m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) (10/27/87)
IS this product any good ? Are there any other database packages for the ST that are good ? Are there any that I should definately stay away from ? What is a good price to pay for these products ?? thanks, keith hedger
jafischer@tiger.UUCP (10/31/87)
In article <21009@cca.CCA.COM> m204help@cca.CCA.COM (Keith Hedger) writes: >IS this product any good ? Are there any other database packages for >the ST that are good ? Are there any that I should definately stay away >from ? What is a good price to pay for these products ?? >thanks, >keith hedger Well, I got it at the remarkable price of about $90 (CAN); remarkable considering that it lists at about $230. It wasn't until this Fall that I really got into the program, though. Since then, I've come to the conclusion that it's worth the $90, but not $230. I have version 2.02, and the latest version is 3.xx. I've sent in for the upgrade (and since regretted it, since the upgrade cost is $49.95 (US); I hope it's worth it), but I haven't received it yet. I've been writing a dBMAN program that essentially manages several quiz databases for school courses. You enter in questions and answers on a fairly regular basis, and the program can then quiz you, using the questions entered. I _think_ it will be a valuable studying tool, but time will tell. In the process of writing this application, I've found several bugs and a few annoying characteristics. I was going to list them here, but that wouldn't really serve any purpose. Suffice it to say that if you do buy dBMAN, make sure you get the latest version. I'm really hoping that they've fixed all the bugs. Also, version 3 uses GEM, apparently. Version 2 doesn't. When one is used to the more agreeable format of most ST GEM programs, version 2 of dBMAN seems very visually 'sparse.' All in all, I think dBMAN's a great program, though. It's comparable to dBASE on the PC (I'm not sure which version). The programmability is mainly what sets it apart from most other ST databases. I've found that just about any other ST database is easier to use, but not quite as powerful. And hopefully the incorporation of GEM in the new version will make dBMAN a little less intimidating, and a little more visually stimulating. Perhaps when I do get the update, I'll post a more full-fledged review -- I don't think it's entirely fair to flame an outdated version of a program. If I've found that I've spent $50 US for an update that's still full of bugs, though, I'll certainly feel free to flame away. -- - Jonathan A. Fischer jafischer@lion.waterloo.edu ...{ihnp4,allegra,decvax,utzoo,utcsri}!watmath!watdragon!watlion!jafischer
fischer-michael@YALE.ARPA (Michael Fischer) (11/17/87)
In reply to Keith Hedger's question about DBMAN: I have used DBMAN to implement a couple of fairly sophisticated packages which I use all the time. It is really a programming language for writing database applications (similar I understand to dBASE III), so even fairly simple things take some programming to set up. But the primitives are there and they work well. Once you have figured out how to put the pieces together, you can do very sophisticated data entry, data validation, automatic computation of defaults, report generation, and so forth. You can also easily create, combine and manipulate multiple databases, allowing one to implement transaction logs, update files, and other standard data processing paradigms. On the whole I am very pleased with it and find it to be one of the best programs that I have used on the ST. --Mike Fischer -------