Doing in RR what we used to do in HC.

[Stephen Barncard]

The fact remains that it is up to the one between the keyboard and 
the seat to do most 'conversion' from HC to Revolution. But this is 
not a bad thing.

Although the two share some of the syntax and terminology which make 
the transition tolerable, there are so many ways to 'skin a cat' in 
Rev that an efficient 'translator' can not really be created that 
would be better than a human just looking at the alternate ways to 
move data around that Rev provides.

Rev is more 'tweezy' about how the code is formed and a HC expatriate 
is likely to experience MANY error dialog messages at first, and that 
is really frustrating. My first two weeks were hell. But then stuff 
started to work. I went through and made test stacks of things I 
wasn't sure of and tried all the examples I could. Then, with a 
better feel for the environment and some accomplishment, I could get 
a little more creative with how things were going to be done.

One good example is Arrays. They're simple, dumb-ass single dimension 
arrays but they hold anything, even binary data, and are incredibly 
useful and can change how you would process data in your new, faster 
version.

  At least this is my personal observation in converting HC stacks. 
I've converted many of my personal/tool stacks, and am currently 
working on a massive SQL DB project that was originally in HC. I used 
but a small but brilliant subset of the original code.

The Rev environment offers ways to expand and simplify old projects, 
while although they might not be able to be ported directly, data 
could be exported and storage options reconsidered, like SQL of some 
flavor (including the wonderful Valentina, especially if speed is a 
consideration).

And since you can create any name for a handler that doesn't conflict 
with Transcript names, you could create substitutes for old XCMDs and 
XFCNs, written in Transcript (and will be  faster than the old 
XCMDs.) Many of the Rinaldi XCMDs are now available as scripts, on 
Mr. Rinaldi's site at

http://rinaldicollection.free.fr/

>Hi,
>
>I think that a HyperCard conversion FAQ would be helpful. I'd be 
>pleased to put one on the runrev.info site, if we can come to an 
>agreement on what should be in that FAQ.
>
>
>Best regards,
>
>Mark Schonewille

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stephen barncard
s a n  f r a n c i s c o
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