cjeffery@arizona.edu (Clinton Jeffery) (09/13/88)
The subject line says it all: what is the difference between Dbase III and Dbase III+ ? How about Dbase IV ? Thanks for any and all help, -- | Clint Jeffery, University of Arizona Department of Computer Science | cjeffery@arizona.edu -or- {noao allegra cmcl2}!arizona!cjeffery --
sarathy@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Rajiv Sarathy) (09/14/88)
In article <7008@megaron.arizona.edu> cjeffery@arizona.edu (Clinton Jeffery) writes: > >The subject line says it all: what is the difference between >Dbase III and Dbase III+ ? How about Dbase IV ? I never saw dBase III, but I did see its manual. I've used dBase III+ extensively. Biggest difference: the manuals. (Hah, hah, hah...). As far as dBase IV is concerned, it's a VERY different product. 1. dBase IV has SQL support. (But still an Ashton-Tate engine. SQL engine is still in the works). 2. dBase IV can run ALL dBase III+ applications and AUTOMATICALLY makes them multi-user. But they have a funny way of doing it. Records are no longer locked. Instead, as one user makes a change, other users viewing the same record automatically get the updated one on the screen. There are advantages, and MAJOR disadvantages to this method. 3. dBase IV is MUCH more user-friendly. 4. dBase IV can write its own programs. 5. It has a much better report generator (writes its own code). 6. Other code generators are included. 7. Numbers 3 to 6, above, make it seem as though programmers (and consultants) are no longer required to write elementary code. This is probably true. However, Ashton-Tate has a Programmers Edition for dBase IV which allows programmers to write packages much more powerful than ever before. Included with this edition is a compiler with UNLIMITED RUNTIME DISTRIBUTION. I can't confirm this, but the person with whom I spoke from Ashton-Tate said to me that the compiled code will run upto 10 times quicker than any of the other true and pseudo- compilers available today for dBase III+. It looks as though Ashton-Tate has sweated a lot to put out this product. However, I don't know how well it will be received in the market, especially if Lotus' "Agenda" is any indication of what Mitchell Kapor is currently developing in his new company. (Mitchell Kapor, needless to say, is the developer of 1-2-3, the most successful software package ever written (also needless to say). He left Lotus, needless to say, and is developing a new breed of software.) Needless to say, I needed to say this for the many people who are new to the software industry. ----- Disclaimer: I'm just an undergrad. -----
leonard@bucket.UUCP (Leonard Erickson) (09/15/88)
In article <7008@megaron.arizona.edu> cjeffery@arizona.edu (Clinton Jeffery) writes: <The subject line says it all: what is the difference between <Dbase III and Dbase III+ ? How about Dbase IV ? dBase III is badly broken with regards to indexing large files (among other things). dBase III+ is only slightly broken. Actually they did add a few commands, but mostly the difference is bug fixes. (create a large database under DB3, now SET UNIQUE ON and index it depending on the data, the indexing routines may go totally ape! I've seen DB3 report a that a file was 537% indexed!!)Z -- Leonard Erickson ...!tektronix!reed!percival!bucket!leonard CIS: [70465,203] "I used to be a hacker. Now I'm a 'microcomputer specialist'. You know... I'd rather be a hacker."