Tracy Pierce <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>A very minor yet very major correction (not often I get to do this!)...

I love corrections.  In fact, life consists of one correction after another :-)


>Alfredo wrote...
>
> >I would like to add that, in addition to Java (and not "instead of
> >Java"), Wirt's QCTerm was quite a jump forward in technology (even
> >though it was written in 30-year-old BASIC -- this, precisely, was
> >the whole point :-)
>
>but actually, QCTerm is not written in HP Business BASIC;

Ahem... You wrote "Business BASIC" whereas I just wrote "BASIC" :-)


>its source
>language(s) is/are unmentioned,  but it's a Windows client, and I don't
>think HPBasic has been ported to Windows.

How about "Visual" BASIC (yes, I know Micro$oft's choice of name is a
bit of an oxymoron, but it has that critical "BASIC" part in its name
:-)


>Rather, HP Business BASIC was used to demonstrate QCTerm's basic (sorry)
>function (accurate 2645 emulation using a different wire scheme (and
>price tag!)), as well as the fancy new "backplane" enhancements (pretty
>much fancy user-dazzle functions), which can be invoked with very little
>host code, but actually use very modern stuff such as .BMP, .WAV, .MID.

Are you coining new expressions such as "basically modern" or
"modernly basic"?  Very good language foundation for future
development!


>IMHO, the real point is that QCTerm and Advanced Telnet enable stretching
>the 100-foot 2645 connection to unlimited lengths (12k miles a great
>example, but certainly not a limit),

You have mastered the language(s) to a high precision without getting
into  complexities and you have integrated many differential
viewpoints into a congruent whole.  Oops, this is telnetting into a
calculus essay and we are stressing the protocols :-)


>while adding fancy stuff (read
>unnecessary but very user-pleasing) to the user interface, and
>recognizing that the application under the hood has already been written,
>enhanced for years, and runs on a reliable HP3000 which uses basically
>TTY, but probably uses 2645 escape sequences which are difficult to
>remove.
>
>This makes e-services (formerly known as time-sharing) a thing of today,
>rather than a razzle-dazzle buzzword describing the "even better" future.

The more bits change, the more they stay the same.  I believe you
have just hit the PR jackpot: It's easier to add "fancy stuff (read
unnecessary but very user-pleasing)" to a solid concept than it is to
add solidity to an otherwise empty pretty face.  As I said on
Wednesday, "Chapter 3: HP 3000".


>A most excellent presentation and product, Wirt!

I wholeheartedly agree.  Wirt closed HPWORLD'99 on Friday with a very
big bang for CSY, because Wirt made "Chapter 1" and "Chapter 2" just
legacy chapters.  Remember that QCTerm has, as its home, the HP 3000.


>BTW, Alfredo - I missed your presentation, but just read your paper:
>excellent, as always.

Thank you.  I had a great deal of fun during my presentation.  If you
read my paper, you did much more than we did during the actual
tutorial, because I could only quote a couple of paragraphs.  We
spent so much time discussing other topics (not mentioned in the
paper) that time flew by and the next thing I knew was that our time
was up and we had to disband.  The good thing is that, thanks to the
Internet, you could download my paper at any time that was convenient
for you and read it in any format that pleases you, on your screen or
(by using your own printer) on the paper of your choice.


>K Tracy Pierce (just couldn't resist the temptation of actually gettting
>to correct Alfredo!)

Good for you.  Are we basically on the same wavelet length now?
Isn't language fun?  Too much fun, in fact.  I must now check out for
a while to go and invest some time into getting some software out
that several of my customers have (very politely) asked me to finish
immediately or else :-)



  _______________
|               |
|               |
|            r  |  Alfredo                            [log in to unmask]
|          e    |                                  http://www.adager.com
|        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego                       +1 208 726-9100
|      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs               Fax +1 208 726-2822
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
|  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000                   U.S.A.
|               |
|_______________|