Re: [MacPerl] What are MacPerl's capabilities

[Chilton Webb <chilton@tca.net>]

>Now, here's the sacrilegious part: if you really want something that hides
>the toolbox and lets you build a front end in your sleep... <takes cover>
>try REALbasic! It's sort of a Mac equivalent of the dark side's Visual
>Basic only, from all I can tell, better and more consistent. It's still
>fairly new, and constantly under development - you can find out a certain
>amount about it (and download a demo) at http://www.realsoftware.com,
>though it's not the most informative of web sites. I know there was a plan
>for a REALbasic Pro with specialised database capabilities, but
>suspiciously there doesn't seem to be any mention of it on the site. BTW,
>they also seem to be involved in 4D development, so maybe Robert should
>check it out!
>
For the database capabilities, DASWorks.com has a Jovis database for 
RealBasic that's hard to beat.

And while we're on the topic of RAD tools, SuperCard is a long way out in 
front right now, and it's cheap. http://www.incwell.com.

I prefer SC myself because I do a lot of non-standard interface work, 
which RB doesn't care much for, and I invariably need the graphics 
capabilities SC has. My only gripe with SC is its lack of a better text 
engine, but that's being fixed. And SC apps can be ported to Windows 
*and* Unix via MetaCard. About the only thing SuperCard has in common 
with HyperCard is a very english-like and forgiving language. It's 
commonly used (and has been for 10 years) as a front-end for databases. 
In fact, one of the lead programmers used SC to prototype the machines 
now called 'Automatic Teller Machines' for one of the larger banks back 
in '91.

I consider SC to be the Mac's best kept RAD secret. I'd probably use RB 
more, but I need more control over QuickTime and Speech Recognition for 5 
of my upcoming products, and I needed its self-modifying capabilities in 
order to write PerlSlinger.

So why the long rant on SC? I just finished a new version of PerlSlinger, 
fixed a ton of bugs, and added a ton of new features. Between MacPerl and 
SuperCard, I haven't run into any program that can't be written 
ultra-quick.

-Chilton

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