newbie: when to use substacks?

[Graham Samuel]

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 18:10:48 -0600 tom farrell <thf at pvs.k12.nm.us> wrote:
>
>Any pointer/hints/suggestions/reminiscences about when you decide to
>use a main+substack design rather than just one monolithic main stack?
>
>thanks in advance for any time you might have for a reply.
>

My 2 (Euro) cents: if you want different windows open on the screen 
at the same time, then (as I understand it) in RR each window is the 
display of a different stack. So if for example you have a tool 
palette or a help window etc then each of these has to be in a 
substack... or so it seems to me.

The other big point is about apps built with RR not being 
self-modifying, which requires one to separate data (including stuff 
like preferences as well as user-generated files) from the code 
itself. This calls not only for separate stacks (if your data is in 
the form of stacks) but also different files. This is different from 
SuperCard (where I came from before RR) and HyperCard, but to me 
makes a whole lot of sense - and anyway is necessary to RR because 
only Apple permits this anyway.

The tendency for SuperCard projects to save themselves creates some 
difficulty if you're trying to design an app where the user gets the 
usual option to decide whether to save a file or not, and where 
you've chosen that the file format will itself by a SuperCard project 
(similar to an RR stack). I guess it's the same with HyperCard. This 
issue doesn't arise with RR.

HTH

Graham

-- 
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          Graham Samuel / The Living Fossil Co. / UK & France