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From: sho@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Sho Kuwamoto)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: "Innovative software like Hypercard" [sic]
Keywords: Hypercard useless software white elephant
Message-ID: <3890@newton.physics.purdue.edu>
Date: 10 Jul 90 16:17:05 GMT
References: <77516@aerospace.AERO.ORG> <1990Jul7.050240.21181@csrd.uiuc.edu> <13997@unix.SRI.COM>
Sender: news@newton.physics.purdue.edu
Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept, W.Lafayette, IN
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In article <13997@unix.SRI.COM> ubi@ginger.UUCP (Ron Ueberschaer x4399) writes:
[...]
>One problem with HyperCard is
>that it requires a lot of memory.  Keeping it open, even with
>MultiFinder and several megs available, can significantly affect
>performance if you've also got a couple of other apps/DAs running.
>
>On the other hand, HyperCard is quite a departure from traditional
>applications.  It's really neat how everything is linked together.
>It's kind of like the original 1984 Mac--this cool new toy with which
>to waste time, but not powerful enough (yet) to be a real tool.  
[...]

I tend to disagree.  I don't use Hypercard much, but it's not for lack
of memory.  I have 5M and don't use it.  I suspect that if I had a
IIfx with Virtual that I still wouldn't be using it.

I think you came closer in the second paragraph.  Hypercard is not
powerful enough to be a real tool.  It's not the underlying hardware,
but the software itself.  HyperTalk has enough ideosyncracies to
warrant a long bout of hair-pulling.  The only real uses I've seen for
it have been 

  * glorified address book
  * somewhat interactive viewgraph-like things

I also think HyperCard is a neat thing, but it just doesn't pan out
for the average user.  It's overly complicated for doing "simple" things
like taking a field of numbers and adding them up.  You may as well
use a spreadsheet.  It's too hard to program anything elaborate.  My
gut feeling is that even BASIC can be easier to program in for the
novice user.  

Perhaps it's just my lack of familiarity with HyperTalk that leads me
to this conclusion.  Still, I feel that HyperCard, as it stands, is
next to useless when you get right down to it.  I've been complaining,
but don't have any answers.  I'm not saying, "Apple should have done
it *this* way."  I'm saying that HyperCard has a lot of promise, but
it has a way to go before it allows the average joe to write even the
most trivial of programs.  I remember John Sculley having said
something to the effect of, "now I can finally program a computer."
Uh, yeah.

-Sho
-- 
sho@risc.com  <<-- And I have yet to see a HyperCard stack that I
                   would come close to buying.  In fact, the only FREE
                   one that I've bothered to get is the Tech Notes stack.