Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!oberon!pollux.usc.edu!kurtzman
From: kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Hypercard User Interface
Message-ID: <5655@oberon.USC.EDU>
Date: 11 Dec 87 23:21:42 GMT
References: <34557@sun.uucp> <7469@eddie.MIT.EDU> <34647@sun.uucp> <592@atux01.UUCP> <7729@dartvax.UUCP>
Sender: nobody@oberon.USC.EDU
Reply-To: kurtzman@pollux.usc.edu (Stephen Kurtzman)
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
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In article <7729@dartvax.UUCP> hugo@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Su) writes:
>I don't really think that the "non-standard" parts of the HC user interface
>are a big problem.  I think the big problem is the parts that Atkinson left
>out.  To wit:
>
>1) Multiple windows
>2) Better support for the Laserwriter.
>3) Drawing tools vs. painting tools.
>

I also don't see the non-standard interface as a big problem. I would like
to add to the list of things left out though:

4) Multiple open stacks
5) Sort on multiple fields (The sort routine is stable so sequential
sorts do the job. The problem here is speed. Doing two sorts in a row
isn't that bad, but I have one stack that I occasionally sort on 8
different fields -- at least it gives me time for a coffee break. Really,
this is a minor irritation.)
6) A compiled (i.e. non-interpretted) option for scripts. This would give
faster execution (especially for numeric processing).
7) A find command that would discriminate between cards of different
backgrounds, e.g. find "foo" in field 1 on background 2. Currently, for
heterogeneous stacks one must put the "find" in a loop. This slows down
processing significantly -- it seems on the order of a second for each
find on the wrong background type. Again this is a minor irritation, but
eliminating would be nice.