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Text File | 2006-10-19 | 9KB | 169 lines

   .IF DSK1.C3

       ^^^^^^^^^^TEXTWARE, SOFTWARE, and ELSEWHERE

       ^^^^^^^^^^^^Goings on in 99-Land

       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^by  Jack Sughrue



       Reviewing books and software for computers is a lot like reviewing
   movies.  Some of that old stuff was great.  CITIZEN KANE, WHITE HEAT, the
   original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS.  All great stuff.  But if you
   watch them, say, with a teenager; someone who is used to the the
   brilliant colors, stereophonic sound, incredible special effects of STAR
   WARS, it is hard to convince them that these films, for their day and for
   the people who recall those earlier film days, are magnificent.  Who can
   forget Jennifer Jones, the Gypsy dancer riddled with bullet holes,
   crawling and scratching her way to the top of a cliff only to die as she
   grasped the hand of the evil-doing Gregory Peck in DUEL IN THE SUN?  The
   youth today scoffs at such nobility, such caring.  They split their sides
   at the word-of-honor approach to humor of the Wodehouse movies and
   books.
       What has happened to the world of yore?
       Nothing.
       It still lives (maybe with an illusory cherry on top) in our
   memories.  What has seemed to make it less than what it was is our own
   sophistication.  Once we know the how and why and where and what and once
   we've "been there" there seems no purpose in exploring what we already
   know.  Or is there?
       This edition of TEXTWARE/SOFTWARE/ELSEWHERE travels to both worlds:
   the reasonably innocent TI world of Reston Publishing Co. to the
   high-powered sophistication of a relative newcomer, Asgard Software.

       First the innocence (or seeming inncocence) of a book by Claire
   Bailey Passantino called ITTY BITTY BYTES OF SPACE FOR THE TI-99/4A
   COMPUTER ($6.95, Reston Computer Group, 11480 Sunset Hills Road, Reston,
   VA, 22090).
       It is one of a series of three: MATILDA THE COMPUTER CAT and SCHOOL
   DAYS.  (I haven't seen the other two.)
       What kept me from buying this book is the title.  Just as I can't
   stand grownups who talk baby talk, so I can't stand books whose titles
   are in baby talk.
       But, eventually, I succumbed and bought the book, only because there
   were no new TI books out for so long that I needed a fix.
       I'm glad I bought it.

       It's a 5X7 book with a ring binding for nice, flat layout.  The print
   is dark and even.  The listings are a little larger than the text for
   nice, easy typing.  And, for the most part, the listings are by 10s.  The
   illustrations by Nancy Gurganus are perfect. They go with the text.  They
   are delightful.  And, because they are line drawings, are suitable for
   coloring.  (I always keep my colored pencils handy for such activity.)
       Because Ms.Passantino is a computer teacher and a parent, she was
   able to put together a perfect little book for beginners and some beyond-
   beginners.

       I just paused for a half hour while I coffeed up a bit and typed in a
   few more of these programs (There are 20.), and I find them to be rather
   cute.

       Both the structure and function of this little book are ideal for
   kids and kid-like adults.  Each even-numbered page starts off with the
   Main Ideas of the program (which is complete on the opposite odd-numbered
   page.) The ideas include the new things the program will introduce (data
   statements, CHR$, variables, loops, and so on).  Then comes a
   line-by-line explanation/tutorial that is truly the clearest, most
   explicit I have ever come across my desk.  There isn't an adult BASIC
   programmer who wouldn't find this interesting.  Finally, there are
   suggestions and a bunch of "Watch out for" items.
       The programs could be typed in by youngsters within a sitting.  They
   are not frustrating, and, yet, they DO something.
       And I thought about how far I have come in computing these past few
   years and how I could fairly easily have created some of these programs
   and, therefore, what good is a book like this to me?
       But.

       I didn't create these programs.
       I did learn some things from this book.
       My students at school LOVED it.  They all had remarkable success with
   typing the programs in and playing them.
       And they liked the theme.  It's just about the only TI book that has
   a real theme.  Space.  Everything in the book relates to that theme.
   This appealed to the kids.  What also appealed was the fact that some
   programs were set up to join together.  Not Extended Merge, but to join
   other lines to make the programs do something else.
       This really turned out to be a sleeper for me.  There are lots and
   lots of kids and unsophisticated (computerwise) adults who would love
   this book and learn from it and be very comfortable with the TI as a
   result of it.  For the rest of us maybe we have kids or grandkids or
   friends who are ready but need encouragement.  Good book.
       (I'll review MATILDA THE CAT and SCHOOL DAYS if I am able to locate
   copies of them.)

       Meanwhile, lets leap to the sophisticated disk-only stuff.
       There is a company (Asgard Software, P.O.Box 10306, Rockville, MD,
   20850) which has leaped into TI software in a huge way.
       Asgard's catalog is the most eclectic one you'll ever come across,
   and their products are just about the least expensive on the market for
   extraordinary quality.
       They also distribute the best (I MEAN the best!) quality public
   domain music, games, and utilites programs.  All of these and more I will
   discuss in future columns.
       Right now I'd like to tell you about the most extraordinary disk
   cataloguer I have ever used.
       Why I needed another disk cataloguer  I wasn't sure.  I had four,
   each reasonably good.  All fine when I had a dozen disks of files.  Some
   even okay when I had two dozen disks.
       However, with the amount of work I do on TI Writer and Multiplan and
   my data bases, I find that my disk collection is growing by leaps and
   blastoffs.  Add to that collection the stuff I use with my fifth-grade
   class, my home applications items, my precious games, my graphics
   programs, and all my other non-defined items, including the batch of
   disks of programs I'm always half-way through writing.  And! You will get
   the picture.
       No disk cataloguing cartridge or disk or tape I own is sufficient for
   my ever-growing needs.
       In talking to a few TI friends I discovered they had the same
   problem.  For the serious TIer there was no good disk data base.  You
   notice I said "was".
       Because there is.
       It's a superb cataloguing disk called, appropriately enough, DISK
   DATA BASE.  It does everything.  And does it with such ease a manual is
   not even necessary.
       It makes no difference if your library contains 5,000 files (or more,
   of course).  DDB handles it all.
       Nothing is forced on you.  Do you want your files sorted?  It does by
   disk name or file name.  Not bad, eh?  But what if you don't want them
   sorted?  Unlike the other four (very limited) cataloguing programs I own,
   DDB will accept the disks as entered.  A very handy feature which I've
   used already on a few occasions.
       Oh, yes.  What if you have half-a-million files and you only want to
   print up (or screen view) just a few sections (say, the ones with your
   small dog-grooming business on them)? No sweat.  DDB lets you catalog
   into blocks of 250 (thus removing all limits to the total number of files
   providing only that you have enough data disks).  Take out the block or
   blocks you want, look at them, print them up, sing to them on the
   housetop.  It makes no difference.  DDB accepts it all.
       It there more to this program?

       Well, for starters, there is a very helpful on-line dictionary of
   terms you can call up at will.

       The screening (all extremely fast menu-driven easy-to-understand
   screens) and sorting is done by superquick assembly language.
       You can convert other disk-catalogued files created by other programs
   into DDB.

       If you're just starting?  Why not start with DDB.  It's the only
   program of its type that will grow with you.

       DDB requires Extended BASIC, 32K, disk drive with controller.  A
   second drive and printer are sure helpful.

       (As an aside: my other disk cataloguing programs cost me a total of
   $169.85.  This is terrible.  I could have bought three more TIs for that
   and had money left over to buy DDB.)
       The Disk Data Base from Asgard is $14.95.  It comes with a program
   disk and 2 or 3 database disks.  Ask for their free catalogue.  It's
   loaded with other inexpensive, intriguing, and intelligent programs.

       [Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas, MA 01516]
       **************

       If any newsletter editor prints these articles, please put me on your
   mailing list.  Thanks - JS

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