Re: [MacPerl] MacPerl and OS X (yet again :-)

[Wilfredo Sanchez <wsanchez@apple.com>]

> 1) What is the newline character under OS X? 

  I'll say Unix newline is preferred, but I'm in the BSD group. :-)

  The policy we're going by here is that apps should understand both
Mac OS and Unix newlines, but when writing out a new file, I think
"use Unix newlines" is the rule.  Some apps, like ProjectBuilder,
have an option as to whether to convert pre-existing files to the
preferred newline format.

  Note that most BSD tools are not being modified to handle Mac OS
newlines (for example, a Makefile with Mac OS newlines will confuse
make; I have a bug on that I'm unlikely to ever fix).  Some tools,
like gcc, have been modified to handle Mac OS newlines.  In gcc's
case, that because you might be using gcc from CodeWarrior and have
move files over, etc.

> 2) I deleted a rambling discourse on this; so to say it briefly,  
> anyone who has run Perl under Windows knows why MacPerl is so  
> wonderful.  Developing short little scripts in the simple integrated  
> MacPerl enviroment is quick, easy, and intuitive.  Droplets fit  
> nicely into both the Perl and Macintosh paradigms.  Unless MacOS X  
> eliminates drag and drop, point and click as the primary interface, I  
> see just as much a need for the MacPerl application under OS X as  
> under OS 1-9 (sez he who still has a copy of OS 1).  It seems to me  
> this is entirely separate from the whole issue of porting the  
> interpreter per se; the application consists of the basic interpreter  
> plus a simple, intuitive development environment plus the droplet  
> code.  OS X may change how best to port the interpreter, but it seems  
> to me that the development environment and the droplet code are as  
> useful as ever.  Am I missing something? 

  I don't use MacPerl, so I don't know whether the development
environment differs significantly from using perl in a Unix interactive
shell, but that's certainly an option on Mac OS X.

  As for droplets, I wrote a demo app that uses that idea; you drop any
script onto it (be it a bourne shell, perl, or whatever script), and it
spits out an application which passes anything dropped onto it as
arguments to the script.  It's buggy, but some of the problems I had
(some Finder nits) should be fixed now.  The project is called
"DropScript" and it's in the Darwin CVS repository for anyone to check
out.

> 4) Will the AppleEvents interapplication interface be entirely  
> replaced by a Unix stdin/stdout interface? 

  Heh.  No.

	-Fred

Wilfredo Sánchez, wsanchez@apple.com
Open Source Engineering Lead
Apple Computer, Inc., Core Operating System Group
1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 94086, 408.974-5174

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