Re: MacApp with Mac CL

[UK0392@AppleLink.Apple.COM (EHN & DIJ Oakley,BDV)]

Dan,
 
We have used MacApp since 1.1.1, and are now getting to grips with MCL, and
feel that we might provide some advice regarding MCL and MacApp.
 
1.  MACL = Macintosh Allegro Common Lisp (last product name)
    MCL = Macintosh Common Lisp (current product name)
 
2.  MacApp is designed to be a linkable and extensible Class Library (and in
our humble opinion the *best* Class Library) which is accessible from MPW
languages, in particular C++ and Object Pascal (although it is also accessible
from Modula 2 and Assembler, at least).  As such, you can only effectively work
with MacApp if the language that you are working from is within the MPW
environment, and linkable with Object Pascal (for MacApp 2.0.1) and C++ (for
MacApp 3.0).  MCL does *not* meet that requirement, and to try to marry the two
together would appear to be a very major, if not impossible, undertaking.
 
It is also a rather odd thing to wish to do - if you like, MacApp offers a
superb Class Library for MPW compiled languages, whilst MCL (although not
having such a large Class Library) does have many classes available, either
shipped with it or in the Cambridge archives, which are rather different from
those of MacApp.
 
The only ways in which I could see MacApp and MCL working together are:
a.  by implementing some or most of the MacApp classes in MCL - another major
undertaking!
or b.  by using interapplication communications mechanisms, e.g. AppleEvents in
System 7.0, to get a MacApp application and an MCL one to work together.
 
An alternatice which you might like to investigate is the use of CLIM, which is
I gather an interface Class Library, and is available for MCL at a cost of
something like $500.
 
Regards, Howard.