Moving the MC IDE forward

[J. Landman Gay]

On 7/11/03 12:03 AM, Geoff Canyon wrote:

> Out of curiosity, what is it that the MetaCard development environment 
> has that the Revolution environment doesn't?

> Or, what is it that MetaCard _doesn't_ have that can't be hidden or
 > done away with in Revolution?

The second statement is more likely on target. I can use either 
environment in most cases, but there are some times when MC is easier. 
The thing that MC has that Rev doesn't is, in a nutshell, simplicity. 
This issue is probably of more consequence to experienced MC users than 
those who come new to Revolution.

For users who are not as familiar with the capabilities of the engine, 
Rev probably offers the best interface because it is so visual: the user 
doesn't need to know the entire language and environment to get work 
done. There are lots of palettes and libraries to help, and a lot of the 
stack design can be done by simply clicking checkboxes and filling in a 
few fields.

But for those who have been using MC for a long time, the extra 
palettes, libraries, and interface elements can get in the way. Someone 
mentioned speed, and that's a consideration too; it does take somewhat 
longer for Rev's palettes to load and display their data -- noticeably 
more time than the equivalent MC palettes. I can think of two examples 
of how Rev slows my work, both of which I ran up against yesterday, and 
which caused me to simply switch my working environment from Rev to MC 
for that session.

I am porting a 4,000-card, multi-background client stack from HyperCard 
to Revolution. I wanted to look at a list of all objects on a particular 
card. It is impossible to see an overview of a stack this large in the 
Application Overview unless you are willing to go out to lunch and maybe 
have a couple of drinks while it is loading. I didn't need, or want, to 
see a list of all the cards -- obviously this is a database -- I just 
wanted to see the objects on the current card. It was a no-brainer; I 
opened it in MC where the Control Browser showed me -- instantly, with 
no delay -- only what I wanted. Rev's IDE, in this case, interfered and 
slowed me down. I know there are third-party Rev tools to do what I want 
(including your own control browser) but at that moment I couldn't play 
with the IDE, I just needed to get the work done. Switching back to MC 
was easier and a magnitude faster. (The fact that there are several 
third-party control browser stacks around shows that my experience is 
common and perhaps should be addressed by Runtime.)

I have a library of custom handlers that I load at startup in both MC 
and Rev. One of my handlers reports the mainstacks that are currently 
loaded in memory. When I run this handler in MC, there are at most only 
a couple of stacks from the IDE listed, but in Rev, it is difficult to 
find my own stacks among the dozens that Rev maintains. When I get 
around to it, I will customize my handler to remove all the "rev" stacks 
before displaying the results, but at that moment the extra info was 
intrusive. I can't remove these stacks from Rev (nor do I want to) 
because they are necessary to its functioning. A somewhat parallel 
example is the number of custom messages that are constantly being sent 
in the background by Rev. I know I can view a modified list of pending 
messages from within the message box, but since MC sends no custom 
messages in the background at all, MC's IDE translates to the user as 
"cleaner." And again, these custom messages can't be removed from the 
program.

These are very minor examples, none of which are crucial or 
insurmountable. I can customize my way out of the first two of them 
easily. But the lean IDE in MC has its appeal -- precisely because I 
*don't* have to customize it. It just stays out of my way. I think it is 
this kind of thing that causes experienced MC users to accuse Revolution 
of "bloat". It is also this feeling of steamlined useability that caused 
HyperCard people to accuse MetaCard of "bloat" as well. ;) Hypercard's 
huge advantage is the way its own IDE remains completely out of sight 
until you need it.

The most likely answer to your question is that, given human nature, 
people don't easily change their habits. For myself, I find I use 
Revolution far more from the message box than from within its many 
palettes. It's just how I'm used to doing things, and it is much faster 
because I type fast and I don't have to wait for interface elements to 
load. The good news for MC users who are moving to Rev is that it works 
just fine that way.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com