flowers@lanai.cs.ucla.edu (07/03/89)
I'm sure it has been discussed before, but there is such a plethora of books about hypercard that selecting from them is difficult. What books would one recommend using to get going on it? In browsing through available books, many of them seem to be just restatements of manuals, and many seem to use a lot of words to explain a small number of things very slowly. My impressions are that it is just a matter of learning the specifics and diving in. However, I think doing so would be facilitated by one or two good books. I would really like books that are targeted for someone who already knows how to program well, that are concise, and that are full of lots of pragmatic information in addition to reference manual level information. Is there anything worthwhile about SuperCard? I've been looking at that too. It has a lot of appeal, in spite of the cumbersomeness of SuperEdit. All recommendations are sincerely appreciated. (Report to the net, or if I get a lot of email I'll summarize.) thanks, Margot Flowers Flowers@CS.UCLA.EDU ...!(uunet,rutgers,ucbvax,randvax)!cs.ucla.edu!flowers
taylorj@yvax.byu.edu (07/07/89)
I will repost my almost exhaustive review of HyperCard books when I get through the new ones I've got (which will take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months), but in the meantime, here are a few suggestions. "Using HyperCard: From Home to HyperTalk" from Que, and "HyperTalk Bible" from Hayden, are both good, but may spend too much time on the basics for your needs. The former is better as a detailed reference and has a lot of nice hints and suggestions. For the ultimate authoritative reference, you need Apple's own "HyperCard Script Language Guide" from Addison Wesley. The best pocket reference is "HyperTalk," one of Microsoft Press' Programmer's Quick Reference Series. For the ultimate in advanced goodies, check out "Tricks of the HyperTalk Masters" from Hayden. This is chock full of really great ideas and some hot scripts (as well as a few dogs). If you're looking for books oriented more towards development in general (less emphasis on programming), I recommend "HyperCard Power" from Addison-Wesley, Apple's new "HyperCard Stack Design Guidelines" also from Addison-Wesley, and "Danny Goodman's HyperCard Developer's Guide" from Bantam. I agree that most of the books covering HyperCard in general are all rehashes of the same stuff. Hopefully, as publishers try to cope with the oversaturated HyperCard book market, they'll come out with more diversified books that will be more useful. Jim Taylor Microcomputer Support for Curriculum Brigham Young University taylorj@byuvax.bitnet or taylorj@yvax.byu.edu P.S. If anyone has any reviews or insights on HyperCard books that they'd be willing to let me incorporate in my megareview, I would be ecstatically appreciative if you'd send it to me.