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From: broy@vaxa.weeg.uiowa.edu (Barbara Roy)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Paradox vs. Clarion Opinions Wanted
Message-ID: <4378@ns-mx.uiowa.edu>
Date: 12 Feb 91 14:47:14 GMT
References: <1991Feb11.025108.21004@cbnewsh.att.com> <1991Feb11.163707.10213@spool.cs.wisc.edu> <3329@polari.UUCP>
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In article <3329@polari.UUCP>, random@polari.UUCP (tamara thomas) writes...
>My personal experience with Paradox has been sufficient to encourage you to
>use any other database.  Our company has a multiuser database.  We regularly have to reconstruct the main tables after the program scrambles the data.  It will
>scramble data even when one person is updating and one person is querying.  Our
>tests indicate that it is not network dependant (we use both Novell and LANMAN,
>both have the mix-up data problem with the database).  Paradox may be adequate
>for many applications, but if you want to have the ability to have two people
>in the database at once, choose a different product.
>              
>Tamara Thomajjs

You neglect to state which version of Paradox you are maligning. We use versions
3.0 and 3.5 in a Novell environment with NO data scrambling problems. Paradox
handles table and record level locking automatically, making it easy to develop
multi-user applications. We have MANY multi-user applications running without
problems. What did Borland say about your problem - I assume you contacted
technical support about it?

My main complaint about Paradox is that it's a disk hog. It creates lots of
temporary tables. Also the position of the column in the table is important in
many Paradox operations, making it necessary to sort tables to temporary tables
to view them in the desired order. 

Paradox does come with a robust programming language that is powerful enough for
the most complex application. Add-on third party packages give you additional
capabilities, such as text fields, enhanced script editing, and more flexible
forms design. Interactive Paradox is VERY user-friendly. Data-entry forms, 
reports, and queries can be designed interactively and then incorporated into
your PAL code to create a complete menu-driven application.

As a long-time dBase programmer, it has taken me a while to adjust from the
command-line approach to the Paradox interface, but I guess I'm now a convert!

Barbara Roy, Weeg Computing Center, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. 52242
Phone: 319-335-5506  
Internet: broy@vaxa.weeg.uiowa.edu     Bitnet: broyva@uiamvs
Disclaimer: My opinions are solely my own and may change daily.