JOY 5h[kIz k phL9̪I Y%z kZ-KiZ-KL$ЦIz {x UL$ЦIz zx UL$ЦIz yx UL$ЦIz xx UL$ЦIz x UL$ЦIz ~x UL$ЦIz }x UL$ЦIz |x UL$ЦIz sx UL$ЦIz rx U xLayout 0x U pHomeoftheFree LChapter3 xLayout 0x U P ,p>>>x xLayout 0x U x xLayout 0x U  xLayout 1x U  $Layout 1xP #(-27affairs,builtbyrealenthusiasts.OnesuchwasWayneRatliffe,a icomputerengineerattheJetPropulsionLaboratoryinPasadena,workingontheVikingMarsLanderproject. U>By1979,VisiCalcwasbeginningtomakeitsmark,theinfant  /CP/Moperatingsystemwasbeginningtogainrecognitionand,inthe  L5backpagesofBYTEmagazine,asmalladvertisementappearedfora}programcalledVULCAN. @)VULCANwasthebrainchildofWayneRatliffeand,ayearlater   andwiththehelpofaMr.GeorgeTate,wasre-launchedasdBaseII.fTherestishistory.....  DBaseisactuallyaprogramminglanguage,ratherthanstrictlya  databasemanager.Whereitscoresisinitsabilitytohandle  relationshipsinamulti-dimensionaldatamatrix.LetmeexplainthisRfurther.... Considerthatatableisatwo-dimensionaldatabase,wheredata  O8canbestrictlydefinedasarelationshipbetweenonerowandonecolumn. ;$Card-indextypedatabasesaddanextradimensiontothis,but  dBaseisabletoactuponrelationshipsbetweenanumberofthree-dimensionaldatasets.  Thismakesitaverypowerfultoolandit'sapplicationrangeis#vast.IhaveevenseendBaseapplicationsthatemulatespreadsheets! Becauseitissopowerful,itisnoteasyforanovice  <%programmertogettogripswith.Moreover,thenatureofthebeast  P9meansthatitmaywellbeusedbysomeonewhoisnotexperiencedwithcomputers. J3ThestandardmethodofwritingdBaseapplicationsistohave  A*themoperatewithina'shell'.Thenon-programmerjusttypesin'Do  Menu'atthedBasepromptandtheshelltakescontrol.Thereafter,all  YBdBaseoperationistransparenttotheuser(thatis,theyarenotHx$Layout 1xP #(-27'CPMBBUKvol.66isonesuch,butnewapplicationsandutilitiesarebeingaddedregularly.Otherapplications .Ifyoudon'tfeelthatyoucanjustifytheexpenseofthereal  t]dBaseIIpackage,thereisadatabasepackageonSIG/Mvol.248,8x$Layout 1xP #(-27