jkimble@unislc.uucp (Jim Kimble) (04/24/91)
pew@cs.brown.edu (Peter E. Wagner) writes: >Alpha Four has been highly praised in all of the top PC journals. It >is a sophisticated relational dBase compatible for the non-programmer >(though you can automate routines via - macros). If you need >programming, it is probably not for you. Peter's comments are 100% on target: people needing programming are not going to want it, but people who don't want to learn YADL (Yet Another Database "Language") will be in seventh heaven. I ordered Alpha4 on their trial deal because although I had a lot of experience with Unify and Oracle, I liked neither enough to purchase/use them for personal busness. Alpha4 was simple to learn -- it took only a few hours of going through the hands-on tutorial book. After that, I was able to quickly craft a database to track my finances and only had to reference the manual a couple times. My wife, a non-programmer (unless you count BASIC...I don't) but user of various DOS applications, has since been able to make modifications to the database and create some of her own without me having to help. Those with hardcore database experience will probably still like ALPHA4 since it's a great tool to put together a prototype without having to waste lots of time debugging code; I use it to show my clients how their database is going to work, how it will look, the interrelation of data, etc. I haven't used the customer support so I don't know how good/bad the company rates in that aspect, but I've been very happy with the software and docs. [ Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with ALPHA4 other than being a satisified customer... ] Cheers, -- --Jim Kimble, jkimble@bally.bally.com Yet Another UNIX Insultant sun!unislc!jkimble "ALPO is 99 cents a can. That's over SEVEN dog dollars!"