Tools of the Trade

Continued from Page 8.

The tools aspect will be pre-

sented as reviews of some

selected products. These tools

are not the standard big ticket

products - not languages, nor

compilers, nor assemblers, nor

operating systems.

They are the relatively-inexpen-

sive, stand-alone products used

in the development of software

systems, tools that may enable us

to do our job easier and in less

time.

The plan is to not include the

very basic tools that every

developer should already have

on hand, such as text editors and

file management utilities - you

probably already have your

favorites anyway and you aren’t

about to change.

A list of these basic tools will be

collected and published (without

much comment) from time to

time. But if a really neat new

basic tool pops up, additional

information will be provided

about it.

The projected areas include:

System utilities - such as the

components of Norton and

Mace.

Diagnostic/monitoring utilities

- for the analysis of strange

systems.

Libraries and subroutine col-

lections.

Code generators - screen,

report and program.

Memory managers.

System development aides.

For the most part, the inexpen-

sive tools selected for review in

this column will probably not end

up being rated by InfoWorld.

The reviews will include full

identification of the product and

the publisher (with address and

phone number), list and dis-

counted prices, a general over-

view of the product, system

requirements, comments on the

documentation, the installation

(easy, hard, impossible - does the

installation automatically over-

write files?), size of the program,

the basic tasks performed, is a

tutorial or samples provided?,

general impressions (both good

and bad), particular strong points

and weak points.

All readers are invited to provide

reviews of the special products

they have run across. Reviews

should follow the general format

established above.

If you have difficulty with the

writing, submit as much as you

can and assistance will be pro-

vided to produce the final

review.

Member Benefit

Instructions

Please remember that shipping

and handling must be included in

the price of the products.

John will advise you of what the

total price is when you call.

Contact him at (213)531-6543

Member Benefits

by John Kinney

The following is a list of software

and magazines presently avail-

able:

Data Based Advisor

The price is $23.88 for one year

of the magazine and a free

“Database Report.” Pick up a

subscription form from John

Kinney.

3PX Software

This fine library of Clipper func-

tions is available from 3P Soft-

ware for $139.95, $20 off the

original price of $159.95. Please

order this product from John

Kinney.

ZipClip

John say this is the best Zip

Code software he has seen. It

not only gives you the city and

state, but will give you every city

and state (yes, some zip codes

expand more than one state) for

that zip code. Our users group

can get it for 10% off. Please

contact John Kinney for details.

He hopes that we have a review

article on this product soon.

The Newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers GrOUp, October 1990

Page 9