way to do OOP, if there is such a
thing. In the past, I looked into C++, but it's such a, well, it's an
ugly language. There are too many changes, too many syntax additions,
too much nonsense grafted onto the side of a language that is above all
clean and consistent. Objective-C simply adds one new sort of syntax
and a few data types. It's graceful. Foundation and AppKit classes
take the tedium out of coding to a large degree, and I'm free to focus
on thinking in higher and freer terms than "this does this then that."
I can see my program as objects instead of as a bunch of spaghetti
code. Furthermore, I can design, I can be artful, and I can be
productive- all at the same time.
Again, "In the end, we make our own choices." Mike's own words.
"If you don't like it, leave" is another way of putting it. Keep in
mind: The developer tools are FREE. There ARE alternatives. And let's
not bite the hand that feeds us. I, for one, thank Apple(and,
indirectly, their CEO) for providing us all anew with what are, in
essence, beautiful hammers for our convenience.
-joie
(incidentally, I stood, and still do stand, for the no-floppy
decision. (: Floppies have been dead for a long, long, long time. Even
in the early/mid-90s, I found them quite close to useless... ^_^)
On Saturday, March 23, 2002, at 05:47 PM, Mike wrote:
Brethren,
Let us never forget that a HUGE part of what is going on with OS X is
*all* about Steve's need to "I'll show you".
Harken, hath ye forgot the infamous tales of how Steve was ousted
from Apple to begin with and stormed off to create NeXT solely for
the purpose of "I'll show you"?
After 7 years of *failed* NeXT computers and software, Steve got his
chance: a comeback at Apple. Except for the original Macintosh (which
other people actually *created* anyway), and some good current
industrial design (which other people *created* anyway), Steve has
more failures on his resume than he does successes. One instance of
insane luck does not a visionary make.
The original NeXT OS and hence, to some degree still, OS X had (and
has) some serious flaws (such as the fact that somehow someone at
NeXT took one of the world's most stable and fastest OSes (FreeBSD),
and slowed it down to an unacceptable crawl (Darwin), and then based
"The world's most advanced operating system" on it
(Aqua/Quartz/Coccoa)). And hence OS X was born from a poorly-designed
15-year old derivative of an otherwise good free OS.
To make matters worse, Steve is now sending *Apple reps* into stores
like Fry's "to make sure no one boots a Mac into OS 9 in the store" -
i'm not kidding: an Apple rep said this to me at Fry's Sunnyvale
store. Sounds like OS-Nazis to me.
Much of what is going on at Apple is being driven by Steve's maniacal
need for vindication and proof that his ideas are the best. Mac OS X
is much more about this need than it is about good technology.
Steve sees how MicroSloth has foisted a crap OS on the world, and
dominated the world with it. In Steve's old age he has come to see
the wisdom that succeeding in the personal computer market is a lot
more about hype and marketing than it is about *great* software.
The original dream of the Mac - and elegant, easy to use OS is long
dead. OS X is just a sow's ear wrapped in an external silk purse.
Brethren, don't expect OS X to be something that it is not - it is
Steve's ultimate revenge and since Apple is hell bent on pushing it,
we either have to live with it as is, or go to another platform. You
Will Not Change Steve. Remember, this is the man who for seven years
said "no" to consumers who wanted to buy a NeXT computer if NeXT
would only put a floppy drive in the machine.
You Will Like OS X. You Will Use OS X. OS X Is Good For You Because
Steve Says So. Even if it's not what you want, even if it's not
superior technology, You Will Use It.
In the end, we make our own choices.
-m
==============================
On Friday, March 22, 2002, at 07:29 PM, Ondra Cada wrote:
. . . I *still* can't see any other reason than "to have time and
sources for cra^H^H^Hthings like Genie effects
Indeed! Keeping the Quartz vector scaling technology secret is
nothing short of bone-headed on the part of Apple. It's not like
MicroShit is going to steal it since they have no clue on how to
develop a third generation "drawing engine." I got into this Cocoa
mess after reading about Quartz; a killer app came to mind that
requires vector scaling--aka,
the "genie effect"-- in order to work. It's been ~18 months now
and still there is _nothing_ out there so I make little progress on
my million-dollar idea because Apple keeps this to themselves for
reasons that are beyond comprehension. What a waste! The genie
effect is cool, to be sure, and gets the PC weenies to chew their
livers in envy which is nice, and I _love_ magnification in the
dock, but there are tons of places where this technology could be
put to more important use--science visualization to name only one!
After much travail, bitterness, lurking, and reading everything I
can get my eyeballs to focus on, I have come to believe that there
is only one explanation for this all-too- frequent silliness on the
part of Apple:
the genius/stupidity of Steve Jobs!
How one man can be responsible for the true elegance of a Ti
Powerbook, new iMac, iBook, and the look-and-feel of Aqua for that
matter, and at the same time allow such lame TV ads to be foisted on
the buying public is one for the text books. In short, Steve
Jobs--and as a result Apple itself--is an all too perfect example of
a mixed blessing. If there were any reasonable alternative I'd bail
on Apple in a heartbeat; alas, there is nothing else but Linux,
which has all the elegance of a dead skunk, or a pact with the Devil
incarnate. So, Hobson's Choice: if you want to ride, you ride the
horse you are given because there are no other horses here on
Hobson's planet.
Brian E. Howard
Cocoa Cult Central
still trying to scale things up
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