Application Framework?

[Ken Norris]

Hi Graham,

Your ideas are excellent. RR addresses many of the wish-list stuff HC'ers
and even SC'ers want, but the features are so many and varied, plus a
totally unfamiliar interface, as to make it a bit intimidating for me. I've
been in and out of HC since version 1.0, and I guess I'm spoiled.

Although I've never been a professional programmer, I now have some
aspirations in that direction. I hope the adage "It's never too late" is
true. I have a strong calling and specific purposes for what I want to do.

But, even though I'm not at the "pro" level, and even though I often knock
out little programs to help me a write other stuff on the fly, I'm a huge
fan of structured programming. It helps me gain an overall picture of what I
want to do. I'm a very visual oriented person, so I often use both outlines
and schematics, sort of a flowchart-type storyboard approach, to develop my
ideas.

So, my big wish would be for RR to have a complete set of stacks that
interactively demo all the "normal" operations. They could emulate, in
steps, what a developer would do when designing; building parts, graphics,
handlers, and functions, and assembling a color database stack, while the
"student" follows along in real time. Such a thing would sure help me to
learn the interface and library alteratives.

I believe it was the original HyperCard development team that did, uh,
what-was-it? "FocalPoint", I think. The thing was not only very functional
in it's own right as a viable software product of its day, but if you hacked
into it, it covered just about everything a person would need to know for
complex scriptwriting.

It's not that I lack confidence, even though there's still a lot I haven't
yet learned about HC, much of which applies to RR, but, as I said, the
interface and library functions are where I see trouble. I think, once I get
used to it, I may even like it, but I'd rather do it with a GOOD ROAD MAP.

Thanks, and warmest regards,
Ken N.