dBase

[Steven]

On 12/25/22 16:58, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss wrote:
>> On Dec 25, 2022, at 1:59 PM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss at lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I think someone like David Schwartz has the ability to create a clone of dBase III.
>
> Perhaps, but I think it’s far wiser to let sleeping dogs lie. :-/
>
> I remember playing with some version of dBase at some point, and I as I recall, most of what it could do can be done using *nix shell scripts.
>
> -David Schwartz

Yeah, a few years back in a fit of nostalgia (in combination with a 
NaNoWriMo project) I looked around to see if dBase or one of the classic 
xBase clones was easily available. I got my first introduction to dBase 
as a kid when they started using it for some departmental records at the 
hospital where my father worked, so we ended up with a three inch thick 
book and a copy on our computer. Later working at the college computer 
lab dBase III/IV was one of the bits of software we had classes for 
(among Word, Excel, Lotus 123, PowerPoint, Access, dBase, and typing 
dBase stood out because it was arguably a programming class). In the end 
I decided to leave it as just nostalgia.

And anything that could have been done with dBase can likely be done 
with a combination of sqlite and any programming language you wish 
including shell scripting. Sqlite might not fit on a 360k floppy, but a 
quick search says that even if you turn on all the options you can still 
comfortably compile it under a megabyte in size. There's a reason it's 
been getting embedded into all sorts of things from programming 
languages to applications and operating systems. Even Microsoft has 
given in and works with it, which probably has Gates preemptively 
spinning in his grave despite not being dead or buried yet. You can 
pretty much treat it as the standard lightweight data store these days. 
Heck, the Library of Congress has it as a recommendation due to the open 
nature of the software (released to the public domain) and available 
official documentation of the file format.

Interesting trivia time: a few years back I ran across an article about 
how Microsoft was in discussions to include a lightweight version of 
dBase as one of the built in applications in Windows, much Hyperterminal 
which MS licensed from Hilgraeve. Only it was actually the Ashton-Tate 
legal actions against the xBase clone makers that apparently scuttled 
the deal as when the lost their courtroom battle to stop people from 
selling compatible database software managers at Microsoft reportedly 
started asking why they were considering paying any sort of royalty to 
Ashton-Tate on every copy of Windows sold no matter how small it might be.