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From: dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: "Innovative software like Hypercard" [sic]
Keywords: Hypercard useless software white elephant
Message-ID: <1990Jul11.134039.1488@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 11 Jul 90 13:40:39 GMT
References: <77516@aerospace.AERO.ORG> <1990Jul7.050240.21181@csrd.uiuc.edu> <13997@unix.SRI.COM> <3890@newton.physics.purdue.edu>
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Reply-To: dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner)
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In article <3890@newton.physics.purdue.edu> sho@maxwell.physics.purdue.edu (Sho Kuwamoto) writes:
>My
>gut feeling is that even BASIC can be easier to program in for the
>novice user.

My own gut feeling is that the novice user isn't going to do anything
remotely like programming, no matter what the language.

You should also differentiate between HyperTalk and HyperCard.  HyperTalk
is so-so as an "easy" programming language.  What makes HyperCard so nice
is 1) The object oriented philosophy 2) direct manipulation of UI-elements
[via the button and field tools, which are convenient to get to]
3) re-usability of objects [e.g., you can cut and paste WORKING buttons
and fields].  None of these things are directly related to HyperTalk.

A friend recently showed me a program he's writing in QuickBASIC.  He'd
done a little programming in college in Fortran.  I'm positive he could
have written a better-looking product in HyperCard in half the time (and
saved the $100 he spent on QuickBASIC).

>Still, I feel that HyperCard, as it stands, is
>next to useless when you get right down to it.

Smile when you say that.  Lots of people get good use out of HyperCard.
I program in MPW C for a living.  At home, I have 1 (count it, 1) C program
that I have written that I (occasionally) use.  90% of my time at my computer
is spent in HyperCard, using stacks I've written to:

	Manage my checkbook (including sophisticated reporting)
	Keep track of my credit cards
	Manage my record collection
	Track and graph gas mileage
	Print paper inserts for cassette tapes
	Keep track of home repairs
	And yes, a glorified address book which also dials the phone
	...and other things I'm forgetting

All these little tasks benefit from automation.  I'd never do them in C;
the overhead's too high.  I do own Microsoft BASIC, but it's far "clunkier"
and harder to use and program (for me) than HyperCard.

HyperCard is NOT useless.  Useless to you, perhaps.
--
Steve Dorner, U of Illinois Computing Services Office
Internet: s-dorner@uiuc.edu  UUCP: {convex,uunet}!uiucuxc!dorner