9 |
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
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9 |