Note that Computer Associates' license specialist Surujh Roopnarine told us, on January 16, 2004, that CA has 'no remaining interest in Nantucket or CA-Clipper software' and that CA's license agreements 'no longer regulate the use of that software.' John Petersen has been developing software for over 20 years. It all started when, as a staff accountant, he was asked to get involved in a system upgrade to replace an old IBM Series 1 computer (about the size of a large refrigerator!). Those first programs were written in Clipper, Summer 87.
First appeared | 1985 |
---|---|
Stable release | |
OS | MS-DOS |
Website | www.grafxsoft.com/clipper.htm |
Clipper is an xBase compiler, which is a computer programming language, that is used to create software programs that originally operated primarily under MS-DOS. Although it is a powerful general-purpose programming language, it was primarily used to create database/business programs.
- 1History
- 3Version history
History[edit]
Clipper was created by Nantucket Corporation, a company that was started in 1984 by Barry ReBell (management) and Brian Russell (technical). In 1992, the company was sold to Computer Associates for 190 million dollars and the product was renamed to CA-Clipper.[1][2]
Clipper was created as a replacement programming language for Ashton Tate's dBASE III, a very popular database language at the time. The advantage of Clipper over dBASE was that it could be compiled[3] and executed under MS-DOS as a standalone application. In the years between 1985 and 1992, millions of Clipper applications were built, typically for small businesses dealing with databases concerning many aspects of client management and inventory management. For many smaller businesses, having a Clipper application designed to their specific needs was their first experience with software development. Also a lot of applications for banking and insurance companies were developed, here especially in those cases where the application was considered too small to be developed and run on traditional mainframes. In these environments Clipper also served as a front end for existing mainframe applications.[4]
As the product matured, it remained a DOS tool for many years, but added elements of the C programming language and Pascal programming language, as well as OOP, and the code-block, billed as 'dBasecompilers'
- Nantucket Clipper Winter'84 - released May 25, 1985
- Nantucket Clipper Summer'85 - released 1985
- Nantucket Clipper Winter'85 - released January 29, 1986
- Nantucket Clipper Autumn'86 - released October 31, 1986
- Nantucket Clipper Summer'87 - released December 21, 1987
From Nantucket Corporation; Clipper 5
- Nantucket Clipper 5.00 - released 1990
- Nantucket Clipper 5.01 - released April 15, 1991
- Nantucket Clipper 5.01 Rev.129 - released March 31, 1992
and from Computer Associates; CA-Clipper 5
- CA Clipper 5.01a -
- CA Clipper 5.20 - released February 15, 1993
- CA-Clipper 5.2a - released March 15, 1993
- CA Clipper 5.2b - released June 25, 1993
- CA-Clipper 5.2c - released August 6, 1993
- CA Clipper 5.2d - released March 25, 1994
- CA-Clipper 5.2e - released February 7, 1995
- CA Clipper 5.30 - released June 26, 1995
- CA Clipper 5.3a - released May 20, 1996
- CA Clipper 5.3b - released May 20, 1997
Clipper tools[edit]
Additional to a standard clipper library, a notable additional library named Clipper Tools were developed by CA after beginning a Clipper production. Three versions of this library were manufactured. All of them associated with a 5st Clippers version. This library became a de facto standard between a Clipper's clones, such as xHarbour, and it was also cloned for a number of Clipper clones manufacturers.
References[edit]
- ^'CA-Clipper | Viva Clipper !'.
- ^GrafX Software licensed CA-Clipper in 2002 from CA for ongoing marketing and distribution.
- ^Compiling dBASE code changes it from interpreted code, which must be interpreted every time each line of code is executed, to p-code, which uses a Virtual Machine to process the compiled p-code. p-code is considerably faster, but still not as fast as the machine code generated by native compilers. As a technical marketing ploy, the p-code was wrapped into object code (linkable .obj files) which gave the impression that it was compiled to native code.
- ^'Clipper'. thocp.net. The History Of Computing Project. 20 June 2007.
- ^'xHarbour.org'. www.xharbour.org.
External links[edit]
- Alaska Software vendor of XBase++
- Print from Clipper to newest Windows printers article
- The Oasis is the largest file archive for CA-Clipper and xBase on the web
- Xailer Integrated development environment for Windows
- Harbour Project A 32/64 bit multiplatform Clipper compiler
- From CA-Clipper to Windows in 5 minutes How to install Harbour MiniGUI and compile a windows-exe.
- DBFree - Xbase/Clipper for the web : Open source, active web pages using server-side Xbase scripts, embedded DBF data engine, based on MaxScript, run on Windows from XP to 10.
- MaxScript xBASE interpreter :the xBASE interpreter for web applications (a.k.a. MAXcp, max Command Processor), freeware, win32 application.
- The NTK Project, WIN32 Gui Framework for (x)Harbour, backward compatible with Clipper and Clip4Win.
- CA Clipper Overview, CA Clipper programming language history and overview.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clipper_(programming_language)&oldid=923064087'
Hi!
The best mode for use the program in summer'87 is used the blinker like
compiler. But for used it must make the file.lnk with one particular
configuration. It must use some command for blinker in the file.lnk
In this configuration the program it works very well. The only problem
is the cpu load 100% under windows.
Bye
The best mode for use the program in summer'87 is used the blinker like
compiler. But for used it must make the file.lnk with one particular
configuration. It must use some command for blinker in the file.lnk
In this configuration the program it works very well. The only problem
is the cpu load 100% under windows.
Bye
Originally posted by Valentin_ionita
> First of all, let me say 'Hi !' to all of you ! > I have been given the task of maintaining a program done with
> Clipper Summer '87.
> As of right now, the linker used to create the executable is
> PLink86, but I also
> have Blinker 1.11 at my disposal. With this configuration, the
> program can be
> modified, and a new .EXE created, but my main question is this: are
> there any
> NECESSARY steps that I should take (a newer version of Clipper? a
> newer version of
> Blinker?) in maintaining this program, considering that, eventually,
> it will be
> ported to VB with SQL Server(my main domain of activity), but, for
> now, all that is
> required from this program is that it does it's job every day
> (there is NO
> intention of porting this program,as a permanent solution, to
> anything else other
> than VB with SQL) ? Before posting this, I spent the last couple of
> days reading
> through this newsgroup and I saw that people that wanted to upgrade
> were advised to
> go to 5.2e with Blinker higher than 3.3 or 4.0. The size of the .EXE
> is about 300k,
> so memory is not quite a concern. I also downloaded trial versions
> of CA-VO 2.5,
> Fivewin and XBase++, but, since they are trial versions, I only
> installed VO 2.5 to
> begin with. So far, I understand that XBase++ makes the smoothest
> transition, but
> the company would like to spend as less money as possible on the
> maintenance of
> this program. I guess the perfect course of action, if possible,
> would be to stay
> at Summer '87 with the old linkers until I will have a thorough
> understanding of
> the program, so that I can port it to VB. Another question is
> regarding the books:
> what would you recommend for Clipper Summer 87 programming ? I
> already ordered
> 'Using Clipper', the 1988 edition but I am looking for a
> 'Programmer's reference'
> kind of book, something that would have all the functions,
> procedures, keywords and
> the likes. The HTML conversion of the Summer 87 Norton guide at
> WWW.CLIPX.NET is
> very good for people that already know what they are looking for,
> but I would
> prefer to have the whole thing in a PDF format, a continuous
> format(because, when
> you are just beginning, you have to do a lot of page flipping :) )
> or paper. In any
> case, CLIPX.NET it's a better start than having nothing to start
> with. The last
> question regards an .OBJ file that is used in creating the EXE. The
> OBJ file is
> named HANDLES and I don't have a PRG for it. I have another OBJ that
> is used in the
> linking, and it's called EXTENDDB.OBJ, and for it, I have the PRG
> file. Anyway, I
> was just curious if someone knows more about this HANDLES.OBJ file.
> Clipper Summer '87.
> As of right now, the linker used to create the executable is
> PLink86, but I also
> have Blinker 1.11 at my disposal. With this configuration, the
> program can be
> modified, and a new .EXE created, but my main question is this: are
> there any
> NECESSARY steps that I should take (a newer version of Clipper? a
> newer version of
> Blinker?) in maintaining this program, considering that, eventually,
> it will be
> ported to VB with SQL Server(my main domain of activity), but, for
> now, all that is
> required from this program is that it does it's job every day
> (there is NO
> intention of porting this program,as a permanent solution, to
> anything else other
> than VB with SQL) ? Before posting this, I spent the last couple of
> days reading
> through this newsgroup and I saw that people that wanted to upgrade
> were advised to
> go to 5.2e with Blinker higher than 3.3 or 4.0. The size of the .EXE
> is about 300k,
> so memory is not quite a concern. I also downloaded trial versions
> of CA-VO 2.5,
> Fivewin and XBase++, but, since they are trial versions, I only
> installed VO 2.5 to
> begin with. So far, I understand that XBase++ makes the smoothest
> transition, but
> the company would like to spend as less money as possible on the
> maintenance of
> this program. I guess the perfect course of action, if possible,
> would be to stay
> at Summer '87 with the old linkers until I will have a thorough
> understanding of
> the program, so that I can port it to VB. Another question is
> regarding the books:
> what would you recommend for Clipper Summer 87 programming ? I
> already ordered
> 'Using Clipper', the 1988 edition but I am looking for a
> 'Programmer's reference'
> kind of book, something that would have all the functions,
> procedures, keywords and
> the likes. The HTML conversion of the Summer 87 Norton guide at
> WWW.CLIPX.NET is
> very good for people that already know what they are looking for,
> but I would
> prefer to have the whole thing in a PDF format, a continuous
> format(because, when
> you are just beginning, you have to do a lot of page flipping :) )
> or paper. In any
> case, CLIPX.NET it's a better start than having nothing to start
> with. The last
> question regards an .OBJ file that is used in creating the EXE. The
> OBJ file is
> named HANDLES and I don't have a PRG for it. I have another OBJ that
> is used in the
> linking, and it's called EXTENDDB.OBJ, and for it, I have the PRG
> file. Anyway, I
> was just curious if someone knows more about this HANDLES.OBJ file.
> Well, that's about it, for now. Thank you very much !
Valentin Ionita --
Posted via http://www.*-*-*.com/
Posted via http://www.*-*-*.com/