>> If you combine otool, classdump and Hopper Disassembler, you can find how some Cocoa methods are working in any Obj-C executable pretty easily.
Here's the thing. We started out as construction folks who learned Excel. Then HyperTalk. Then C++. As a business, our main strength is knowing the construction business, and how to talk to folks in it. Our time is best spent solving business-related problems. Along the way we have learned many programming and human-interface skills, but the less time we need to spend on that, the better. If a programming environment requires zombies, disassemblers and other BS just to make it work, that is a big problem. It's too much extra overhead. Our company can't afford it. I'd agree that the documentation for Cocoa is deficient. CodeWarrior included a huge Inside PowerPlant book, modeled on our well-worn copies of Inside Macintosh. But we rarely used it. Having clearly-written source code and good comments is probably the best form of documentation. Being able to step through it easily and see it in action is a huge plus. I suspect that Cocoa source code is ancient C that is badly in need of a refactoring. Making it open, understandable and self-documenting would be a great way to improve it. Based on our refactoring experiences, it would end up being faster, safer and less buggy. There probably are some parts of Cocoa that are extremely proprietary- but even then, plain old patents are better than hiding the code, as a way to protect the jewels. Competitors can always disassemble, as you suggest. Speaking of early-Aughties history. We hired some subs to write the Windows version of our app. They took a short-cut and used QuickTime DLLs, though a lot still needed native MFC. Metrowerks offered to buy it from us so they could make PowerPlant cross-platform. Sadly, before we finished negotiations, Motorola did a re-org and our contact disappeared. MW soon sold off their Intel compiler, just in time for Mac to switch chips. The rest is history. Casey McDermott TurtleSoft.com _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list (Cocoa-dev@lists.apple.com) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: https://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to arch...@mail-archive.com
