On 03 Dec, Jeremy C B Nicoll <jeremy@...> wrote:

[Snip]

> I'm not an S-Base user but I lurk here, partly because I wanted to know
> more about the product in case I ever decided to use it. The rumours
> I've read about it mostly suggest it's very complicated, and not too
> well documented.
It is fairly comprehensively documented in files downloadable from the
S-Base site. A reference manual, quick reference guide, tutorial and set
of examples are all there. Unfortunately the documentation is all in HTML
format and thus as far as I am concerned not at all practical in use. I
guess it would be possible to convert to a DTP format but the huge number
of links and cross references would make this pretty difficult, unless
there is an application out there? As the result of a plea made in this
group a couple of months back I now possess a paper manual and life has
become much easier!

> BUT, maybe it's aimed at professional programmers? And maybe the doc
> is aimed at programmers too - if that's so then I'd expect "normal"
> users to feel all at sea. I guess it would also depend on how much a
> user or programmer already knew about database theory, especially how
> relational databases work.
I don't think it is necessarily for professional programmers although
they won't find it lacking in features. Indeed as Wim Ekels has pointed
out elsewhere it is possible to start an application with no more than a
CSV file. From the (HTML) manual:
"With S-Base, you need only drag in your data (CSV, DBase, Squirrel or
even S-Base) and select the file. S-Base automatically designs some
screens and allows you to start querying and printing out the data
immediately. You can literally be started in minutes!"

--
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Brian Jordan
From an SA RPC somewhere in North Hampshire. England
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