%% preface.tex - preface
%% Created by Robert Heller on Thu Mar 12 18:01:23 1992
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%% Home Libarian by Deepwoods Software
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%% Modification History:
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%% Copyright (c) 1991,1992 by Robert heller (D/B/A Deepwoods Software)
%%        All Rights Reserved
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\chapter*{Preface}
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The \thesystem\ system maintains a database of ``cards'', which describe
books, magazines, video and audio tapes, CDs, record albums, laser disks,
and other simular items.  The data is indexed by a unique ID for each
``card'', a title index, an author index, and a subject index.  Each
card contains fields for a title, an author, a publisher, a year, a volume
number, a description, and an item type.  The \thesystem\ package has
six programs: EditLibr for editing card catalog files, Librarian for
searching card catalog files, PrintCards for make card catalog cards,
PrintLabels for printing item labels, Libr2Ascii for dumping a card
catalog file to a plain ASCII text format, and Ascii2Libr for building a
card catalog file from an ASCII text file (as generated by Ascii2Libr).

I had two main goals in mind when I set out to write the \thesystem\
package. First I wanted to learn {\tt C++} by writing some ``real''
programs, not just the exercises in the book, and secondly, I wanted to
write a package to help me deal with my growing library of science
fiction books, video tapes, and audio cassettes, which I estimate at
about 1,000 items.  The first goal has pretty much been reached,
in that I believe I have a good working feel for {\tt C++}.  My second
goal is still in progress\footnote{As of this writing, I have not
completed putting everything into the database.}.  I also wanted to
experiment with writing a shareware package, to see if it is a viable
source of income and not too much hassle, that is, to see if the
cost/benifit tradeoff is reasonable.

If you have {\em any} comments about this package, please let me know.
My electronic mail addresses are listed on the back side of the title
page.  My postal address is listed in Appendix~\ref{RegForm}. I would be
very interested in any comments users of the \thesystem\ package might
have.

I'd like to thank my friend Ephraim St. George Robbins for helping me
with this manual. 

\vspace{.25in}
\noindent
Robert Heller \\
Deepwoods Software \\
Wendell, MA, USA

