Useful Links and Third Party Software

This page contains a list of links to information sites and mailing lists that might help you in your software development efforts. Also included on the page are brief descriptions and links to third party software offerings. All of the sites, lists, and tools mentioned here have been found to be useful at one time or another.

Useful Links to Information Sites and Mailing Lists

Macintosh
Apple Developers' Site - starting point for everything related to software development on the Mac.
Apple Mailing Lists - Apple Computer maintains more than 50 mailing lists for Macintosh users and developers. This page lists them all and allows you to sign up for any of them.
The AppleScript Guru - A comprehensive resource tool for both developers and those interested in learning how AppleScript is used, as well as its many benefits.
The AppleScript Sourcebook - an independent site for people using Apple Computer's English-like scripting language, AppleScript. A great resource for beginners through experts.
computer-books.us - Peter Kitson is assembling a list of quality free computer books that are available for download, including books on AppleScript and Java among other topics.
Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes -Doug Adams has put together a great site on all things AppleScript related to iTunes. A great resource if you want to script the popular Apple music program, with lots of documentation, examples, and scripts. The number of downloadable scripts for controlling iTunes exceeds 400.
Mac Central - a good source for Mac news. Also has links to other interesting computer news.
Macintosh Products Guide - Apple Computer's extensive compilation of software and hardware available for the Macintosh from a wide variety of sources.
MacInTouch - more Mac related news and columnists, including ongoing discussion groups.
Macs in Chemistry - a resource site for chemists using Macs. Plenty of links to applications, news related to chemistry and the Mac, and more.
MacScripters - a large collection of AppleScript scripts. Easy to use site.
Mac Update - A popular Macintosh shareware distribution site.
mani.de - Manfred Schwind publishes three interesting utilities for Mac OS X, including iVolume, which uses a superior algorithm to set iTunes songs to the same sound level.
Nolobe Pty - have taken over the popular Internet engine, Interarchy
Stairways Software - Peter N. Lewis is a leading shareware producer for the Mac, especially Internet related.
TecSoft - This company provides services and solutions for professional Macintosh users, including AppleScript training.
TidBits - weekly computer newsletter with a Mac focus.
TuCows - A popular shareware distribution site for multiple platforms.
Version Tracker - One of the most popular shareware distribution sites for the Macintosh.

Java
Sun Developer Network Java Page - the site for all things Java from its originators
Java World - an excellent online magazine about Java. Has lots of technical how-to articles.
Java Programmer's FAQ - answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Java. Regularly updated.
Roedy Green - Roedy is a Java expert with a fascinating site. Well respected in the Java newsgroups.

Miscellany
Google Groups - Google now offers a complete 20 plus year Usenet Archive with over 700 million messages. Good for finding old postings, as well as contemporary ones.

Third Party Software
This section lists useful software offerings that Apps & More has come across. The list includes well written shareware and freeware, as well as commercial tools.

• AppKiDo
• DropStuff
• Iconographer
• Interarchy
• Net Chronometer
• Spam Proof Mail Script
• StuffIt Expander
• Temporary Items Remover

AppKiDo by Andy Lee (Mac OS X freeware)
This browser for the Cocoa frameworks is a big help in becoming familiar with the many classes, and the methods associated with each class, that comprise the frameworks used to develop software in Mac OS X. It lets you examine the documentation organized by the class hierarchy so you can see how it all fits together. Works in OS X version 10.3 or higher.

DropStuff by Allume Systems (Mac shareware)
Perhaps the premier file compression program on the Mac, DropStuff with Expander Enhancer offers users the ability to easily create StuffIt archives by simply dragging and dropping a file or folder onto the DropStuff icon. Also included is the Expander Enhancer, which boosts the functionality and speed of the freeware StuffIt Expander (see below). With this package installed, Expander can expand and decode nearly all formats found on the Internet. It will also join files that were segmented with another StuffIt product, like StuffIt Deluxe.

Iconographer by MScape Software (Mac OS and OS X shareware)
Iconographer is a full-featured icon editor for the classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Windows and Windows XP. It can be used for a wide range of tasks, ranging from simply creating some customized folder icons to editing complex resource files for an application to converting icons between platforms.

Interarchy by Nolobe Pty (Mac Shareware)
Interarchy, formerly Anarchie, is a powerful multipurpose Internet engine for the Macintosh with an easy to use Finder like interface. Among its many features are the ability to let you upload and download files and programs from FTP and web sites, get entire web sites, extract and list web links, resume interrupted and failed transfers, and manage and replicate entire FTP sites. (Interarchy was originally developed by Stairways Software.)

Net Chronometer by Jeremy Kezer (Mac OS 9 Shareware)
This little program is very handy to keep your computer's clock in synch with the rest of the world by using the Internet time protocol. Run it once a day when you log on to the Internet to keep your clock accurate to a second or so. Jeremy also has many other useful shareware programs, especially for portable users.

Spam Proof Mail Script by Joseph McLean (JavaScript)
This simple but very handy little JavaScript script prevents programs that go out on the web to search for email addresses from finding yours on your web page. An email link is only created when an actual user positions their mouse over the text or image representing the script on the page. To see it in action, place your mouse over one of the email links at this site.
Download this script. Don't forget to remove the comment tags! ()

StuffIt Expander by Allume Systems (Mac Freeware)
No Mac user connected to the Internet should be without StuffIt Expander, Allume's (formerly Aladdin) award-winning freeware product. Use it as is, to expand StuffIt, ZIP, UUencoded, BinHex & MacBinary files that you have downloaded. Version 5.5 and later have the ability to mount shrink-wrap image files (electronic versions of disks) and to decrypt Private File encrypted files. For OS 9 users, add the Expander Enhancer from "DropStuff with Expander Enhancer" and StuffIt Expander expands more formats (including .pkg and .tar) and joins StuffIt segments. Expander also handles segmented and multipart encoded files (i.e.: BinHex and UUencoded files).

Temporary Items Remover originally from Apple Computer (Mac freeware OS 8.6 to 9.0.4)
The startup disk of Macintosh computers contains an invisible file called "Temporary Items" that some programs use to store temporary files. Normally, the contents of this folder should be placed in the Trash when they are no longer needed. Unfortunately, for Mac OS Versions greater than 8.6, but less than 9.1 this is not done. This could result in your disk becoming filled with useless files without your realizing it. If you use one of the 9.0.x versions of the operating system, put this script application in the Startup Items folder inside your System Folder. To download it, just click here.