Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!mips!decwrl!bacchus.pa.dec.com!shlump.nac.dec.com!habs11.enet.dec.com!mason
From: mason@habs11.enet.dec.com (Gary Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: "Innovative software like Hypercard" [sic]
Message-ID: <13180@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Date: 7 Jul 90 20:05:45 GMT
Sender: newsdaemon@shlump.nac.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 39

>three to four megabytes of unused space, is to remove Hypercard.  No one
>uses it; there's barely enough memory on these Mac SE's to run it; and
>the mystery question of the day is "What is it?"  It seems to be a piece of
>software in search of a practical use; unlike databases, spreadsheets, page
>layout programs, etc., there is neither a high demand for hypermedia engines
>nor a lucrative untapped market in them.
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Scott Forbes                    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

I, for one, will step up to this discussion and defend HyperCard (and perhaps
SuperCard, though I don't use that).  I spent the first twenty or so years of
my career developing software systems.  I progressed and advanced, as one would
hope, and haven't had my hands on at the coding level for nearly ten years now.
Besides, I just plain got tired of the requirements of coding.  But I still
feel the creative urge now and again, and I have some projects I would like to
develop.  I want a comprehensive bibliography and database for English/UK
historical data (with a minor in genealogy); a nice integrated system for 
maintaining homebrew recipes, notes and other information; I have some ideas 
around training systems of various types; and similar things.  HyperCard 
allows me to accomplish what I want, and without the rigor associated with 
other programming languages and systems.  It surely lacks some of the power 
and flexibility of other programming languages, but with the freeware and 
shareware around to provide adjuncts for some of the absent, trickier stuff, 
it is perfectly acceptable for what I feel I need.  HyperCard performance 
leaves something to be desired, but that will improve too, as time goes on. 
(BTW - I am a stickler for performance at work.  But at home, where my
Macintosh is, I am more lenient.  That's why I have a 4 MB Plus with a 45 MB
HD, and not a 16 MB II** system with two 80-150 MB HDs, color, etc. 8')  

So on balance, given the cost, performance, and ease of use characteristics of
HyperCard, I think it is a very worthwhile product.  There is also a large body
of stacks available with which to form the basis of a project, thereby saving a
lot of the drudgery.  That allows one to concentrate on modifications to create
precisely what is needed for a given purpose.

Keep it up Apple!

Cheers...Gary
mason@habs11.enet.dec.com