10.0 Credits and History

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10.1 Credits

Peter Li wrote the "engine" which manages FTP and HTTP connections, obtaining directory listings, file transfers (including the low level Partial File Support) and other remote file operations such as renaming files and deleting files. He also wrote the binary transfer engine and the MacBinary transfer engine. He also put together all the database related code used for directory/window position caching, partial file information database, etc. Peter implemented the preference dialog and also helped in optimizing the new interface to make it run a little faster.

Vincent Tan wrote the hierarchial interface for the FTP/HTTP/FILE engine - the part of the program which manages drawing, selecting, clicking in windows and dialogs. This being the builting blocks for the main listing window, bookmark window and file transfer window. The registration form dialog was also written by Vincent, as well as the binhex 4.0 engine.

Peter and Vincent both engineered the partial file support, wrote the documentation and designed the user interface.

Special thanks to Jeremy Foy of Studio Matrix for his Splash Screen design used in the later part of v1.x and v2.0.

Thanks to Stuart Cheshire <cheshire@CS.Stanford.EDU> for the Natural Order source code. It's a routine which causes the directory listings to appear in an order which is more intuitively correct. For example, file2.jpg appears before file10.jpg instead of the other way around. If you're interested, you can get it from <ftp://bolo.stanford.edu//Public/Stuart's tech notes/Natural Order>.

NetFinder works best when used with Internet Config. Thanks to all of the authors of this nifty system. Here are the IC sites in Australia and the USA.

NOTE: NetFinder no longer requires Internet Config if you have MacOS 8.5 or higher installed, because it is integrated into the operating system.

Special thanks to the folks who wrote and maintained OpenSSL which is used for the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) support in NetFinder.

Thanks to the creators of ICI and Canon Information Systems Research Australia, for their wonderful small, simple yet powerful and extensible scripting code.

The installer for this product was created using Installer VISE from
MindVision Software. For more information on Installer VISE, contact:

MindVision Software
7201 North 7th Street
Lincoln, NE 68521-8913
Voice: 402-477-3269
Fax: 402-477-1395
Internet: mindvision@mindvision.com
http://www.mindvision.com

Last but not least, portions of this software are...

"Copyright (c) 1991, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement:
    This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
  4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE."

Check out the license agreement for more legal information about the use of this software.


10.2 Version History

Version 2.1.2 [7th August 2000] Version 2.1.1 [1st July 2000] Version 2.1 [14th April 2000] Version 2.0.4 [1st January 2000] Version 2.0.3 [13th December 1999] Version 2.0.2 [8th November 1999] Version 2.0.1 [16 August 1999] Version 2.0 [17 April 1999]


10.3 Program History (by Peter)

NetFinder was the inspiration of Peter Li (me), but without the help of Vincent Tan in the later part of the project, this product would not look and feel as good as it is today. It all started around the first half of 1996, when I discovered that it was possible to continue a partially downloaded file. I got excited, because I missed those days when I could continue transferring a file over a modem using ZModem. Remember those days? It wasn't that long ago.

Anyway, I was so excited with the network aspect of things I just didn't feel like getting into more interface designing. As time went on, Vincent and many of my other friends were almost making it a weekly thing to ask how things were going. But my reply was always the same, "getting there". Then one day I decided that this project needed to be finished, so I asked Vincent to help code the interface for me. That was around the 4th quarter of 1996. With the little time we had between our own daytime jobs/activities, we managed to get the product to a more useful state, as opposed to my terminal based test program.

During 1998, NetFinder took the big leap to v2.0 which gave it a total face lift to bring it in line with the current MacOS and also to extend its connectivity to the fast growing internet by supporting protocols like HTTP.

Here it is now, it works and I don't think I can do without it. Look out for future versions!


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Copyright © 1997-2000, Peter Li and Vincent Tan.