The Professional Developer is the monthly newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, dedicated to the advancement of knowledge among Dbase developers.

do Therese Padilla

8726 S. Sepulveda, B204

Los Angeles, CA 90045

Board of Directors:

John Kinney (213 531-6543

Therese Padilla (213 450-4399

L J. Richter 213 398-4358

Charlie Rider 818 901-2826

Randy Unruh 213 390-8039

Chuck Williams 213 539-9439

BBS Sysop:

Lee Thompson (213)469-4682

The Crow’s Nest (213)962-1428

300,1200,2400 &N,1 Member Benefits:

John Kinney (213)531-6543 Newsletter Editor:

L J. Richter (213)398-4358 LA. Fox User Group

Chuck Williams (213)539.9439

San Fernando Valley Clipper UG Charlie Rider (818)901-2826

Template Language SIG Therese Padilla (213)450-4399

Subscriptions, Membership, Change of Address:

Membership for 1 year, with a 1 year subscription to The Professional Developer, is $45. Contact Therese Padilla at address above.

Disclaimer:

Neither the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, LA. Fox, the Valley Clipper Users Group, their officers or board of directors or their members (collectively, DLaP), make any express or implied warranties of any kind with regard to any information disseminated, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability and- or fitness for a particular purpose.

Opinions provided by newsletter articles, or by speakers, members or guests who address the meeting are individual opinions only, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of DLaP. All opinions and information should be carefully considered, and DLaP is not liable for any incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing or use of any information or opinions.

Brand names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

The Valley View

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FORCE

The main feature was a presentation on the FORCE compiler from Sophco (the evening after the a similar presentation at DLaP). David Lowery, one of the principals at Sophco showed what a knowledgeable program developer can do with FORCE.

FORCE is a different breed from Clipper in that it produces true native code and can thus create a very small fast .EXE file. Clipper .EXE files actually contain a runtime interpreter - the actual program is compiled to a token table that is subsequently executed by the runtime interpreter.

FORCE does require that all variables be declared and typed prior to use just like the other major compilers on the market such as C. Syntax checking is done as a part of the compile cycle instead of in the runtime cycle as with other Dbase language compilers. FORCE uses Microsoft C calling conventions so C segments and assembler segments need no special parameter passing schemes. FORCE has outstanding support for arrays, conditional compilation, include files, defines and @..prompt..message menuing.

The October Meeting Come hear Ashton-Tate on dBASE IV Version 1.1 (the one that works). Gain the feedback from the recent developers conference. What you see and hear may amaze you (another compiler???). If you must miss the DLaP presentation, you are welcome to join us at the Valley Clipper Group.

L.A. Fox

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Dahlin, George Dvorak, and myself led off with short prepared topics to get things started.

It worked. The group picked up the threads and launched into some lively discussions which were quite informative — I learned several useful things I didn’t even know I wanted to know. We will try this format again in future meetings, so anyone who would like a forum for discussing a database design problem or asking for help with a development technique, please let me know.

You don’t have to prepare slides or overheads for this kind of session, and there can be PC and/or Mac equipment available for hands-on work if you let us know in advance. The group is small enough and congenial enough to make this effective.

Board of Directors We have a new member of the LA Fox Board of Directors. Warren Rekow joined the board at our last meeting. Warren works at Hughes, has been a regular at our general meetings, and will start helping with our membership database.

October Meeting

Our October meeting features a very successful local consultant, Jay Rubin. Jay is Vice President of DFC Enterprises in Newport Beach and has been closely involved with Dbase related products since their beginnings. His clients range from small businesses to large Fortune 500 corporate giants.

Of interest to this group, he works with Fox software in both

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

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