Programming for the Newton using Macintosh, 2nd ed.

Protos

I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul.

--Mahatma Gandhi

Protos are the Newton's solution to tight memory constraints. They are also the vehicles of code reusability, and thus the components of code libraries. The definition of a proto is fairly straightforward:

When we speak of a template protoing from a proto, we mean that it inherits its initial visual characteristics and behavior from that proto.

It is quite similar to an ordinary family structure. You look and act in many ways like your mother and father, but you are not a carbon copy. Likewise, if you have sisters or brothers, they are rarely identical twins. Similarly, a template will usually have some additional elements added to it that make it look or act differently from both its proto and other templates that proto from the same proto.


Note:Yes, proto is both a noun and a verb. We will commonly speak about the "proto of something" as well as "the act of protoing." Here is a weird sentence that you will grow quite accustomed to: a template protos from its proto.


Introduction to Protos
The System Protos
Creating and Using User Protos
Examples
Exercises
Summary

An online version of Programming for the Newton using Macintosh, 2nd ed. ©1996, 1994, Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes.

Last modified: 1 DEC 1996