[comp.databases] dBFast dBaseIII-compatible

markus@etn-rad.UUCP (Markus Richardson) (04/27/88)

Anyone familiar with the dBase compiler make by dBFast?  I have ordered
it from Programmers Connection (800-336-1166) for a mere $59.  I did a 
little checking myself by calling dBFast directly (800-356-6356) to verify 
that they are for real.  dBFast charges $69 and they acknowledged a critical 
indexing bug exists in their initial release 1.0; they are now shipping 
1.0G instead.  I wanted to insure that they are providing Programmers 
Connection with the latest version and they "assured me" they are.

Please tell me what your experiences with dBFast have been if any.  Is it as 
quick as they say (e.g., 3 times Clipper, 2 times Foxbase+, etc.)?  I 
understand no runtime support is needed as it compiles and links in one 
operation to a single EXE file.

Gosh, with a 30-day money-back guarantee from Programmers Connection and a
60-day money-back guarantee from dBFast, how can I go wrong?  

Please e-mail replies and I will summarize to the net if enough interest is
generated.

P.S. Anyone got first-hand (or second-hand) benchmarks of the dBase IV compiler?

-- 

        Markus N. Richardson
        Research and Development
        Eaton Corporation IMSD
        31717 La Tienda Drive
        Westlake Village, CA 91359
        
        { voder,ihnp4,trwrb,scgvaxd,jplgodo }!wlbr!etn-rad!markus
          wlbr!etn-rad!markus@etn-wlv.eaton.com

wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (04/28/88)

I own a copy of DBFAST and so far am impressed.  The only
problem I have encountered is a bug in the compiler that 
produces load modules that hang the system for certain source
programs.  If you get 1.0G the bug is supposed to be fixed.
It compiles fast, makes small EXE files and runs quick.  The
screen I/O is much quicker than dBASE.  The only drawback is that
the standard libraries are memory resident, although they
include a program to clear the resident portion from memory.
The resident program and clear program have an unlimited distribution
license so that your clients do not need to buy a thing but 
your program.

Generally I like the product and am awaiting the new version 
before doing any more testing.

Bill Wilson

wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (05/04/88)

The new version of dBFast works wonderfully.  I have compiled
a number of programs and they work well and faster.  The
only problem that I have found is that you cannot have a
hyphen (-) or an apostrphe (') in a file name that is called
with the do statement.