Re: [plt-scheme] MZScheme on Mac OS

[John Clements <clements@brinckerhoff.org>]

>Hello,
>
>I'm planning to use MZScheme as a back end for a larger, long-living 
>real-world application for Mac OS 9 and OS X. I don't think that 
>MacOS X might be a problem, but what about OS 9 - will it be 
>supported by future versions (version 200) of MZScheme?

1) As of now, Version 200 is going to come screaming out the door 
with no mac support whatsoever.

2) However, a followup version of DrScheme should include support for 
both OS 9 and OS X.

3) Right now, the MrEd codebase is shared between OS X and OS 9 
versions, with the exception of the MzScheme code.  If it weren't for 
TCP/IP issues (and my great preference for the command-line version 
of mzscheme), we could even produce a legitimately "carbon" version 
of the code.  So this bodes (relatively) well for the future of 
DrScheme on Mac OS classic.

4) In the long term, MzScheme for Classic is likely to rot, 
particularly as fewer people use it (talk about a self-fulfilling 
prophecy!). Right now, I know of at least one horrendous grotesque 
bug in the ancient Metrowerks code we use for Terminal I/O (hint: for 
God's sake, don't ever highlight all the code in the terminal window 
and press Return). I'm unlikely to fix this ever, particularly as so 
few people use the stand-alone version of mzscheme on the mac.

5) There are substantial differences between version 103 and version 
200, and I for one would not recommend trying to maintain code in 
both languages simultaneously.

6) If you're interested in running (or helping to debug?) the classic 
version of DrScheme v200, I'd be glad to put up a precompiled binary 
that could be used with an anonymous CVS tree.  For more information 
on this, you can refer to 
<http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/clements/drscheme-osx.html>.  If there's 
interest, let me know.

7)  Thanks for your support!

john clements