Oops. "I had to replace it..." does not refer to replacing the Plus as described in the previous sentence. I am saying I had to replace the '97 machine (which was a PowerBook 190) because I needed better internet and CodeWarrior capability, and that 's why I had to buy an Ibook in '02.
If I don't want to replace my computer too often, does that mean I'm better off buying PC rather than Mac?
I now have my fourth Mac, an Ibook that I bought one year ago.
My first was a 1984 model. I had to replace it when they brought in the 800k disk drive and my 400 k drive was obsolete.
Then I got a plus in '89 or so, with a 20meg disk drive. I needed to replace it in '97 when I wanted e-mail.
I had to replace it because a) it somehow became flaky in terms of internet connection, and b) the new MetroWerks Code Warrior wouldn't run on it.
So now I have an Ibook and I'm doing okay.
So I was a bit resentful (as a person of limited budget) because some of these changes seem like planned obsolescence, i e they could have supported the old stuff if they wanted to but they would rather force me to spend another thousand dollars on new stuff.
So I am wondering, is this less true in the PC world? After all, ms-dos programs are still maintained, but anything of equivalent oldness on a Mac is not. And Apple is there to sell hardware, but Microsoft is there to sell software. So if I don't want to replace my machine as often, am I better off with PC rather than Mac?
At work (a newspaper layout and prepress department) we use Layout 8000, a program that is written in MS-Dos and talks to a UNIX server, for arranging the ads on the page. It receives a file of ads called "the manifest" from the data entry department, on a PC-based network, and creates a file that can be read by a Quark Xpress extension on a Mac network by the art department. The PC's that Layout 8000 runs on are kind of old. Nothing wrong with that, since they work.
The original version of Layout 8000 was called Layout 80. I forget whether this is because it was written in 1980 or because it ran on the 8080.
The screen is a grid of ASCII characters forming boxes to approximate the look of ads on a column grid. (Upright spears, horizontal bars, etc.)
It has crudely window-like menus done in the same way.
It uses the mouse. You have to be careful because the mouse interface is quirky. In menu mode, where you choose what to lay out, print it out, etc., you navigate with the arrow keys, and you must not use the mouse at all because it reads the mouse movement as a sequence of arrow keys that will take you in out-of-control directions and at best log you out. In layout mode, if you click on a word on the screen it pretends you just typed that word, and this makes it easier to do some things because you don't have to retype serial numbers of ads. Don't push down "num lock" or else it will read the mouse as if it were a sequence of digits and make a mess.
Idiosyncratic quirky commands you have to type, et cetera.
It took me months to learn it, but I have a secure place at work partly because I've gotten good at it.
Paul Graham (the author of said article) is a True Believer in Lisp, and subscribe to a theory that the more you improve any other language, the more those improvements come close to culminating in an awkward version of Lisp, so it may be more efficient to go with Lisp in the first place.
So what would his reaction be if he knew that you said the hundred-year language is "probably C" ?
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Oops. "I had to replace it..." does not refer to replacing the Plus as described in the previous sentence. I am saying I had to replace the '97 machine (which was a PowerBook 190) because I needed better internet and CodeWarrior capability, and that 's why I had to buy an Ibook in '02.
If I don't want to replace my computer too often, does that mean I'm better off buying PC rather than Mac? I now have my fourth Mac, an Ibook that I bought one year ago. My first was a 1984 model. I had to replace it when they brought in the 800k disk drive and my 400 k drive was obsolete. Then I got a plus in '89 or so, with a 20meg disk drive. I needed to replace it in '97 when I wanted e-mail. I had to replace it because a) it somehow became flaky in terms of internet connection, and b) the new MetroWerks Code Warrior wouldn't run on it. So now I have an Ibook and I'm doing okay. So I was a bit resentful (as a person of limited budget) because some of these changes seem like planned obsolescence, i e they could have supported the old stuff if they wanted to but they would rather force me to spend another thousand dollars on new stuff. So I am wondering, is this less true in the PC world? After all, ms-dos programs are still maintained, but anything of equivalent oldness on a Mac is not. And Apple is there to sell hardware, but Microsoft is there to sell software. So if I don't want to replace my machine as often, am I better off with PC rather than Mac?
At work (a newspaper layout and prepress department) we use Layout 8000, a program that is written in MS-Dos and talks to a UNIX server, for arranging the ads on the page. It receives a file of ads called "the manifest" from the data entry department, on a PC-based network, and creates a file that can be read by a Quark Xpress extension on a Mac network by the art department. The PC's that Layout 8000 runs on are kind of old. Nothing wrong with that, since they work. The original version of Layout 8000 was called Layout 80. I forget whether this is because it was written in 1980 or because it ran on the 8080. The screen is a grid of ASCII characters forming boxes to approximate the look of ads on a column grid. (Upright spears, horizontal bars, etc.) It has crudely window-like menus done in the same way. It uses the mouse. You have to be careful because the mouse interface is quirky. In menu mode, where you choose what to lay out, print it out, etc., you navigate with the arrow keys, and you must not use the mouse at all because it reads the mouse movement as a sequence of arrow keys that will take you in out-of-control directions and at best log you out. In layout mode, if you click on a word on the screen it pretends you just typed that word, and this makes it easier to do some things because you don't have to retype serial numbers of ads. Don't push down "num lock" or else it will read the mouse as if it were a sequence of digits and make a mess. Idiosyncratic quirky commands you have to type, et cetera. It took me months to learn it, but I have a secure place at work partly because I've gotten good at it.
Paul Graham (the author of said article) is a True Believer in Lisp, and subscribe to a theory that the more you improve any other language, the more those improvements come close to culminating in an awkward version of Lisp, so it may be more efficient to go with Lisp in the first place.
So what would his reaction be if he knew that you said the hundred-year language is "probably C" ?