Big Blue Disk 17/bbd17.zip/DESK.TXT

Text File | 1987-12-11 | 6KB | 93 lines

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|D║ |5On the Editor's Desk |D║════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
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^C^1On the Editor's Desk
^Cby
^CDaniel Tobias

   I've decided to change the preposition in the title of this column.  I think
"On the Editor's Desk" better describes what it's about than the previous
"From."  This column gives news and reviews of the computer industry, based on
the review copies and press releases which reach my desk.  I write them up here
so that I can finally clear them off my desk, giving me room for my other work.
If you produce a computer-related product, you can contribute to the general
clutter of my office, and maybe get mentioned here, by sending me software to
review at the address given on the disk labels.

   Last month we reviewed Borland International's Turbo language series.
Borland has recently begun publishing a magazine, ^1Turbo Technix^0, devoted to
these programming languages.  It includes articles on how to best make use of
the power of Turbo Pascal, C, Prolog, BASIC, and other Borland programming
products.  Subscriptions are available for $49.95 per year (Canada US $60 per
year) from Turbo Technix Subscription Dept., 4585 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts
Valley, CA 95066.

   Woodchuck Industries (340 W. 17th St., Suite 2B, New York, NY 10011) has
released ^1P-Tral^0, a program to translate BASIC programs to the more-structured
language Pascal.  This might prove a useful package to programmers who have
made the language switch and wish to port over existing programs and
subroutines from BASIC.  A pitfall is that BASIC encourages such tangled logic
that some programs might have even P-Tral thoroughly bamboozled.  We tried P-
Tral out on some programs ourselves and ran into trouble with such chaotic
control structures as multiple and conditional RETURNs from a GOSUB.  However,
if the original BASIC code was written in a clean, structured manner, it
should translate well.

   ^1PC Tools^0, from Central Point Software (9700 SW Capitol Hwy., Suite 100,
Portland, OR 97219), is a highly useful set of utilities.  It contains an
excellent backup and restore program that's worth the cost of the disk by
itself, as well as a number of utilities to copy, move, delete, edit, and
restore files.  Anyone with a hard disk needs the features of PC Tools for
effective housekeeping, and some features are included that will be helpful to
floppy disk users as well.  PC Tools comes with both 5 1/4 and 3 1/2" disks,
so nobody is left out.  There has been a flurry of new versions lately, and
some had bugs, but they've been cleared up now, and the current release works
very well.  (I think the one with the white dot on the disk is the latest; if
your disk has a black or blue dot you should probably trade it in for the new
version.)  A Deluxe edition is available, but we haven't yet seen it.

   Alohmon Incorporated (433 Wedgewood Dr., Lower Burrell, PA 15068) is
attempting to, in their words, create "artificial intelligence for the masses."
The Artificial Intelligence technique of expert systems, a computer program to
mimic a human expert in a particular subject, has been used primarily as a
laboratory curiosity, or in narrow specialties of little use to the public.
Now, Alohmon has developed a program for the IBM PC, ^1RS-232 Consultant^0, that
uses these techniques to solve the concrete problem of determining the correct
RS-232 cable connections for different devices and applications, given user
responses to questions.  It can even interpret typically-human responses like
"maybe" and "I don't know."  This sounds like an interesting program, though
I'm not sure how many people would find it to be worth its price ($89.95 for
the "professional version" and $375 for the "industrial version"; the release
didn't explain the difference between the two); if you only have to install a
cable once, it probably wouldn't be worth it, while if you do it regularly,
you'll probably become an expert yourself and not need it.  Perhaps a large
institution within which people are always rearranging hardware may want to
keep a copy on hand.

   Golfers can use their PC to evaluate their style and improve their game,
with a new program called ^1Golfing Style Analysis^0 from Sports Psych, Inc. (PO
Box 1814, Mason City, IA 50401-8814).  The program asks a series of questions
and uses the responses to identify personality traits.  A printout is made
which shows the results and gives suggestions for improvement.  Similar
programs are also available from the same source for football and basketball
players.  The list price of each is $60.

   Megachomp Company (3524 Cottman Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19149-1606) has
released a new, improved version of their ^1DuangJan^0 international word
processor.  It is available in versions for a number of different languages,
including ones as exotic as Punjabi and Laotian, as well as a Multi-European
edition supporting the accent marks used in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and
other European languages.  If you need to type non-English documents, this
might be just the program you need.

   You may be thinking of beginning your annual struggle with your tax forms.
Park Technologies, Inc. (Box 1317, Clifton Park, NY 12065) wants to help with
^1TaxEase^0, an integrated Federal and State tax return program.  It supports
twenty different states, unfortunately not including our own Louisiana.  The
list price is $69.95, and annual updates are $34.95.  A "Professional" edition
is also available, but only for ten states.  A Lotus-compatible spreadsheet is
required to run ^1TaxEase^0.

   Well, that's all for now.  See you next month.