
			   CTRL-ALT-DEL
		   Back to the Future,  Part  II
   	         A revised speculative article by
		           Lee Siddons 	

        (c) 1990 H. Lee Siddons, Jr. & The Sunshine Clipper


Sunshine Clipper April 1, 1999 Volume 10, Number 4
	
Preface:  "The future ain't what it used to be..."

	It's been over ten years since the _Sunshine Clipper_ was first 
published and as many of you are well aware of a lot has happened 
since then to the computer industry as a whole, Nantucket 
International's product line and to the evolving database/programming 
environments.   We are now on the verge of a new century, and many 
speculative articles and commentaries have been published about the 
industry and where we are heading as traditional programmers, class 
surface/interface engineers and electronic authors.    This article is a 
first in a series which will explore these issues by looking back at the 
changes in the last ten years: a retrospective view if you will of where 
we've been.

	Ten years ago in April of 1989, most of you remember 
Summer '87 marked the beginning of the end of the traditional DOS, 
character based flagship products from Nantucket, with yet another 
major upgrade, Clipper 5.0 released in 1990 for the MS-DOS 
environment  (you remember that archiac OS which though still used 
today in many so-called low-end applications, has followed the same ill-
fated destiny of CP/M).   That release finally provided a solution to the 
memory management problem by providing VM (Virtual Memory or 
dynamic overlays), to our delight replacing the further need if desired 
for any overlays!   Some of us back then were already reaching the 
limits the current hardware and software technology (who these days 
uses a 50 MHZ 486?  Sssllllooowww).   Subsequently, we have seen 
Clipper mature in 6.0 and now the current 7.0 Release.

				1990-1995

	Neat features like an incremental compiler/linker (RT-Link) 
and full screen symbolic debugger (a special version from HJS ), 
including the API and later the NFT/OOPS SDK for third party 
developers only wetted our appetite for more...this was only the 
beginning. Then in 1991 and early '92 Nantucket introduced the first of 
a set of new products and related components that would take 
advantage of both object-oriented programming concepts while making 
some available under new operating environments.   These were 
ambitious products for us as well as Nantucket, as we had to rethink our 
programming nomenclature by adapting to new concepts:  (recall all 
those articles and user-group talks we had back then on object-
orientation, cross-language binding, code blocks, message passing, 
classes, encapsulation, inheritance, methods and "arrhhgg" 
polymorphisms??).  Some of us were initially intimidated by these "new" 
terms and resisted these new concepts as they were debated and 
discussed in previous articles here.  The second annual state user's 
group convention in 1991 proved there were two camps of thought: the 
left-brained traditionalists who were comfortable with their proven and 
familiar data and procedures ('a la Summer '87), and the more 
adventuresome right-brainers who saw elegance and creativity in 
object-orientation.  The infamous battle between the Clipperheads and 
NiFTies had begun.

	The early 1990's saw this gradual change from the Summer '87 
scenario to the Nantucket Future Technology's GUI-based, object-
oriented, hyperfile format most of us enjoy today. Nantucket's 
NFT/Windows and NFT/MAC foreshadowed this environment, but the 
former was still under the limiting umbrella of MS-DOS.   NFT/PM 
under OS/2 changed all that:  the beginnings of our current hybrid 
version has it's roots here!  Third party developers flourished again, 
providing add-ons, extensions and hooks which only enriched and 
complemented the NFT product line.
 
	 The core language, originally based on the archaic dBASE 
dialect evolved and began to diversify as Nantucket evolved it into a 
"C"-like OOPS direction allowing us to take it into other  directions as 
well.  Not only were we able to use alternative database drivers such as 
Paradox, but we could ourselves augment the list of Clipper language 
reserved words and functions with UDLs (the User Definable 
Language CH files via Clipper 5.1/6.0 language API) and could 
convert most of our Clipper source into OOPS with the CLIP-TOPS 
translator.  Many learned how to embed and/or call early standard SQL 
into our programs easily by just using the CONNECT/SELECT 
statement.  This enabled the manipulation of large pieces of data more 
efficiently as well as across other platforms and databases ( collating 
mainframe DB2 data as well as LAN/Server based SQL data).   New 
data types including nulls, formula-based, binary, graphics, hypertext, 
DVI, object-class and user-defined have since come into being.

	Remember when the NFT C.O.R.E. group (a standards 
committee formed in '92) helped to pave the way to avoid any 
confusion as to the diverse directions the core language was heading?  
New NFT/OOPS dialects could be created by anyone, so NFT 
standard BNF's and guidelines were adopted that went beyond the 
NFT guidelines published in the ** NFT Journal **.    This was brought 
about because several third party developers were providing 
redundant variations of early dBASE IV/V, FoxPro, etc. dialects that 
were in some cases incompatible with one another.

				1995-1999

	Of course you could still use much of the same code you had 
written earlier (as long as you followed standards), but if you really 
wanted to take advantage of the new data structures, graphics, 
communications and later Intel DVI/digital multimedia access, all of 
your programs written in OS/2 and OS/Advanced 3 would have to be 
totally redesigned.  The new file formats provided by OS/2 2.0's HPFS 
(High Performance File System), providing a mainframe-like alternative 
to the archiac DOS-based FAT table structure (we now could use 254 
characters for file names), routines for DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange), 
techniques for storing and accessing graphics (earlier TIFF), as well as 
Postscript font I/O management  were the subject of technical 
discussions back then. NFT writers and developers debated and 
provided solutions to such issues as to the aesthetic use of fonts like 
Helvitica verses System and how best to adjust your program's screens 
and fonts proportional to the myriad of screen/display resolutions; how 
best to manage and maintain your NFT INI (init) and config files; how 
to invoke calls to DDE to use Word for Windows/PM or WordPerfect 
as the NFT editor for memos and/or text data objects; SAA compliance 
for non-corporate based applications; to even debating the storage 
requirements as well as the legalities of cut and pasting real time 
broadcast TV pictures into NFT graphic objects via DVI boards.  Since 
the standard interface of pull-down windows, dialog boxes, radio 
buttons and bit-mapped graphics provided a new paradigm, in 
subsequent NFT releases, more emphasis was eventually placed on 
speed, features and performance as well as new multi-tasking/threading 
optimization of index algorithms, hypermemo text techniques and 
device drivers that would take advantage of the latest hardware 
advances.  NFT/NewWave debuted, which realized newly designed 
object-oriented device independent applications designed with the 
help of some of those CASE (Computer Assisted Systems Engineering) 
tools such as UI/G, hitting the market back in 1996.   Further multi-tired 
options had also opened up as NFT/UNIX under the OSF/2 Motif 
window based environment was released. (The plan for a mainframe 
version, NFT/Mainframe, as you recall was later shelved since 
mainframes are gradually being phased out as high-level software 
platforms in favor of mega-data repositories).


			TODAY & TOMORROW

	Hardware advances helped to complement the evolution of 
the current NFT/CHAT (Clipper Hybrid Advanced Toolset).  Since 
mega memory chips are not as cost prohibitive as they were ten years 
ago,  the newly released OS/2 4.0 now can run comfortably under 8 
MEGS of RAM, and if that's not enough many of us will have new 250 
MHZ 64-bit 786 systems equipped with enough virtual dynamic laser 
storage to handle any overhead.

	Next year (or as many of us like to say, next century), a new 
prototype multi-media HDTV/computer will be on the market from 
AT&T/Zenith.   This piece of advanced hardware finally promises the 
first true connection between the ISDN based digital voice/data 
communications protocol, the digital fiber optics television network and 
will run under several operating systems including OS/2 4.0.   It has an 
internal FAX/satellite/phone management system, digital voice 
recognition, 32 Megs of internal RAM for DVI/HDGA as well as a 20 
GB RW laser hard drive that accesses all CDRW/CDV and HDCD 
formats.   Industry experts also expect external analog as well as digital 
interface capability with many of the new popular smart home LANS.   
The system effectively replaces the traditional phone, computer, TV 
and stereo and merges them into one integrated component. All this for 
under $20,000.  I might want to get one of those...

	So what does this mean for us NFT'ers?    Well, when the NFT 
product line is finally available via microcode on a static chip (which 
Nantucket International has in beta now), only our imagination and 
creativity driven by consumer demand will dictate the implications of 
this.  



<<EOF>>

Disclaimer: the conjectures and speculations mentioned previously do not
necessarily reflect Nantucket's strategy or products.  The author
has based his conclusions purely upon current reality and his own 
wild imagination.  No doubt the future WILL be different than portrayed
here, but we all create our own future, and as the saying
goes...whatever will be, will be...the future...

Back to the Future (tm) is a trademark of Universal studios and is used 
here only as a title to an article. No connection is implied.


AT&T (tm) is a registered trademark of AT&T.
CLIPPER is a trademark of Nantucket Corp.
CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research.
dBASE and dBASE IV are trademarks of Ashton Tate.
DB2 is a trademark of IBM.
FoxPro is a trademark of Fox Software.
Intel is a trademark of Intel Corp.
Microsoft (R) is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation
NANTUCKET is a trademark of Nantucket Corp.
OSF is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation.
Paradox is a trademark of Borland International, Inc.
UNIX (tm) is a trademark of AT&T.
RT-Link is a trademark of PocketSoft.
UI is a trademark of WallSoft.
Windows (tm) is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect Corp.
NewWave is a trademark of Hewlett Packard.
Zenith is a registered trademark of Zenith.

(have I forgot anyone?)

NFT is a probable trademark of NANTUCKET.

(NFT/Journal is a planned quarterly publication of the author...someday.)


Lee Siddons

71210,3503

Orlando Clipper User Group

