This is a very forward-looking issue of develop . The cover article is on QuickDraw
3D, whose final release won't have shipped by the time you read this (though it should
be soon). We've also got articles on Copland and OpenDoc, which aren't due for final
release for a while yet. You'll learn how Copland will take the Mac OS into the future
and how OpenDoc will affect the way users work with documents. There's an article on
creating PCI device drivers that will be -- as far as we can tell as of this writing --
forward compatible with Copland. And we've got an article on the very subject of
futures, a convenient way of implementing asynchronous interapplication
communication, which will be especially valuable as more applications become
scriptable and as component-oriented systems like OpenDoc become more prevalent.
All in all, we're looking ahead .
Having articles on technology that hasn't shipped yet makes it tough for us to give you
solid information and code that we know will withstand the test of time and not change
in the future. QuickDraw 3D is shipping soon enough that we know that article and its
code are reasonably solid -- but the software is "beta" as of this writing, so changes
can still happen. The Copland and OpenDoc articles provide only background
information that should prove helpful as you consider how to use those technologies in
your work; these articles provide no code, but only a context for the respective
technologies. And although the PCI article does its best to tell you what may or may not
work with Copland, there are limits to how far it can see into the future.
While it's certainly atypical to have develop articles that aren't based on good, solid
code, we felt these articles would nonetheless be of interest to you. We'd really like to
know whether you agree with our decision. Our Review Board meetings are driven by
what we think you want; we periodically need a reality check from you.
There's yet another way that we're giving you a glimpse into the future: this issue's
CD contains a Preliminary Drafts folder containing articles that we expect to
publishin a future issue ofdevelop . Again, we didn't want to keep you from getting
informationthat you might find useful. This time we've got an article on implementing
multipane dialogs and another on performing timing operations. Look in this folder
from now on for "extra" articles.
So please, take a moment to give us your feedback on all of this (see the inside front
cover to find out how to contact us). Why not stop by for a chat if you're at this year's
Worldwide Developers Conference? Help us help you do a better job; that's why we're
here.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Caroline Rose Editor
CAROLINE ROSE (AppleLink CROSE) has been writing and editing for so long that she
can do it in her sleep. In fact, she sometimes lies awake at night trying to solve writing
problems -- as she used to do for code bugs back when she was a programmer. To help
get her mind off work, Caroline does Tai Chi and Ch'i Kung and curls up with her
longtime feline companion, Cleo. But even then she can't get away from playing with
words, as she continually adds to the long list of Cleo's nicknames; current favorites
include Fuzz Bucket and The Purrmeister. Caroline agrees with Albert Schweitzer that
there are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. *