The jaw-dropping part of this is the realization that the Apple Lisa had no developer documentation. I don't think it ever occurred to me in 1983 that something was missing. Some manager should have gotten fired over that, and that manager was me.
Apple *was* working on a development system (with documentation) for outside developers; the system was called the Lisa Toolkit, and Larry Tesler led a group of us working on it. It was an object-oriented application framework; at the time (in 1983), that was an almost unknown technology. Unfortunately, the Lisa lost momentum before the Lisa Toolkit was released.
A new version of that team then created MacApp, an object-oriented application framework for developing Macintosh applications.
In my vast 😉 research for this post, I came upon a statement that that was an intentional strategy. That Lisa was supposed to be just the Office System, self-contained, no outside developers. So please un-fire yourself.
I still have a full set on a shelf in my office--such great software development memories. I never thought I'd be reviewing and writing sample code for them in the '90s. Life is full of wonderful surprises.
I still have my very well-used telephone book edition. https://sean-parent.stlab.cc/twitter-archive/#/tweets/replies?q=475832273627914240. Thanks, Scott, Cary, et. all. Reading your posts, Scott, I feel like you are a slightly older me in a parallel universe. I sold Lisas at Micro Computer Systems in Bellevue, WA, and then got my hands on Lisa Workshop and spent evenings at the store after closing, learning to write Mac software. I believe my phone book edition of IM came with an early copy of MDS.
Sean, I think that's exactly right. IIRC Bob Belleville, the software team manager, insisted that we couldn't ship MDS (Macintosh Development System) without Toolbox documentation. The phone book edition was the response to that.
I bought the three-paperback version at the bookstore at the mall. Let me explain... the mall was a large indoor space containing many stores, and a bookstore had rows and rows of books and magazines for sale, as this was the only source of information. A different store sold whipped orange juice with egg, as was the custom at the time.
Caution: I did the same googling last year and when I went to that DQ, I found that they actually didn't have Orange Julius. Also true of other locations, the website is not accurate.
If I recall correctly, the Inside Macintosh manuals (which were like a bible to me!) were the first manuals that treated the user as a female, instead of the industry standard male.
That always struck me as such forward thinking, and so typical of Apple.
I've been enjoying your postings for several months, now -- "Thanx!" ... and you've reminded me that my Inside Mac volumes are still on my BookCase in the Den ... one day I'll have to figure out who might want to take them off my hands ...
Caroline was fantastic. She edited develop later which was a really neat apple house technical magazine. Before I worked at Apple I used to love getting that every quarter and after I got a job in dts Caroline and Toni Moccia and others helped edit my awful writing into something approaching coherent English and I went from reading it to writing in it.
I still hold Inside Mac as the gold standard for documentation. It's somewhat unfortunate that it was pretty much the first real formal computer technical writing that I read, because its been pretty much all downhill from there. (I guess I had some Apple ][ stuff before that.... does Beagle Bros and Beneath Apple Dos count as formal technical writing????)
The jaw-dropping part of this is the realization that the Apple Lisa had no developer documentation. I don't think it ever occurred to me in 1983 that something was missing. Some manager should have gotten fired over that, and that manager was me.
Apple *was* working on a development system (with documentation) for outside developers; the system was called the Lisa Toolkit, and Larry Tesler led a group of us working on it. It was an object-oriented application framework; at the time (in 1983), that was an almost unknown technology. Unfortunately, the Lisa lost momentum before the Lisa Toolkit was released.
A new version of that team then created MacApp, an object-oriented application framework for developing Macintosh applications.
Very cool, Harvey. I feel like I knew about this but had forgotten. Thanks for reminding us!
In my vast 😉 research for this post, I came upon a statement that that was an intentional strategy. That Lisa was supposed to be just the Office System, self-contained, no outside developers. So please un-fire yourself.
I still have a full set on a shelf in my office--such great software development memories. I never thought I'd be reviewing and writing sample code for them in the '90s. Life is full of wonderful surprises.
I still have my very well-used telephone book edition. https://sean-parent.stlab.cc/twitter-archive/#/tweets/replies?q=475832273627914240. Thanks, Scott, Cary, et. all. Reading your posts, Scott, I feel like you are a slightly older me in a parallel universe. I sold Lisas at Micro Computer Systems in Bellevue, WA, and then got my hands on Lisa Workshop and spent evenings at the store after closing, learning to write Mac software. I believe my phone book edition of IM came with an early copy of MDS.
Sean, I think that's exactly right. IIRC Bob Belleville, the software team manager, insisted that we couldn't ship MDS (Macintosh Development System) without Toolbox documentation. The phone book edition was the response to that.
I bought the three-paperback version at the bookstore at the mall. Let me explain... the mall was a large indoor space containing many stores, and a bookstore had rows and rows of books and magazines for sale, as this was the only source of information. A different store sold whipped orange juice with egg, as was the custom at the time.
Computer Literacy? The Internet in a shop 😂
And people could sign things you’d bought!
I remember that store! And I remember books! 📖
Sounds crazy. Are you sure you didn't imagine all this?
(I need to blog about my quest to find an Orange Julius last year, and how it led to me emailing Warren Buffet.)
You had me craving one. A little googling, bought by DQ (aka Dairy Queen), but on the DQ menu. It looks like there is a DQ in Campbell.
Caution: I did the same googling last year and when I went to that DQ, I found that they actually didn't have Orange Julius. Also true of other locations, the website is not accurate.
We need to hear that one!
Inside Macintosh was a great improvement over all its successors.
Apples documentation for programmers has gotten worse and worse over the years since the Inside Mac days.
To pick one tiny example, `NSSendTypes` is a key in a plist dictionary. The archived documentation https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/SysServices/Articles/properties.html clearly tells you what kinds of strings can serve as values for the key. The current documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/bundleresources/information-property-list/nsservices/nssendtypes doesn't.
If I recall correctly, the Inside Macintosh manuals (which were like a bible to me!) were the first manuals that treated the user as a female, instead of the industry standard male.
That always struck me as such forward thinking, and so typical of Apple.
Beautifully written, and presented. Amazing.
I've been enjoying your postings for several months, now -- "Thanx!" ... and you've reminded me that my Inside Mac volumes are still on my BookCase in the Den ... one day I'll have to figure out who might want to take them off my hands ...
Caroline was fantastic. She edited develop later which was a really neat apple house technical magazine. Before I worked at Apple I used to love getting that every quarter and after I got a job in dts Caroline and Toni Moccia and others helped edit my awful writing into something approaching coherent English and I went from reading it to writing in it.
I still hold Inside Mac as the gold standard for documentation. It's somewhat unfortunate that it was pretty much the first real formal computer technical writing that I read, because its been pretty much all downhill from there. (I guess I had some Apple ][ stuff before that.... does Beagle Bros and Beneath Apple Dos count as formal technical writing????)
There was nothing like the Mac, and nothing like Inside Mac!