#Software
Betty,
I can understand your problem with the workbench disk vs libraries, but
there are advantages to having a library. For one thing, programs that use it
will be smaller and therefore save you space. My old file requester was 12k. If
you had 3 programs on your disk that used them, then you would be using 36k for
3 copies of the same file requester, and that goes for programs running at the
moment, as well. With the library, if they all used the librarie's file
requester, that free's up 36k for more programs, and reduces the size in
memory, since multiple programs can use the same copy of the routine.
Also, as people move towards hard drives and mondo-memory, you have more
freedom in how you set up your enviornment.
I know it's a hassle, but what you could do (if you have the memory) is to
make a LIBS: directory in ram, and assign LIBS: to RAM:LIBS or vd0: or rad: or
whatever. You could also have it on another disk, and just re-assign it as
necessary.
Also, the point of the library is to help programmers write better and
easier to use programs. It is a BIG hassle right now to use the standard system
requesters (which are ugly and clunky anyways) so most programmers don't. If
there was an easy way to display an error message, then it's more likely that
the programmer will put that in, and the result will be an easier to use
program.
— Colin —