Dialogue Box

By Neil Ticktin, Editor-in-Chief

Not a C Fanatic!

[The following letter is in response to a letter in the April, 1993 issue of MacTech Magazine. In that letter, the reader accused Dave Mark (our Getting Started author) of being a C fanatic. In addition, he “defies us to show THINK C code that performs some powerful actional that THINK Pascal code cannot.” But most importantly, the reader felt that if “support is what you want, you should be using and programming MS-DOS.” - Ed.]

Ahhh, once again I find myself painted as a C fanatic. I'm not, I promise!! My point is a simple one. Look at the number of C/C++ books at your favorite bookstore. Compare that to the number of Pascal books. Compare the number of copies of THINK C sold per year to that of THINK Pascal. C and C++ are far more popular these days. I'm not trying to give Pascal the bum rush. I like Pascal.

Personally, I prefer C, but I give Pascal full credit as a perfectly capable programming language. Let's put it this way. If Pascal were by far the more popular language, I'd be writing a Pascal column right now. But the majority has spoken..."

- Dave Mark

[We’ve said this before and we will say it again. Although C is the most popular language on the Macintosh, it is not the only one. Many articles in MacTech Magazine are in C simply because if the language is the most popular among readers, it is also the most popular among authors. We will continue to publish articles in all different types of languages. As the reader, you should read articles for their concept, not their language. If you do this, you’ll be a better programmer (because you’ll understand concepts better), but you’ll also be able to look at a much wider array of examples. - Ed.]

Bring Back the Matching Program!

I very much would like to see the employee article publishing "matching" program reinstated by Apple. It's the program where Apple pays Apple employees extra for publishing articles outside of Apple, specifically for the technical journals, such as MacTech Magazine. Developers could always use the extra input, and everyone would gain.

- William Modesitt

[William, we too would like to see this program reinstated. For some time, Apple has looked to cut costs and this was one of the places that the ax fell. If you are truly interested in getting this policy reinstated, write to Developer Services and tell them. You can do this whether or not you are a developer. You can reach them online on AppleLink at DEVSUPPORT. You can write to their internet address “devsupport@applelink.apple.com”. This Internet address can also be used from America Online and CompuServe. If you want to call them, their phone number is 408/974-4897.

Can we Get it Cheaper?

I have read every MacTutor from Volume 2. I happy to say that have enjoyed reading and exploring them very much. I still remember first summer 1986. During my holiday, I read all issues of beginning of that year laying in the sun. Reading MacTutor gave me a lot and I really began to feel I’m almost a professional programmer. With that courage your magazine gave me I began to make little programs with Pascal.

That was six years ago. Nowadays, I’m very interested in OOP have began to learn C. I am continuing as subscriber of your magazine and source code disks, but I have a question. Is there any cheaper way to send international orders? I don't need them very fast but I really do need them.

- Jyrki Uimonen

[Jyrki , believe it or not, we are sending the magazine in the cheapest possible way. We are always looking for alternatives and we will pass along the savings to you. For example, a few months ago, we found a better way to get to Canadians. The end result was that we dropped their subscription price by about $20. We’ll continue to look for something similar for our overseas readers. - Ed.]