Builder Review

Continued from Page 8.

relatively small ifie sizes and the

added capability and security.

The Builder product includes an

editor, compiler and special

linker, Mlink, in an integrated

turbo-type environment with a

hot-key compile and link step.

Of course you don’t have to use

the provided editor environment,

you can use your own editor

(and/or linker) and compile and

link separately. It creates a

.COM file (or .EXE, if neces-

sary) which you are free to

distribute, royalty free.

No gain without some pain.

It is here that I must bring up

one of the areas of criticism I

have of the package. The docu-

mentation (in the review version

I received) has no discussion of

editor commands and general

operation other than a listing of

key assignments in an appendix. I

suppose Tom Cambell, the

author, figures that the editor

menus and on-line help is suffi-

cient. It is, it just takes a tad

longer to “intuit” the steps.

Another peeve to mention:

compiler error messages are

slightly less cryptic than Russian

street signs - e.g., “9: syntax

error”. Meaning something is

wrong at line 9, presumably.

Other messages didn’t give me

that much and, in a couple of

cases, merely hung my machine.

(I really, really hate that!) Also,

where you place REM state-

ments makes a difference!

Why?? Who knows?

Other commands, such as EXiT

and CANCELED seem to suffer

with the same placement prob-

lem. Thus, certain commands

and syntax don’t always give what

you might expect and use seems

clumsy at times. Use of the

Escape key does not always pro-

duce the stated result, e.g.,

exiting a menu without executing

the first ITEM in an items list.

Hopefully, familiarity with the

language and its quirks would

eventually overcome these minor

frustrations.

Not much is missing!

An expanded tutorial section

using some of the more ad-

vanced features would probably

go a long way toward making the

documentation complete. (The 3

or 4 pages of trivial examples in

the user manual just don’t get it.)

Though the list of commands is a

rich one, there are a couple of

useful commands that seem to be

missing, such as, a text centering

function, cursor-off/on control

and a BOX command that allows

other extended characters

besides single and double lines.

On the positive side, however,

the editor is quite capabre with

drop-down menus and a decent

help system. Also some example

.BLD files are provided to give a

good feel for what the language

is capable of doing, at least in the

area of screen controL

Documentation aside, I think

most experienced programmers

will find the product fairly easy

to use. The syntax has a Basic

language feel to it and Dbase

programmers can simply “SAY

.“ instead of “@ SAY ..

With some experimentation I

was able to hammer out some of

the less obvious requirements of

the language, e.g., you must use

the double quote character

around text to be displayed..

There is no option for the single

quote character, since it is use

for comments. Also, don’t RUN

the DOS MODE command prior

to doing a menu, unless you issue

a MENU STYLE command first,

else you may see an amazing

display of mixed colors. . . you

know, those kinds of things.

To sum up, I have to say that this

is definitely a product I will use

and one I have been waiting for.

It could easily become a regular

part of your development proc-

ess. Write the application, write

a user “shell.com” and then an

installation procedure with so-

phisticated error handling and

hardware checking. Hyperkinetix

should beef this product up, im-

prove the documentation,

correct some of those little irri-

tating points mentioned above

and put more marketing punch

behind this one. It’s a winner!

The Newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, September 1990

Page 9