From: John C Shockey Subject: MacTechGrp Meeting - March 3, 1999 Date: Tuesday, March 02, 1999 7:25 AM MacTechGrp Meeting Wednesday March 3, 1999 7:00 PM MIT Building E51-395 Cambridge, MA Topic: DropShell Explained Speaker: Steve Sisak Plus: A Real Time Debugging Project This week, Steve Sisak will present an explanation of how to use DropShell. [My memory is rusty, so pardon me if I'm wrong, but I believe] DropShell is a prewritten generic drag-and-drop application, which can be very simply customized to perform whatever function you require -- without having to write all the standard code to provide the stuff all such applications need. I expect Steve will cover how to use it, and probably a bit about how it does the work that you won't have to -- so this should be of interest not only to folks who have an idea for something they'd like to accomplish using a simple drag-and-drop interface, but also to beginning Mac programmers who should be able to learn a bit about one way the Mac does things. Steve is one of the co-directors of the MacTechGrp. He's worked, at one time or another, with just about every piece of the MacOS. Most recently he's done a lot of work writing USB drivers. IN ADDITION: During the first portion of the meeting, Owen plans to lead a group debugging session, to attempt to find the source of a nasty interaction between Think Pascal and MacOS 8.5. He says: Think Pascal has developed an interaction when run under MacOS8.5 that causes it to crash after several small iterations. We'll put our whole minds to it, and try and debug it, or, at least make some headway into the mystery. Bring your best debugging cap, and let's see if we can meet the challenge. We'll try to do the debugging project during the first hour, so don't be late. Clues: Often it drops into GetWSIIUnderlineEnable, for whatever that's worth. Owen Hartnett is our meeting moderator. He now works for ICE in Waltham, where he works on video acceleration products. As usual, the main presentation will be preceded by a general discussion period which is open for any and all announcements, questions, rumors, and ruminations. Bring all your Macintosh programming questions -- elementary to advanced. ********************************************************************** *** If you don't know about the pedestrian bridge across Wadsworth *** *** Street, please see "IF THE DOORS ARE LOCKED" below. *** ********************************************************************** <><>< ** ROOM NUMBERS ** ><><> We are assigned room E51-395 from now through the first Wednesday of June 1999. Keep an eye on these announcements, in case we find we need to unexpectedly change rooms. Also, if we don't seem to be where you expect, please look around for us; we're most likely on either the first or third floor (Building E51 isn't all that big.), and we'll try to leave signs when it's necessary for us to move unexpectedly. <><>< Future Meeting Dates ><><> March 17, 1999 Unofficial discussion gathering April 7, 1999 Cross platform tips and techniques - Tom Elwertowski April 21, 1999 Unofficial discussion gathering (See YOUR name here! Volunteer to talk about your own work.) In general, we hold an official meeting on the first Wednesday of each month, from 7 PM to 9 PM, and an unofficial discussion gathering on the third Wednesday of each month, with very occasional additional meetings, and very rare exceptions. <><>< Group information and directions follow ><><> This is the MacTechGrp e-mail announcement list. (If you received this in some way other than my mailing it directly to you, you can send me e-mail at the address below to be placed on the list or for more information.) Feedback on what you want to see in these mailings, and when, is welcome. Volunteers to help with the running of the group are always welcome. Particularly needed are people to help arrange meeting speakers. Also welcome are those who would like to speak at a future meeting. Good topics include discussion of some part of the Mac OS and Toolbox that you've learned about the hard way, an introduction to some development environment or tool that might be of interest to others, etc. Contacts: Owen Hartnett, co-director and meeting host, owen@ids.net Steve Sisak, co-director, sgs@codewell.com John Shockey, announcements editor, jshockey@world.std.com <><>< Directions ><><> MIT Building E51 is located at the intersection of Amherst and Wadsworth Streets in Cambridge, near Kendall Square. Traveling west on Memorial Drive, Wadsworth Street is the first right after the Longfellow Bridge. Traveling east on Memorial Drive, it is the first LEGAL left turn after the Harvard (Mass. Ave.) Bridge. Look for a sign for Kendall Square. The building is the one on the corner closest to Memorial Drive and Massachusetts Avenue. A good way to get to the meeting is to take the MBTA Red Line to the Kendall Square stop. Cross Main Street and go down Wadsworth Street (near the strange looking globe/fountain) to building E51. You can see a map at (all one line): http://whereis.mit.edu/bin/map?oldstate=2&off.x=4620&off.y=1640 &hi=bldg_e51&zoom.x=89&zoom.y=38 If you enter through the big entrance at the corner of Wadsworth and Amherst Streets, go up the half-flight of stairs to your right, and walk down the corridor (with the windows to your right side) toward the elevator. (If you enter through the entrance from the parking lot on Amherst Street, the elevator will be to your left. But see below as regards parking.) To get to room 395, take the elevator to the third floor. Turn to the right and then continue on to room 395 which is all the way at the end of the corridor. (On those occasions when we're moved to room 149, it's just off to the left, as you face the elevator.) <><>< ** IF THE DOORS ARE LOCKED ** ><><> We hope MIT won't do this to you, but if it happens use the pedestrian bridge from building E52. Cross Wadsworth Street (not Amherst Street) and enter the building which has a pedestrian bridge back to building E51. (This is building E52.) Go up to the third floor, and then cross over Wadsworth via the pedestrian bridge. Continue all the way down to room E51-395 at the end of the corridor. (On those occasions when we're moved to room 149, you can then take the elevator down to the first floor and continue as above.) <><>< Parking ><><> We have been officially told that we may park in the Sloan Parking Lot. This is NOT the lot immediately next to the building where we meet. (Although we were informally told for years that it was OK to use that lot, people have very occasionally gotten an MIT ticket for using it.) The entrance to the Sloan Parking Lot in on Main Street, just a little towards Boston from Wadsworth Street. If you have turned on to Wadsworth Street from Memorial Drive, continue past Building E51 to the end of Wadsworth where it meets Main. Then turn right on Main, and the entrance to the Sloan Parking Lot will be a short distance ahead, on your right. (I don't drive, and I have these directions by word of mouth and guesswork. If they can be improved, please let me know.) <><><><><> John Shockey jshockey@world.std.com