Add Rule 22 (as in Catch 22). An older program may work in OS/5 if it:
1. Doesn't provoke bugs in OS/5. 2. Doesn't depend upon older bugs that were fixed in OS/5. 3. Doesn't use obsolete functions. 4. Doesn't use direct access to OS created data structures. 5. Doesn't use system globals. The obsolete function game caught me on several points. I have a calculator that uses the really ancient floating point library. Works fine with everything up to OS/5. When it didn't work, I tried to debug the problem. Eventually I found the documentation (in 6 point type (or was it 3 point...) that said that the original floating point interface was not supported in OS/5. This program didn't do any manipulation of OS internal data structures or any of the supposed nasty things we're not supposed to use. It's only fault was that it was never updated to the newer way of doing floating point calculations. I guess I'm getting rather tired of the implication that if we developers had just lead a more pure existence and not violated so many interface guidelines, then everything would just work like it should have been designed. The only reason the glue library exists is that there were no "proper" ways to get many tasks done. The glue library was a last minute attempt to provide "blessed" ways of doing things that previously could only be done in hacker fashion. Many of the useful things that were done pre-OS/5 cannot be done in OS/5 by any "blessed" technique. If you doubt this, please tell me the official policy on how to install a hack. Hacks were never blessed, and have now been officially condemned. Not that that ever stopped real palm programmers... -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
