Ancient Book

[richmond62]

https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/cooking-hypertalk-20
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Cooking_with_HyperTalk_2.0.jpg (44.5 KiB) Viewed 7436 times

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The accompanying HyperCard files are . . . oddly enough . . . HyperCard files in a .dsk image,
so you'll need a PPC Mac running 'Classic' (i.e. MacOS 9) and HyperCard 2 to read them, or
some sort of other emulation environment.

[FourthWorld]

Did that book become public domain so soon?

[bogs]

Dunno, but I certainly want to thank Richmond for finding it, I'm pretty sure it was the only one of the major titles I was missing!

[richmond62]

What about this one?
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They certainly win a raspberry for cover design.

https://archive.org/details/TeachYourse ... h/mode/2up

[FourthWorld]

It would be interesting to see how much of those books help modern LiveCode users. The TOC in the Cookbook, for example, describes clever scripting techniques to emulate things like multi-object selection, which is built-in with most xTalks from SuperCard through LiveCode.

I went through my old favorite a few months ago, Colouris and Thimbleby's HyperProgramming. Back in the day it was among my most exciting go-to books, chock full 'o wonderful techniques for expanding the sort of work commonly done in HC. But alas, in 20219 I found little there of value beyond fond memories. For example, with LC's arrays most of the algos presented for managing information are radically slower, just not at all how we'd solve such problems today.

But if anyone finds gems in these archaeological explorations please let us know. It may prompt me to put on my Indiana Jones hat and dive into the far dusty recesses of my library.

[bogs]

Yes, I did already have that one, as well as the 2 actual manuals released by Apple. I sure wish help systems were still done in the manner of THOSE two books

[richmond62]

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https://www.macintoshrepository.org/261 ... nd-scripts

[mwieder]

I still have my Working Draft 7 three-hole-punched copy of the Macintosh HyperCard Script Language Guide from mid-1987. I think Dan Shafer was the writer, and when I asked him about it he seemed to have some vague recollection of that. Once a year or so I pull this out and think about recycling it, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet.

[richmond62]

I have the 2nd edition of the Danny Goodman thing: it reads like an exercise in being as long-winded as possible: occasionally
I look up something in it so I know what to avoid when I prepare handouts for kids in my school.

[ClipArtGuy]

I have the 2nd edition of the Danny Goodman thing: it reads like an exercise in being as long-winded as possible: occasionally
I look up something in it so I know what to avoid when I prepare handouts for kids in my school.

I don't know about the kids of today, but Danny Goodman's book helped me greatly when I was about 12. That summer I had access to a shiny new Macintosh SE and his hypercard manual. I only knew a bit of BASIC, as the computer I had at home was a TRS-80. Over that summer I was able to wrap my mind around hypercard, and even make my first software sale to a local business owner who wanted a custom invoicing program. I still have a copy today, and referred to it quite a bit as an xTalk refresher when I first discovered LC.

[richmond62]

I wouldn't deny Danny Goodman's book was good in a way, but it is "of its time," and maybe I have come to expect things that are a bit more concise nowadays.

[dunbarx]

Richmond.

Remember the "for the rest of us" thing. HC was verbose, so that it offered comfort to non-programmers who wanted to program. This required a friendly and conversational approach to explaining the innards of HC.

Goodman was a godSend; his book offered comfort. Much of what we wrangle with on this forum is due to lack of comfort,

Craig

[jiml]

Once a year or so I pull this out and think about recycling it, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet.

I kept all my old HyperCard books in a bookcase in my home office. A few years ago I went to consult one - something I rarely did.
On retrieving it I saw that some sort of meandering beetle or worm had chewed 6mm tunnels throughout that book. And every other HyperCard book on the shelve - from the HyperCard 2.0 manual straight through Dan Shafer and even across the massive Goodman tome.
With a tinge of sadness they all went in the recycle bin.

Poor HyperCard! It was tragic enough that Apple killed it. Now, even the insect world is against it!

Jim Lambert

[mwieder]

I hope you filed a bug report

[richmond62]

My original HyperCard floppies were eaten out by a load of termites in the Arabian peninsular in 1998.