peelings ii v4n2 1983

ELECTRONICS Tine’ SUPER FAN II™ For your APPLE II* COMPUTER $74.95 SUPER FANII™ = witHzeNERRAYOPTION $109.00 ¢ TAN OR BLACK COLOR * QUIETEST FAN ON THE MARKET « INCREASED RELIABILITY — SAVES DOWN TIME AND REPAIR CHARGES e REDUCES HEAT CAUSED BY EXTRA PLUG-IN CARDS ZENER RAY™ TRANSIENT VOLTAGE SUPPRESSOR INCLUDES FAIL SAFE WARNING LAMP SYSTEM OUR BUILT IN ADVANCED DESIGN UNIT GIVES: S 3 — STOPS ANNOYING DOWN TIME FROM VOLTAGE SPIKES - GLITCHES DUS VOLTAGE SPIKES CAN JEOPARDIZE YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEMS CT COMPUTER - DISK DRIVE - PRINTER AND MONITOR NO CUTTING WIRES * WON'T VOID WARRANTY, JUST PLUG IN SUPERFAN II WITH ZENER RAY *Registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc. ONE YEAR WARRANTY ¢ VISA/MASTERCARD ALSO AVAILABLE FROM ELECTRONICS, INC. TWO EXTRA 120 VOLT OUTLETS APPLE MONITOR STAND PATENTED AIRFLOW SEAL FOR COMPUTER TO STAND FOAM AIR SEAL ARTSCI HAS NEW PRODUCTS, NEW PACKAGING, NEW OFFICES, “Bhan HL ES ‘on mms amo mE rAe y Mi y (Se mB 2 | fis: 5 Gis Favorite.” : clude 80-column | board an compatibility, individu ‘hard-disk compatibility, column widths, invisible col- The MAGIC WORDS™ speling weit en, rae lower ey ing ae ea checker. $69.9! case display160-character line and full compatibility wit ™ length, multiple-copy print VisiCalc." Expansion memory ieee aa naling feature, and DOS housekeep- boards may be used to ex- ge sy : : ing commands within the pand the worksheet size. program. — $149.95 $149.95 (And there’s more to come!) ARTSCI — a new look, with the same old reliability at an affordable price. 5547 satsuma avenue ¢ north hollywood, california 91601 VisiCalc is a registered trademark of VisiCorp. MAGICALC is a trademark of Artsci, Chaos in the bakery as you conten a Cantankerous conveyor belt in.ag See if you can sneak past the effort to|makeipics security guards in'this Geom ‘. > * : NEW RELEASES / m 4 oo . * \ Run a gauntlet of deadly eee alien sharpshooters. : Nvensui software Can you round them up? ‘ , , Ss {i peneuin software The criminal element hasjrun amok. et bd . We believe games should be fun and that the price of games shouldn't dampen that fun. The growth of | people get to play our games, and we still make enough to keep developing newer and betterjsoftware. ¢ As‘our customers know, at Penguin Software we take a great deal of care and pride in our, products. This change in our pricing in no way affects our standards of quality. We pioneered the removal ot copy- protect from applications software last year injan effort to give you a better product. This year we are trying gain to lead the way in putting the customer first. *.. oe Penguin software. 2 (312) 232-1984 830 4th Avenue, ‘Geneva, IL 60134 Dealer Hotline: (800)|323-0116, retailers only, please. Available at your local computer ‘storeSDeater' and distributor inquiries welcome. Visa/MasterCard accepted. Publisher Peelings II, Inc. Associate Editors Edward Burlbaw John Martellaro John Mitchener Contributing Editors Tom Little Michael Weasner Administrative Assistant Pamela Carmody Director Marketing & Communications Rebecca Winecup Editorial Assistants dane Trego dack Moran Ruth Moran Circulation Director Lorie Browne SUBSCRIPTION RATES issues (1 year) $21.00 18 issues (2 years) $38.00 Sample Copy $ 4.00 Back issues $ 4.00 Canada, Mexico, APO, FPO, (First Class) Yissues $36.00 Back issues $ 5.00 South America & Europe, (Air Mail) 9 issues $48.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All Other Foreign, (Air Mail) Gissues $57.00 Back issues $ 6.00 All remittances must be in U.S. funds and drawn on U.S. bank Peelings Il does not bill for individual subscriptions, however, pur: chase orders from schools and companies will be honored. There is, 2 $3.00 fee for invoicing Cover Art: Richard D. Bishop Credits: Film Processing and Printing: Photech, Inc., Las Cruces, N.M. Printing: Meredith Corp., Albuquerque, NM. Apple and Applesott are registered trademarks of Apple Com pater, Inc Copyright ©1983 by Peelings II, Inc. All rights reserved ‘Material in this publication may not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission. Requests for permission should be directed to Rights and Permissions Editor, Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004. ISSN: 0744-2475. Pealings II is published monthly except June, Aug., and Oct. by Peelings ll, 2260 Oleander, Las Cruces, NM and additional mailing offices. Telephone (505) 526-8364 The Source TCT 120 Postmaster: Send address changes to Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004 Correspondence: Send all regular mail to Peslings Il, P.O. Box 188, Las Cruces, NM 88004. U.P.S. Address: 2260 Oleander, Las Cruces, NM 88001. New product information and other editorial correspondence should be sent to the attention of Pamela Car- ‘mody. Dealer inquiries should be sent to the attention of Lorie Browne, Change of address, and all subscription correspondence should be addressed to Peelings Il, P.O. Box 188, Dept. S, Las Cruces, NM 88004. For address changes please include your old address as well as new, and enclose, if possible, an address label from a recent issue. Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 Peeli THE MAGAZINE OF APPLE SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE EVALUATION Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 ACCOUNTING 11 Introduction 11 The Accountant published by Decision Support Software 12 B.P.I. General Ledger Accounting System published by B.P.I. Systems, Inc. 15 Financial Management System II published by Southwestern Data Systems CODE GENERATORS 16 The Programmer published by Advanced Operating Systems 18 C.O.R.P. published by Gary J. Scotto BEGINNER COLUMN: The Anything Machine gs|)| 23 Chapter Two: The System For You DATA MANAGEMENT 28 Cardfile published by Digital Marketing 30 Quick-Search Librarian published by Interactive Microware UTILITIES 32 The Routine Machine published by Southwestern Data Systems 36 The Inspector published by Omega Microware 37 Watson published by Omega Microware 38 Amper-Magic published by Anthro-Digital Software 40 Amper-Magic II published by Anthro-Digital Software 42 Mathemagic published by International Software Marketing 44 Copy II Plus published by Central Point Software EDUCATION 48 Class Records published by Educational Systems Software 49 E-Z Learner published by Silicon Valley Systems HARDWARE 54 HP-16 manufactured by Hewlett-Packard DEPARTMENTS 5 Authors 4 Lisa: An Opinion 5 Peelings Ratings 5 Corrections 56 Advertiser Index 8 Letters “Non-computer characteristics in humans’”’ If you are an avid microcomputer user, you have probably been unable to avoid several year’s worth of fiction and popular magazine articles about the supposed superiority of computers over humans. The usual track is to point out how computers and robots of the future will not suffer the rampant emotionalism, sentimentality, and prejudice of humans. In the end, however, ethnocentrism wins out and the author usually tries to make you feel better by pointing out that neither will computers be capable of love. No Star Trek fan is un- aware of this theme. Despite this friction and counterbalance between computer minds and human minds, there is an underlying thread that humans should become more like computers and computers more like humans. For example, many religions and philosophical scholars would propose that humans be calmer and more logical while computers should be more friendly and human. Again, an analogy exists in Star Trek with the popularity of Mr. Spock. His human half manifests the best of human nature in his loyalty to his crew and his Vulcan half keeps tight reins on the worst of human emotions. In today’s ever advancing microcomputer technology, highly skilled and dedicated men and women are working to make the dream come true of computers that are true companions. Computers that are approachable, speak English, are mobile, and willing to serve in ways that humans can appreciate are realizable near-term goals. ‘A good example of a major step in this direction is Apple's Lisa. Here is a computer that brings a technological breakthrough in soft- ware to the public. It represents a new way of communicating with a computer that is more natural (human) than anything heretofore seen. A great many people have understood this and have praised the machine highly. Nevertheless, there has been more than the usual grumbling about this new machine as well. Just about everyday, a company announces a new, small business computer. Perhaps it is an IBM clone designed to cash in on the popularity of IBM’s PC. Per- haps it is a 68000 based system designed to be multi-user oriented. Every company that introduces such a computer has high expecta- tions of making lots of money. Seldom does anyone bother to attack them in print. Now after years of work and $50 million in research and develop- ment, Apple has produced a moderate advance in microcomputer hardware and a major advance in hardware/ software/human integra- tion. What do they get for this kind of effort? Some frequently seen criticism: ‘It’s too expensive.” Rubbish. This statement, which I have run across more than any other about the Lisa, I propose, merely ex- presses individual jealousy. An individual can afford a kilobuck or two for a personal computer. Indeed, we have come to expect that we ought to be able to buy anything we want in the microcomputer sphere. If not, it must be a DEC or an IBM and who needs it? A mere 9 to 5 mortal, however, cannot afford $10,000 for a computer and he’s fighting mad. How dare Apple computer come out with such a fascinating, I-want-one, machine that I can’t have. I submit that the outrage over the price more suitably expresses this jealousy that any deliberate estimate of the true value of a microcomputer with a mega- byte of memory and 20 megabytes of software. “Where's the color?” Inconsistent goals here. If you want to play games, buy a //e. (At least you can afford it.) The Lisa, like its Xerox predecessor and the PERQ is designed to do certain things very well on a high resolution bit mapped text display. The idea is to concen- trate on the job to be done without distraction. “Xerox did it first with the Xerox Star.” Sorry friends. The world is full of products that were first but failed by virtue of poor marketing. Apple Computer evidently has the charisma and the corporate will to make Lisa a marketing success. Whether Apple can bring together the necessary elements to make the product a success or not remains to be seen. But you don't win if you don't play the game. Remember, a good idea is not a failure just because it failed — in the wrong hands — once. “It is a single user machine!” Who is going to buy a ten kilobuck machine that won't allow eight users to plug a terminal into it? Answer. Just about everyone who can afford one. In fact, I will pre- dict here that the price of the Lisa will go up in, say September, to $12000. Why? Sales will boom creating an enormous workload on Apple. Supply and demand will force the price up temporarily. Any- way, that poor little 68000 running at a mere 5 Mhz just cannot run Lisa’s kind of software for multiple users. You want terminals? Buy a DEC VAX 11/730. “The disks are non-standard.” All new ideas are non-standard. Commonality is common. Ask yourself: “What does it take to get the job done?” If someone else doesn’t have the solution, you create your own. Problem solvers understand this kind of thinking. Some people don't. These are the major objections I have seen by individuals. You are probably just beginning to see signs of the coming attack by com- panies. You see, there are many companies that make lots of money by building computers that mere mortals cannot handle. The poor businessmen who buy these computers are forced to hire a computer department that, in turn, opts for ever more complex systems. Those who hoped to make a bundle pushing Unix will probably feel threat- ened by Lisa. After all, a businessman can sit down and relate to Lisa and begin to use it in 30 minutes. “Whoops there goes another train- ing department... .” Those companies that hoped to infiltrate the market of powerful business micros with small minis of their own will feel threatened by the enormous software breakthrough Apple has produced. Sorry guys. It’s no longer as simple as throwing a sixty buck 68000 into some sheet aluminum and selling it for $20,000. You will now actually have to work for your money. As the famous pain reliever commercial says: “The world just got tougher.” Finally, there will be those who will feel threatened because the high priesthood of using a computer just dissipated a little with Lisa No longer will it be an ego-trip to dazzle your lover with high speed fingers dancing over a keyboard typing strange symbols that only the computer's operating system understands. Miss a single comma and kaphlewie! The real test of a computer's humanity is whether a forty year old housewife can use it. What I have described here is pretty much the gamut of human emotions in the face of a threatening change. Fear, jealousy, and cynicism. As with any revolution, the old breed will die out and the young will accept it naturally. However, this time, the revolution is too important to leave to the next generation. Things are happening too fast in the computer world. I would like to suggest that those who have expressed the emotions | have described above try instead to go as far towards being like the ultimate human as Lisa has come to being like us. That is probably the destiny we have created for our- selves. We can honor ourselves by living it now. — Martellaro Peelings II THE AUTHORS Peelings II has a group of highly qualified editors and authors who have expertise in their chosen areas for reviewing. We will, from time to time, tell you about this group. Note that not every author appears in every issue. Sandy Abernathy, who taught elementary school for thirteen years, now teaches courses in microcomputer applications and man- agement technology at New Mexico State University. In addition, she presents workshops on educational applications of microcomputers for teachers and administrators and uses her Apple for word process- ing and consulting projects. She holds a B.S. in Biology, an M.A.T. in Elementary Education and a Ph.D. in Educational Management and Development. Her hobbies include fishing, camping, swimming, reading, and using her Apple Edward Burlbaw is the regional manager for Science & Techno- logy Corp. His background is in physics, electronics, and mathe- matics. He has a B.S. in physics, an M.S. in mathematics, an M.S. in physics and a Ph.D. Edward enjoys snow skiing and electronics. William K. Daugherty is a Professor of Accounting and Busi- ness Computer Systems at New Mexico State University. Dr Daugherty has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Univer- sity of Texas at Austin. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor. In his spare time, he enjoys collecting stamps and working on his own geneology. Robert Greenwald is a physician specializing in arthritis who divides his professional time between patient care, teaching, and laboratory research on Long Island. In addition to his interest in using his Apple, Dr. Greenwald is an avid stamp collector and is a regular columnist for STAMPS Magazine. Montgomery Lee is a U.S. Air Force Captain currently assigned to the Dept. of Defense Shuttle Program Office in Los Angeles as a Manager for Shuttle Payload Flight Readiness. He is also an F-4 pilot. He has a B.S. in mathematics and astronautical engineering and an M.B.A. His hobbies are science fiction and photography. Tom Little is a senior at New Mexico State University working onaB.S. with a dual major: physics and computer science. He is also the administrator of the computer center’s UNIX system. Tom’s hobbies are growing irises and writing science fiction (none yet pub- lished however). John Martellaro is an operations research analyst for TRA- SANA, White Sands Missile Range working in computer graphics and combat simulation models. He has a B.S. in astrophysics and an M.S. in physics. John enjoys computer chess, science fiction, astron- omy and soaring. John Mitchener is a Personnel Management Specialist at White Sands Missile Range. He is a former Electronics Warfare Analyst for the U.S. Army and has a B.S. in psychology. John’s hobbies are ballooning, cooking and ham radio, Alan Shalette is president of Shalette & Company, Inc., a Chi- cago-based management consulting firm. The firm provides market, product, business and operational systems planning assistance for clients mainly in the finance industry. He holds a B.S. (ChE) and an M.B.A. Alan’s outside interests include astronomy, photography, camping and reading Michael Weasner is a U.S. Air Force Captain and a fighter Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 pilot/instructor with multiple FAA ratings. He is currently assigned to the Air Force's Space Division in Los Angeles where he is manager of the Computer Resources Division in the Launch Vehicles Program Office. Mike holds a B.S. in astrophysics. Besides flying, his interests include space exploration and computers. Peelings Ratings Peelings Ratings are a letter grade designed to indicate an overall impression of the product. It is a measure of how well the publisher did the job he intended to do taking into consideration comparison to other similar products, price to performance, ease of use, documen- tation, and sophistication. We stress that you should not skip a review or disparage a pro- gram because it receives a low rating. The rating alone can never tell the whole story. Only reading the entire review will give you all the in formation you need. For this reason, the rating should never be quoted alone without reference to text of the review. The Peelings Il rating categories follow: Some example criteria are given for the categories, but they are not meant to be all inclusive AAA - Absolutely astounding software. We have seen one pro- gram in two years that fits this category. AA - Top notch, superb. Programs in this class generally use the most sophisticated programming techniques and have excellent documentation A - Very good. Software in this class incorporates very good pro- gramming techniques and has clear and informative documentation. B - Good. Software in this class may have minor errors or be slightly flawed, it may be lacking in thorough documentation, or it may just be unexciting. C - Average. Software of a mediocre nature. There may be a lack of good programming concepts or lack of good error trapping. It may be a repeat of other work, or have a low performance/price ratio. D - Below Average. Software with a blatant disregard for the user in terms of programming design, unacceptable documentation, or unacceptable price to performance ratio. F - Unacceptable. Software of such poor value or usability that it should not be marketed. P - Pending. The rating is on hold for comparison to other similar types or it is not yet appropriate to give a rating (e.g., mini-review). R - Provisional. The reviewer has seen enough to give a tentative letter grade, but there may be more analysis necessary, or new documentation may be in the works, or some program bugs may still be present. N- No Rating. The reviewer abstains, or a rating is inappropriate. Corrections In the V4N1 Editorial, end of the sixth paragraph, an editing error changed the intended meaning. It should have read “It should be a character oriented language like Fortran and BASIC as opposed to a symbol oriented language like APL and C. Symbol oriented languages are concise but sometimes unreadable, even by the author, months after writing. Character oriented languages are easier to read and learn,” In V3N9 the review of Programmers’ Library from Telephone Software Connection incorrectly listed the author's name. His name is Leighton Paul. We apologize to Mr. Paul for the error. In VAN1, page 24, the DOS Enhancers Comparison Chart incor- rectly shows a rating for David-DOS. The rating for this product is still pending for a review of the final version. 5 Were you made for each other? Are the two of you destined for romance? Spend an evening with LOVERS OR STRANGERS, and find out. LOVERS OR STRANGERS can fell how compatible you are in love, sex, money, work, play and more. It’s fun...it’s serious...it’s romantic...it’s thought- provoking...it will keep you up nights. LOVERS OR STRANGERS is available at your local dealer or direct from Alpine Software, 2120-E Academy Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80909 (303) 591-9874 Only $ 29.95. Add $1.00 for shipping/handling. VISA, Mastercard, checks, COD accepted Colorado residents add 3% sales tax. Requires Apple II Plus, 48K, DOS 3.3, and a willing partner. Apple I Pluss 0 regislered trademark of Apple Computers, Inc xe Take a bite... ...0f Apple pchard! Your Apple will love you for subscribing to APPLE ORCHARD! An official publication of the International Apple Core, APPLE ORCHARD has all the information you need for your Apple. In addition to outstanding feature articles, we present new product information, product and book reviews, program listings, articles and news from member clubs (maybe yours!), and IAC information, including club listings, sponsor listings, and upcoming events. Please enter a subscription to APPLE ORCHARD for: NAME ADDRESS Subscribe today! You. ..and your Apple. ..won’t want to miss a single issue! CITY. STATE. ZIP. Annual Subscription Rate: $19.50 for 9 issues Canada, Mexico, APO, and FPO addresses: $27.00 Overseas and other foreign surface postage: $36.00 ! I ! | I I I H C1 Check or money order enclosed Ol visa OC MasterCard I I I I to No. __ Exp Reply to: Apple Orchard Subscriptions 908 George Street Santa Clara, CA 95050 LETTERS Krell Responds to review of LOGO Editor: As you note the contrast in your reviewer's rating was startling. Naturally we believe Bill Torpay’s (sic) to be correct. Sandy Aber- nathy clearly has not had a chance to review the full wealth of sup- port material’s (sic) that Krell provided for the neophyte. As the en- closed copy for Logo and Educational Computer Journal should make clear, Krell’s commitment to supporting Logo far outstrip that of Tarapin (sic) and the Apple Corporation. Sincerely, Edward I. Friedland Chairman of the Board Krell Software Corporation Both reviewers had the opportunity to review the same materials. The difference was in their levels of experience with LOGO. Also, there was no enclosure to Mr. Friedland’s letter. — JLM LOGO Reviewer has more to say Dear John, Tve recently received my copy of Terrapin’s tutorial manual for Logo, which I had not yet received when I did my original review, and I thought prospective purchasers especially might be interested in hearing about it. Anyone who has purchased Logo from Terrapin no doubt already has a copy of this excellent book; I seem to have more than the usual amount of trouble retrieving things from U.P.S. (Haven't they ever heard of people who work from 9 to 5?). The 3” thick manual is very professionally done (as is all of Terra- pin’s documentation). It is printed in two colors on heavy paper, and packaged in a half-sized three-ring binder. The M.L.T. Technical Man- ual for Logo is also included. The manual proceeds in a straight-forward way from the “Begin- ning in Logo” chapter into turtle graphics, followed by chapters deal- ing with music in Logo and numerical and graphing applications. Nu- merous appendices are provided which are organized for reference purposes; they also cover additional topics such as debugging. Addi- tional chapters are promised by Terrapin, to deal with word and list operations, two of Logo’s more advanced features. The bulk of the manual is obviously intended to be read in order, preferably with Logo running, although the examples are numerous enough to allow one to follow along without a machine. The manual is generally patterned after the style of the Apple manuals (probably the best documentation I have seen); with lots of explanation of “what’s going on”, a pleasant tone, and helpful “signposts” (Terrapin uses mascots) to draw your attention to important topics. I would imagine that the Terrapin tutorial would also prove an in- valuable aid to the educator trying to come up with lesson plans for a Logo class, especially for younger children. Features of the language are presented in context with demonstration programs, in a natural progression starting with turtle graphics and music (Logo’s most easi- ly “grasp-able” features) and on to more advanced topics. This man- ual would seem to place Terrapin more squarely in competition with Krell for the “grass-roots” educational market (i-e., individual schools and teachers, rather than school systems that might be able to afford to develop their own curricula, etc.). Allin all, the Terrapin Logo tutorial is an excellent addition to an already excellent package. Also, I'd like to suggest an explanation for the rather large dispari- 8 ty in the ratings given to Krell’s version of Logo by Dr. Abernathy and myself, which must have puzzled your readers, since it certainly did me at first. On reading her review, however, the reason became clear: apparently Dr. Abernathy did not have access to Harold Abelson’s excellent book, “Logo for the Apple II”, which was not included in the review package from Krell. (I already had a copy, since | had pur- chased Logo from Terrapin.) As I mentioned in my reviews, this book is highly recommended for anyone interested in Logo (although for owners of the new Terrapin tutorial it is perhaps now just “extremely desirable” rather than essential). It is a tribute to both Dr. Abernathy's perseverance and the common-sense design of Logo that she was able to get as far into the language as she did with just the “Alice in Logoland” demos (which I feel are of questionable value) and the MLLT. technical manual as references. Sincerely, Bill Torpey TSC responds to review of Telephone Transfer II Dear PEELINGS II: We have just received a copy of your review of our Telephone Trans fer II program, and appreciate your offer to include our comments in your next issue. I do not believe our program was reviewed fairly by your magazine. In the EVALUATION section of the review, where it was compared with another program of similar purpose, only the negative, and none of the following positive aspects were mentioned: - Although you mentioned that ours supports both the Hayes Micromodem II and the Novation AppleCat II (with optional Firm- ware), you did not mention that ours is not slot dependent — forcing the MODEM to be moved to a particular slot. - Ours is not limited to a single Apple floppy drive in only Slot #6, Drive #1, but will send files from any slot or drive, and from either floppy or hard disk (Corvus compatible) systems. - Ours is not limited to the first 38 files on a diskette, nor does its display truncate the titles after the 12th character (when displaying more than 19 titles). - Ours keeps track of the remaining space on the receiving disk- ette to be sure there is enough room for the selected files, before un- necessarily wasting a lot of phone time. - To chat with ours you just type — no need to switch to a special “CHAT MODE”. - To send files with ours, you just tell it the slot your MODEM is in, whether you will be waiting for or initiating the phone call (and the phone number), the slot, drive, and volume where the files are to be sent from, and then, when ready, just simply indicate with a “Y” or “N” which files you wish it to send. - Both the TELEPHONE TRANSFER II and its companion free TELEPHONE LINKER program are available 24-hours a day 365 days a year via a simple MODEM call. — Our staff is available during normal office hours for customer service, for this and all of our products. I was somewhat taken back by the referral to our countdown timer feature, which shows how much time is remaining in the transfer, a feature that has been praised by our customers, being dismissed as “overkill” by your review. I can assure your readers that we screen each product very carefully prior to acceptance for sale on our system — to be sure it is the kind of product that enhances our entire line — in that, due to our unique method of operation, we are dependent on satisfied customers com- ing back for many of our other products and in sending us their friends. Ipersonally, would welcome a more consumer oriented publication to review software, one that follows the example set by “Consumer Re- Peelings II ports” a little more closely — refusing to accept ads, especially from companies whose products it has or will be reviewing! In our case, an ad for the very same program ours was compared with was accepted and printed in the same issue as our review! Not just in our review, but in many others in your magazine, I have read a great deal of more general suggestions as to how software should be written or marketed. If there is some yardstick to which the work of those of us in the industry is to be measured by your maga- zine, 'm sure we would all appreciate your letting us in on it. In the meantime, we resent being criticized for features we never claimed our program had, thus being victim of a very subjective form of “Mon- day morning quarterbacking”. Sincerely, Ed Magnin, President TELEPHONE SOFTWARE CONNECTION, INC. Peelings II responds: Product comparisons can consist of a written description of fea- tures by the vendor or they can consist of a test case comparison by users familiar with the product. Except for the case noted below, we do not feel that the items in Mr. Magnin’s letter tell the whole story. This is because we found that the negative features of TT II over- whelmed, in actual use, the positive features. That is not an unfair re- view; it is a factual review. 1. The review points out what we thought were the important vir- tues and defects of DFX and TT II in an operational environment. The two of us who evaluated the product found the chat mode of Telephone Transfer II significantly more inconvenient to use. On the other hand, we grant that DFX fails to keep track of the disk space of the receiving disk and this should have been emphasized in the re- view. 2. Just because a program does what it says it will do does not exempt it from comparison to similar products. The comparison pro- cess is the key to product evaluation. 3. We believe we said that time to hundredths of a second was “overkill.” 4. Peelings Il tries to be the “Consumer Reports” for Apple II owners. Unlike Consumer Reports, we accept advertising because we have a workable policy: we do not accept just any ad. Ads which appear in Peelings are for products that we feel will satisfy the cus- tomer, to the extent we can make that determination. Any given ad most certainly does not buy an unfavorable review of a competitor's product. We will continue to tell the truth about everyone and take ads from vendors who bring honor to the industry with good prod- ucts. More help in the wings. . . Hi folks, Thank you for the kind review of Pie Man in your December ’82 issue, we are pleased to see the A rating. We were also pleased to read the reviews you wrote about two other arcade games in that issue — Gold Rush & Congo from Senti- ent Software. Why? Funny you should ask. Your reviewers praised both programs in particular for the color-ful Hi Res graphics in them, graphics done by the authors Mike Berlyn & Harry Wilker. There was a third partner in those graphics, albeit a silent one: The Graphics Magician, from those silly birds at the South Pole. Just thought you’d like to know. Take care, Dave Albert Penguin Software Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 For Your Apple’ eu ie Neca SSM Apple Count the Yes-es. SSM's . eer edern ire ec = | Apple ModemCard: the most Features: Micromodem |i] Apple Cat I ModemCard advanced features for the least : : money. No external equipment | pace bats Operation | is | Me [ecves ] required. All other modems are is now obsolete. [_Hatf/eutt Ouptex [ves | ves | ves |S and with S6M's Transend soft- >-Di g ware, your Apple can send | eae Anwer E net | iss | tes | electronic mail or talk to other [ i computers or information ser- N Yes , Eis as Ene Ee ie | 2 | E | vices such as the Source™ and ‘Operates without additional v= Yes Yes Dow Jones News/Retrieval®. (The [_SPsera intros I ] Modem(ard is also compatible ‘ouch-Tone® Dialing | No eve [eaves 254] with software for the Micro- : modem [PSingieWodem-chipReiabiity | No [| No _| __Yes__| _ The SSM ModemCard: The only : choice for choosy Apple owners. [ Audio Monitor | No | No | Yes ] Available from your local compu- zi : ter dealer. Satisfaction is guaran- Self Testing | Yes | Yes | Yes teed. Or your money back. | Warranty period (FS Ee ee ee | ASW 4 ey EP EP | [ Suggested Retail Price | $379 | $389 | $299 ] SSM Microcomputer Products Inc. ‘Trademarks: Micromodem: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. Applecat lI: Novation. ModemCard: SSM Microcomputer 2190 Paragon Drive, San Jose, Products Inc. The Source: Source Telecomputing Corporation, 2 subsidiary of the Reader s Digest Association. Dow Jones News/Retrieval: CA 95131 (408) 946-7400, ow ones & Company, Ine. Appa isa registred trademark of Apple Corporation Telex: 171171 SSM SNJ “NIBBLE IS TERRIFIC” (For Your Apple) NIBBLE IS: The Reference for Apple computing! NIBBLE IS: One of the Fastest Growing Magazines in the Personal Computing Field. NIBBLE I$: Providing Comprehensive, Useful and Instructive Programs for the Home, Small Business, and Entertainment. NIBBLE IS: A Reference to Graphics, Games, Systems Qa §=§ Programming Tips, Product News and Reviews, Hardware Construction Projects, and a host of other features. NIBBLEIS: A magazine suitable for both the Beginner and the Advanced Programmer. Each issue of NIBBLE features significant new Programs of Commercial Quality. Here’s what some of our Readers say: — “Certainly the best magazine on the Apple II” — “Programs remarkably easy to enter” — ‘Stimulating and Informative; So much so that this is the first computer magazine I've subscribed to!” — ‘Impressed with the quality and content.” — “NIBBLE IS TERRIFIC!” In coming issues, look for: O Stocks and Commodities Charting 0 Assembly Language Programming Column () Pascal Programming Column [_] Data Base Programs for Home and Business CJ Personal Investment Analysis [| Electronic Secretary for Time Management (J The GIZMO Business Simulation Game And many many more! Pees 222228e88e8s2seee8 a NIBBLE is focused completely H nibble 1 on the Apple Computer systems. | We accept Master Charge & Visa ff B )-¢ Buy NIBBLE through your local H hitiry nibble! MA. 01773 (617) 259-9710 t Apple Dealer or subscribe now with gEnolosed is my $19.95 (for 8 issues) 1 the coupon below. (Outside U.S., see special note on this page.) 1 Try a MIBBLE! o Cocheck (1) money order i BE Your subscription will begin with the next issue published after receipt of your ff Bp crestmoney oder H I Card # Expires gh BH Signature Nore BE name ee — Domestic U.S. First Class subscription rate is $36.50 | | — Canada Air Mail subscription rate is $42.50 | Address i = Outside the US. and Canada Air mall subscription rate is $47.50 Ci Ailpayments must be in US. funds rawn on aS. bank a City LU sot cA SP ARC ni. y7r. i gh B state —Zip = U “apple a registered trademark of Appe Computer Company Lennie enn enennmmmnd Accounting Introduction For over 5,000 years, man has kept records of his financial tran- sactions using clay tables and a stylus, paper and ink, and in recent times, computers and computer media. Business firms, not-for-profit organizations and households share the common problem of record- ing, summarizing and reporting the results of hundreds, perhaps thousands of transactions with suppliers of goods and services, financial institutions, governmental organizations, customers, employees, investors, owners and other constituents every year. Many software packages on the market are designed to assist users of microcomputers in solving this problem. We are reviewing some of these programs in this issue and will be reviewing others in the future. The two major factors considered in these evaluations are how easy they are to use and what they do. Within these two categories, there are several factors to consider. A program is easy to use when it is accompanied by well written, well organized instructions, examples, definitions and explanations. A system narrative that gives an overview description of the system and what it does, a tutorial section that leads the user step-by-step through the programs, a command reference section that contains explanations of each command that may select, an error message section with explanations of error messages and what to do about them, a glossary of key terms and an index are some of the things we look for in this area. By W.K. Daugherty Other factors effecting ease of use involve design of menus from which processing options are selected, data entry screens and error detection and reporting. Because of the large number of transactions involved, even in household record keeping, it is important that screen layout and the instructions displayed on the screen contribute to fast, accurate entry and error detection and correction. Although the number of transactions may be large, most will fall within two or three categories. Systems that receive the higher ratings will be those that provide special data entry screens for these transactions. Performance objectives vary greatly from one program to another depending upon the program author and the market segment at which the program is directed. Our review will report stated objec- tives and our judgment as to how well these objectives are met. The major factors considered are what information is printed or displayed by the programs, the correctness of this information, the extent to which the user can tailor the information provided to suit his own needs and preferences, and conformity with generally accepted prac- tices and terminology. In addition, we believe it is particularly impor- tant that data and programs can be copied for the purpose of pro- viding backup for ease of recovery in the event of loss or destruction of transactions recorded on computer media. THE ACCOUNTANT (Finance Data Base System) by Ernest Forman Decision Support Software 1438 Ironwood Drive McLean, Virginia 22101 $129.00 $20.00 for optional VisiCalc Interface Hardware lock in the game I/O socket. Rating: A Reviewed by William K. Daugherty INTRODUCTION The ACCOUNTANT is designed for personal rather than busi- ness use and to enable the user to plan and manage his/her personal finances. The programs enable you to keep detailed records of finan- cial transactions, to enter budget amounts for various expense cate- gories and to display or print a transaction journal, a balance sheet, a listing of transaction entries in any specified account and a monthly report. The monthly report listing shows all transactions for the month followed by the general ledger. Ending balances for all months for which transactions have been entered and changes in monthly balances can be displayed as a histogram. In addition to classifying by account, transactions can also be classified by user defined codes. This feature allows the mixing of tax deductible transactions in the same accounts with nondeductible transactions without the de- ductible items losing their special identity. A listing by code or by user Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 defined groups of accounts can be displayed or printed. In addition to programs for producing hardcopy reports, the utility program disk contains a bank account or credit card reconciliation program. An optional VisiCalc interface program allows the extraction of data from the financial data base and the creation of a VisiCalc file. Using an income tax template provided on a DBCALC Utility Disk, data ex- tracted from the finance data base and some additional information provided by the user, the amount of federal and state income tax owed can be calculated at any point or projected for the entire year. DOCUMENTATION Program documentation, contained in a three-right loose leaf binder and organized by topic, is very well done. The topics include an introduction, a demonstration problem, a tutorial which leads the user through the process of defining accounts and codes, sections on command usage, programs, files and disk capacity, the VisiCalc In- terface, utilities, and an index. The index is comprehensive and makes it easy to find the information needed. ESTABLISHING THE DATA BASE The ACCOUNTANT lets you define your own accounts and codes — up to 63 of each. This should be enough for most personal or small business applications. The user contains a sample listing which should enable a person without an accounting or bookkeeping background to set up an adequate chart of accounts. Options dis- played on a second level menu provide the means of creating a new data base, adding or modifying accounts or codes. Those with any accounting or bookkeeping background and who are therefore accus- tomed to seeing asset, liability, capital, revenue and expense ac- counts may be a bit dismayed to discover that the program allows only three types of accounts — assets, liabilities, and “reserve” ac- counts. Reserve accounts in the ACCOUNTANT programs include 11 capital (or equity accounts), expense and revenue accounts. This makes for a peculiar appearing balance sheet since all these accounts and their balances are listed in the Reserve section of the balance sheet. Professional accountants will object to the use of the term “re- serve” in this manner. The term is rarely used today. When it was commonly used, it was used in three different ways and none of these usages coincide with its usage in the ACCOUNTANT. The balance sheets illustrated in the user manual are peculiar in appearance be- cause the accounts within the three major account categories are in alphabetical order. In accounting, there is a fairly standard order in which accounts are presented in financial statements and it is not alphabetical. This situation can be avoided by entering the accounts in the order in which you want them to appear and not sorting them at the end of the creation process. DATA ENTRY AND FILE MAINTENANCE Access to data entry and file maintenance programs are obtained by selecting items from one of the two menus provided by the AC- COUNTANT. Transactions are entered in one of two ways. Up to nine sets of automatic transactions can be defined by the user. These can be posted to the data base at any time but would normally be posted at the first or last of the month. This feature is very useful for entering transactions that are the same for every period such as a rental payment or the receipt of a paycheck. All other transactions are handled in the same manner — by in- dicating which of two or more accounts are to be increased or de- creased and by what amount. The programs translate the indicated increases or decreases into the appropriate debit or credit entry in general journal form. Accounts effected by a transaction can be indi- cated by account number or account name. If the person making the entry does not remember or have a list of the accounts and their numbers, a list can be displayed at any time without interfering with the entry of the transaction. I found this to be a very handy feature. All transactions, other than automatic transactions, must be entered in this manner. In a program of this type, I prefer special data entry screens for entering large numbers of transactions that have a com- mon element such as cash disbursements, all of which result in a de- crease in the cash account. By using a special data entry screen, it is not necessary to indicate a decrease in cash for every check entered in the records as this is done automatically by the computer. The programs detect many of the common types of errors such as an attempt to use an invalid account number, to increase two as- set accounts in one transaction or to enter an unequal amount of debits and credits. While testing the programs I made several mis- takes entering data and found that the easiest way to handle the problem was to quit and start over with the entry. A “Q” entered al- most any place will get you out of an error situation and back to the main menu where you can start again. PROCESSING AND PRINTING RECORDS AND REPORTS Transactions are posted to the accounts immediately after entry. A balance sheet can be displayed at any time and will reflect all trans- actions entered up to that point. The balance sheet and number of other reports and listings can be printed by selecting the appropriate items from the main menu. Three types of transaction listings can be produced — by account, by code and a general listing in chrono- logical order. CONCLUSION My first impression of this package was not very favorable be- cause of nonstandard terminology, peculiar looking financial state- ments, and entry of almost all transactions by means of general jour- nal entry. After further involvement, I began to appreciate some of its good features such as immediate update, error detection and correc- tion, its VisiCalc interface and its well written user manual. For some- one who wants to keep household records for budget or tax purposes or business records for a fairly simple business operated on the cash basis and who is willing to invest a few hours in learning to use the programs, | think it is a good buy. 0 GENERAL LEDGER ACCOUNTING SYSTEM Author Unspecified BPI Systems, Inc. 3423 Guadalupe Austin, Texas 78705 512-454-2801 $395.00 Rating: AA Reviewed by William K. Daugherty INTRODUCTION If this system doesn’t have it, you probably wouldn’t want it any- way. Complete, well-written documentation, special data entry screens for entering large volumes of like transactions, just about any accounting statement or report that you could want, user specified configuration, friendly person/computer interaction and a reasonable price — what else could you ask for? BPI General Ledger was de- signed to bring sophisticated computerized accounting to the small business or the professional person and it does just that. 12 With this system in your Apple II plus, you can obtain: A Balance Sheet, A Profit and Loss Statement which shows Revenue, Expenses, Net Income for the current period and year to date including a per- centage analysis of all expenses for both periods. Profit and Loss Statements for up to ten departments, A General Ledger, An Accounts Receivable Ledger, An Accounts Payable Ledger, A Payroll Register that shows each employee's earnings and de- ductions for the current month, the current quarter and year-to-date. A General Journal A Cash Disbursements Journal An Invoice Register A Cash Receipts Journal A Merchandise Purchased Journal and A Cash Sales Journal that shows summaries of cash transactions for each day of business. There are special data entry screens for entering transactions in the special and general journals. The General Ledger, the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable Ledgers, and the Payroll Registers are posted automatically by the system from transaction information recorded in the journals. The user can define a Chart of Accounts Peelings II NEW FOR APPLE II WILD MAKES BACK-UP COPIES OF PROTECTED SOFTWARE QUICKLY, EASILY, WITH JUST A PUSH OF A BUTTON. New software locking schemes have rendered even the latest generation of copy programs virtually unusable. Locksmith™, Nibbles Away™ and other “Nibble copiers” require complicated parameter settings, much patience and great effort to use. More often than not, the results are disappointing. WILD- CARD is different. Rather than copying disks track by track, WILDCARD ignores the disk and any copy protection encrypted on it. Instead, WILDCARD takes a snapshot of memory in your Apple® II. Now you can make back-up copies of protected software with the push of a button. Features 0 Hardware copying device... push button operation. 0 Copies 48K memory resident software, most 64K software. CO No programming experience or parameters necessary. 0 Backs up DOS 3.2 and DOS 3.3 disks. O Creates DOS 3.3 unpro- tected and autobooting disks. 0 Copies become accessible for alterations. 0 Simple, easy-to-use software included. WILDCARD Utility Disk 1 also available, featuring: 0 Automatic program compres- sion and BRUN file maker. 0 Multiple programs can be — _ 0 WILDCARD lives in any slot. Undetectable by software. O Produces autobooting disk placed on the same disk. 0 Recreates basic files to load and save. in 2 minutes. 0 Files can beplaced ona hard 0 CopiesareDOS3.3compatible. disk.....and more. Software is not copy protected. System requirements: Apple II Plus with 64K and DOS 3.3 or Apple le. Franklin Ace also supported. *Wildcard does not operate with CP/M® or other microprocessor based software. Order direct from East Side Software Co., 344 E. 63 St., Suite 14-A, New York City 10021, 212/355-2860. Please include $3.00 for handling. Mail and phone orders may be charged to MasterCard and VISA. N.Y. State residents add sales tax. Dealer inquiries welcome. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The WILDCARD is offered for the purpose of enabling you to make archival copies only. Under the Copyright Law you, as the owner of a copy of acomputer program, are entitled to make a new copy for archival purposes only and the WILDCARD will enable you to do so. The WILDCARD is offered for no other purpose and you are not permitted to utilize it for any other use, other than that specified. Apple Il is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Locksmith—trademark of Omega Microware, Inc. Nibbles Away—trademark of Computer: applications. WILDCARD $129.95 WILDCARD Utility Disk1 $30.00 we are not PIRATES We simply prefer software that is NOT LOCKED UP! If you do, too, then subscribe to hardczre computing Market your software. Copy-protect your disks. Normalize altered D.0.S. Use bit-copiers to make back-ups. PLUS Game, Utility, Business, Educational program listings. For serious Apple computerists! - Hee do: 1 =” 2S Bes sig i a . zo. G8 Bos g°8 H ao 3 z > = i a3 28 Oo om & | a8 i ea @ me fs? a S 23% Bs °53 d as fi & az 33 H an 22s 1 es 33 | aes Ho 3s8 3 i @ 68s $8 2 & Be ces 2 2 5 & g | 14 containing up to 400 accounts to meet the needs of his particular business and can configure the system to include the journals that are appropriate for his methods of operation. Transaction en- try, posting and printing is done on demand by selecting the appropriate commands from a menu. Several commands can be selected, entered in a Run Queue, and automatically executed in the order in which they were entered. The system comes with a three ring, loose leaf owner’s manual and four disks — a data entry disk, a posting disk, a maintenance disk and a training disk that contains a complete set of books for a grocery store. A set of backup program disks can be purchased from BPI for $30.00. Any number of separate sets of accounting records can be maintained by the system. A six character company code is associated with each data disk and must be supplied before any pro- cessing is done. This prevents transactions of one business from being entered as transactions of another business. DOCUMENTATION An Introduction (Chapter I) describes the equipment requirements, the Apple II Keyboard, disks used in the system, how to activate the system and how to copy a data disk. Chapters II, IIL, IV describe the programs and commands contained on the three program disks. Each com- mand is explained and practice transactions are provided for entry in the Corner Grocery Store books. Chapter V provides an explanation of some special system procedures — estimating disk space requirements, disk full procedures, expansion of disk space for Accounts Receivable, and procedures for handling multiple checking accounts within the same business. Samples of all led- gers and reports for the Corner Grocery Store are provided in Appendix A. Appendix B des- cribes special programs which can be changed to further customize the system and some error conditions and the proper response to these conditions when they occur. There is no index but the logical arrangements of the chapters and a detailed table of con- tents fairly well offset this deficiency. DATA ENTRY AND FILE MAINTENANCE The Data Entry Disk provides a well designed Menu from which the user selects the journal in which he wants to enter transactions. Since special screens are provided for each journal, data entry is very easy and efficient. For example, when entering transactions in the cash disburse- ments journal, the computer automatically keeps track of all check numbers. For groups of trans- actions that have the same date, the date need be entered for only the first transaction in the group. Checks to employees for wages are entered with an “E” prefix which causes the checks to be posted to the payroll register as well as the General Ledger. Checks entered with a “V” pre- fix are automatically posted to the Accounts Payable Ledger. All dollar amounts are entered without decimal points or commas as the computer enters these automatically. The left pointing arrow is used to back up and correct any part of the entry. Listings of transactions entered can be obtained by selecting the appropriate listing command from the data entry menu. The File Maintenance disk contains the programs for setting up the system, creating a set of accounting records, editing ledgers and journals, listing payees, customers and vendors, initializ- ing disks, and several other useful programs. It is not necessary to reboot the system to transfer control from one disk to another. Transfer of control from the data entry disk to either of the other two disks can be accomplished without rebooting the system. PROCESSING AND PRINTING RECORDS AND REPORTS The posting disk provides another well designed menu from which commands may be selected to post transaction journals to the ledgers, obtain a profit or loss statement, trial balance or balance sheet or to perform end of month, end of quarter, end of 4th quarter or end of fiscal year procedures. The disk also contains commands to copy a data disk or to check disk space. This system does not maintain a file of all year-to-date transactions on the data disk. Some in- formation is removed from the disk when end-of-month procedures are performed and, if this in- formation is retained, it must be retained in hard copy form. Before end-of-month procedures can be performed, four questions are displayed and must be answered affirmatively before end- of-month processing can proceed. If the affirmative answers are also truthful answers, appro- priate transaction listings will have been produced and a backup disk will have been made. Reports and listings produced by the system are nicely formatted and use standard termin- ology. Professional accountants, officers of financial institutions and other users of business financial statements should feel quite comfortable with these. CONCLUSION This package is not perfect but I haven't seen one that comes close to being as good as the BPI General Ledger Accounting System for the Apple II Computer. If you are in the market for an accounting system for a small business or professional office, have a look at this one. I don't believe you can beat it for the price. 0 Peelings II FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM II by D.R. Jarvis Southwestern Data Systems PO BOX 582 Santee, California 92071 619-562-3670 $64.95 Unlocked Rating: A+ Reviewed by: W.K. Daugherty INTRODUCTION The Apple II user who is looking for a program to keep simple cash receipts and disbursements records and who also wants a few bells and whistles thrown in should have a look at this package. It will store up to fifty files on each disk. Each file may contain up to 200 in- dividual records. Files can be searched on any of five fields, records can be edited or sorted, and checks can be written, reports and lists may be printed by the programs on the single disk that comes with this system. The system is entirely menu driven. DOCUMENTATION The paper cover user’s manual includes twenty-six very well writ- ten pages of information on how to use the programs. There is no tutorial and there are no examples. Not everything that one needs to know is contained in the manual but the information in the manual combined with the information displayed on the various screens used in the programs should be more than adequate for most users. DATA ENTRY AND FILE MAINTENANCE Financial Management II works with a simple six field record. The fields are #, date, item, explanation, amount, and code. The # field is a four character field that will accept only a check number, a “D” for deposit, a “C” for charge, and “M” for memo. Anything can be entered into the item field but since the checkwriter program gets the payee from this field, it should be used to indicate to whom a pay- ment is made or, in the case of a deposit, from whom the payment was received. Up to 100 item macros may be defined and coded with up to three characters by the user. When one of the macro codes is entered in the item field, the éomputer automatically fills in the full item name. For example, if Dr. John Paul Jones was defined as an item macro and coded JP4J, entry of JPJ in the item field would cause “Dr. John Paul Jones” to be written into this field. Furthermore, as many as 100 code macros can be defined and coded. Entry of one of these in the code field causes the entire name to be written in the code field. For example, if medical was defined and coded “M”, entry of M in this field would cause “MEDICAL” to be written into the code field. A code macro can also be tied to an item macro so that after the item field has been completed, the code field is automatically completed. The computer will automatically fill in the next check number when “return” is hit or the check number can be typed into the field by the operator. If two or more transactions have the same date, the date need only be entered for the first transaction. Any part of a date can be repeated by hitting return. Data can be entered from the key- board or loaded from a disk file. Records may be edited while still in memory or after they have been written to the disk. In addition to transaction data, a budget may be entered using the Budget Manager Program. The amount fields may be totaled by code Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 using the Account Auditor Program and a report showing actual am»unts in comparison to budgeted amounts and the variances can be displayed or printed. To write checks, the record file is loaded and the user selects the checks to be printed and sends them to the printer. In testing this pro- gram, I discovered that the system does not know the difference be- tween checks and deposits. If you select a deposit as an item to be printed, your faithful Apple II will follow your instructions and print the information as if it were really a cash disbursement. PROCESSING RECORDS AND PRINTING REPORTS Transactions entered into the system are stored in a file whose name is specified by the user at the time the file is written to the disk. Using the name of a month to designate the transaction file for that month works very nicely and makes file names easy to remember. Monthly summaries by code can be stored as an audit file. Printing is accomplished by selecting the print option from the appropriate menu. The reports are attractively arranged and are automatically headed with the report name, account name, address and telephone number. The latter three items are entered when the system is initially set up. CONCLUSION This system does only a few things but what it does, it does very well. Data entry is simple and efficient. The documentation is good and the reports are attractively arranged. 11 |) IN STACKS OF ARTICLES ? CONSIDER HIRING A LIBRARIAN FOR ONLY Quick Search Librarian (QSL) makes it easy to enter and edit your journal references, search for articles, and print or sort a list of articles using the 48K APPLE* Il + computer. Important QSL features include: Two keystrokes select any one of 255 keywords or any one of 255 journal titles. Four lines available for listing authors, title and/or comments Powerful data base screen editing, copying and merging features Average search speed is 50 articles/second with multiple cri- teria; average sorting speed is 40 articles/second when sort- ing on 3 fields. Typically, 1000 articles can be stored on a single disk. Includes sample data base and tutorial for Scientific American, 1981 VISA or Mastercard orders accepted. QSL manual available sep- arately for $5. (Price of manual deductible later with purchase of QSL software.) Add $1.50 for shipments made in U.S.A. * Trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 2 fia INTERACTIVE MICROWARE, INC. Bagg £.0- Box 771, Dept. 5 UE siate College, PA 16801, (814) 238-8294 15 THE PROGRAMMER by Ron Kelly Advanced Operating Systems 4300 West 62nd Street Indianapolis, IN 46206 800-428-3696 $199.95, manual $29.95 64K, Z-80 card with CP/M Operating System, MBASIC/GBASIC Unlocked Rating: C+ Reviewed by: Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION The Programmer is another of a new type of program that has ap- peared over the last year; it writes BASIC programs based upon in- puts from the user. in the September/October 1982 issue of Peelings Il the program The Last One was reviewed. The Programmer is very similar to The Last One in many areas: both the good and the bad. The Programmer uses menus and submenus (just as does The Last One) from which the user selects the options and features desired to be in the final program. Screens are created, files are set up, forms are generated, all in accordance with a program outline or flowchart (user designed, preferably on paper). Once all the steps are com- pleted, The Programmer will generate the BASIC program. One ma- jor difference (besides the price) between The Programmer and the version of The Last One reviewed is that The Programmer is used in the CP/M environment and hence requires some additional hardware and software that The Last One does not. But just as with The Last One, the user must know the flow and requirements of the program to be generated even if he doesn’t know the BASIC coding necessary. An 80 column display card is not necessary but if not available some of the various screens will be difficult to interpret (there is no display SYSGEN routine as in The Last One). Two drives are not necessary but will save disk swapping. If your printer works with CPIM, then it should work with The Programmer and all programs generated. The Programmer will allow the use of graphics by the generated program. Microsoft's GBASIC will be required for many graphics functions. Microsoft MBASIC is required for The Programmer to operate. An Applesoft version (DOS 3.3) is now available. According to Advanced Operating Systems, the only significant difference from the CP/M version reviewed here is that only the standard Apple 40 column screen is used. The price is the same. DOCUMENTATION The manual supplied with The Programmer is a standard-sized 3-ring binder with 104 typeset pages. There is a Table of Contents plus an excellent index. There are appendices containing additional but necessary information. The manual starts out with a tutorial lesson that creates a mailing list program. This comprises about half the manual. The next section is a discussion of each menu/submenu option. As was the case with The Last One’s manual, the tutorial was complete but then the rest of the manual leaves you hanging with little guidance to creating your own programs. There are four ad- ditional sample programs that are provided but with the inherent 16 power of a program generator this is insufficient. At the very least, more samples should be provided covering the most common uses of BASIC programs. Otherwise much experimentation is required as well as considerable effort to learn the use of the program generator. The manual did not agree with the program operation in several cases and appeared to be for an earlier version. This caused some en- try errors which subsequently prevented the tutorial program from working correctly. No manual updates have been published to date. LEARNING TO USE THE PROGRAMMER Once all the files are placed on a formatted CP/M disk and some blank formatted disks created, you can begin to use the program. It should be noted that the two versions of BASIC must be supplied by the user. When the program was started it would not run properly; both disk drives were accessed and a low beep was heard after each access of drive B: Since The Programmer was written in MBASIC, it was possible to list the program to see if there was an error (there was; three of them in fact). Once the program was debugged (changed .DTA to .DAT three times) the program was run suc- cessfully. One is forced to wonder how a program is marketed with such a drastic error that it won’t even run. (In discussions with Ad- vanced Operating Systems they reported that this bug was only in the initial release versions and has been corrected. There was only one error; it should have been .DTA so the one occurrence of .DAT was changed. Corrections were sent to all registered owners). The tutorial lesson covers every aspect of the creation of the mail- ing list program. Two text files, one random and one sequential, are created to contain the data. The Programmer is oriented to create a data base program but files are optional and so you should be able to create any type program (if you can figure out how to do it). When responding to the various prompts from the menus and submenus there are few chances to correct errors except by CTRL-Ciing and reRUNning. This is unfortunate and causes considerable learning frustration. To edit a line of BASIC from a menu option requires that the entire line, including the line number, be retyped. The MBASIC edit function is not supported. Unlike The Last One, very little program structure is dictated by The Programmer. Hence the user must specify and remember line numbers where various modules will reside. This increases the flex- ibility but can cause some problems if you aren't consistent in your programming. Dig out the paper and pencil again. Both upper and lower case entries are accepted at yes, no, or drive prompts. All screens (in 80 columns) are nicely laid out. There is no DiRectory option within The Programmer so that if you give the program to be created the same name as an existing pro- gram on the disk then goodbye old program, There is no warning that the program already exists and a chance to confirm the name. There is an option which will show all the text files which have been created for use by the current program but again there is no way to tell before creation whether or not there is a file with the same name in use by another program. A sort routine is available that will sort on selected fields. The discussion in the manual is weak and a tutorial would help the novice. CREATING YOUR OWN Before running The Programmer to create a program you will have to lay out the flow of your program to the smallest detail. For example: CLEAR SCREEN POSITION CURSOR AND PRINT A MENU DISPLAY Peelings II ASK FOR INPUT CHECK INPUT BRANCH ON SELECTION . do the necessary steps for . each selection etc. Each of the steps in your program will probably be a menu or submenu option. You then supply the necessary actions or text or whatever is to be done.Generally each step will turn out to be a single line number and sometimes more. If the step doesn’t exist, there is an option to write your own BASIC lines or set up your own mathematical expressions. The flow development will consume the bulk of the time required to create a program in this manner. Granted that no actual BASIC programming is required, it still requires that you know and understand how BASIC programs function AND how to use The Programmer to implement your flow. Should you leave out a step or two and find that your program doesn’t run quite the way you wanted, there is no easy way to use the previously entered menu selections. With The Last One you can get a printout of the flowchart used to aid in reentering all the steps. The Programmer forces you to add your own program lines directly into the final program or to start over in The Programmer with only your paper program flow to aid you. Both methods leave much to be desired. Although The Programmer is unlocked, a form of un- necessary protection prevents you from accessing the text files that contain your program lines before it is converted into a stand-alone BASIC program. The filename extension is “P. 1” which with the spaces after the “P” causes CP/M to ignore all characters after the “P” and so will not find the file. This means you can’t read or modify this file without some trickery (use a disk zap program to change the filename extension). This is obviously for advanced programmers, not the novice. SUMMARY In the reviews of The Last One it was pointed out that the generated programs will be difficult to edit or modify since many variables are used. This is also true for The Programmer and means that a user may have to spend quite a lot of time analyzing the final program before making changes. There is an option for adding com- ments during program creation but the variables will still be undocumented. Just as with The Last One, there is significant power in The Pro- grammer, but utilizing that power will require that a novice learn to use it just as if he were to learn a programming language. If the user already knows BASIC, then using The Programmer might simplify programming efforts for some purposes but he will still have to learn in depth how to use The Programmer. Neither of these tasks will be trivial but will require a lot of devotion. For the novice the time might be better spent to learn BASIC sufficiently to write the program from scratch without benefit of a program generator. Certainly a knowledge of BASIC is desirable if the program requires you to debug it before you can even use it. One thing both approaches re- quire is a knowledge of programming logic. So far no program generator has been able to replace that. There is a lot of capability in the program to create many varied types of programs but doing so is not as easy as the ads would have you believe. The Programmer does alleviate the actual writing of lines ‘of BASIC but still requires some programming knowledge. Simple data base or any input/output type of programs can be handled somewhat efficiently by a program generator but the more com- plicated the desired program is the more difficult it will be to create it by using The Programmer. (1 Readable Apple Books Microbook: Database Management for the Apple Il® Ted Lewis At last, here is an afford- able way for you to have a database management sys- tem on your Apple Il. Writ- ten in Pascal, this program can be used for almost any application involving the storage and retrieval of in- formation. The entire source listing is included if you want to type the pro- grams, or you can buy the diskette with the programs on it. Book: ISBN 0-88056-072-X 320 pages $19.95 Book & Diskette: ISBN 0-88056-156-4 $34.95 dilithium Press P.O. Box E (800) 547-1842 (503) 646-2713 v Use our toll free number for VISA or M/C orders or to learn the store nearest you that carries our books. | | | | | Beaverton, OR 97075 | | | | 32 BASIC Programs for the Apple® Computer Tom Rugg and Phil Feldman Chock full of programs with practical applications, educational uses, games and graphics. Each chapter fully documents a different program which is ready to run on your Apple com- puter. You can type the pro- grams in yourself, or buy a diskette for the Apple II, Ap- ple DOS 3.3 with the pro- grams on it. Book: ISBN 0-918398-34-7 304 pages $19.95 Book & Diskette: ISBN 0-88056-151-3 $29.95 Name Basic BASIC-English Dictionary Larry Noonan This unique dictionary gives you an alphabetical listing of all commonly used BASIC commands, state- ments, operators, and spe- cial keys, then translates them for use on the Apple, PET, and TRS-80 com- puters. Translating from one BASIC to another is a breeze, as examples and explanations abound. ISBN 0-918398-54-1 150 pages $10.95 Cl Please send me the book(s) I have indicated. | understand | may return for a full refund it — Microbook—book $19.95 — Basic BASIC-English Dictionary $10.95 _— 32 BASIC Programs for the Apple Computer —book & diskette C1 Enclosed please find my check which includes $1 to cover handling. $. lam not satisfied. Microbook—book & diskette $34.95 32 BASIC Programs for the Apple Computer—book $19.95 $29.95 Address CiPlease send me City, State, Zip Mail to: dilithium Press, P.O. Box E, Beaverton, OR 97075 your FREE catalog BRAINFOOD Volume 4, Number 2, 1983 17 C.O.R.P. by Alexander Maromaty and Gary J. Scotto C.O.R-P. is no longer being marketed by Dynatech Microsoft- ware Inc., and distribution rights have reverted to the authors. This is a review of the previously available version (and any product remain- ing in circulation) and may not necessarily be relevant to any future releases. If nothing else, perhaps this is a good example of how not to market a product. Reviewed by Michael L. Weasner INTRODUCTION The Combined Operating Re-entrant Programming Data Base Management System, better known as C.O.R.P., is a program gen- erator program to create a data base management system of your own. The use of C.O.R.P. to create other than a data base type of program is not impossible but difficult since it is strictly data file ori- ented. C.O.R.P. runs on a standard 40 column display and the pro- grams it creates are 40 column display only. The C.O.R.P. system consists of a manual in a padded 2-ring binder, a Program disk, and two Utilities disks. The disks are locked and a protection device (inserted into game I/O socket) is required for all but utilities Disk Il. A 90-day warranty is provided and backups can be purchased for $25. Although the manual says “each disk will be $25” the authors have advised that it is really $25 for a backup of the system. This is just the first example of the confusion that has been generated about the C.O.R.P. system. Three addresses are mentioned in the documentation accompanying the program; just where does the user go for help? A final “Confusion Factor” that some readers may have noted is the price and what the system in- cludes. Since starting to review the C.O.R.P. system in the spring of 1982, it has gone through several changes. First, there was just C.O.RP.; a $235 package which included a Diagnostic Disk. Next came C.O.R.P. Il: C.O.R.P. plus a Demo Disk and a Utility Disk but it cost $425. Then the price was reduced to $250 but the Diagnostic Disk was removed from the package. Now we have this configura- tion: $295 for the program disk plus two utilities Disks. The Demo Disk and the Diagnostic Disk are extra cost items: $20 and $30, re- spectively. By the time you are reading this who knows what the con- figuration may be. If you purchased C.O.R.P. at the $425 price tag, you should definitely be trying to get a refund of part of your money. DOCUMENTATION The manual is an 84% X 6 inch, 91 page tutorial on the use of C.O.R.P. It covers every aspect of C.O.R.P. from the creation of data entry screens to file manipulation. A similar manual of 43 pages dis- cusses the utilities disk. An added manual of 10 pages (in a different typeface) covers the Utilities Disk II. Alll are in the one binder. A chap- ter of the main manual is devoted to the Diagnostic Disk which is not included. Just another Confusion Factor. The way C.O.R.P. is struc- tured the information provided in the manual is generally sufficient although it should be rearranged; the discussion of how to change the system characteristics should have been presented at the start. BOOTUP Before starting to use C.O.R.P., you must insert a software pro- tection device into the game paddle port. This device will not work in any game port expander and due to the configuration of my Apple, 18 was difficult to insert. The use of the device seems contrary to the in- tended user of C.O.R.P. (the non-experienced user with a business who has no desire to go poking around inside his Apple). Further, since the software itself is locked, a business may find itself without its system software (but not its generated programs). Having both forms of protection on a software product seems to me to be the height of piracy paranoia and reduces the usability of C.O.R.P. Once the device is inserted correctly and C.O.R.P. is booted, a long series of musical notes is heard while the device is checked and then a long series of title pages. Both seem out of place in a business environment. LEARNING TO USE C.O.R.P. Once the main menu appears, the use of C.O.R.P. is straight for- ward. Options available from the menu include: create a data entry program, create a data printing program, initialize a work disk, catalog a disk, sort/delete/copy data files, and update master file. One can also modify system characteristics from the main menu. The first step is to initialize a work disk in drive #2. (Two drives are required.) This disk will have, what is claimed to be, a standard DOS and is bootable without the hardware device. You then select the data entry program creation option. If you are the type who does not read the manual in its entirety before running the software, you will very quickly learn to hate bells. When you get to page 29 in the manual, you will be told how to silence the bells (with the change sys- tem characteristics option), but once in the create program mode (following the manual) you are stuck with bells (and lots of them). Again this seems inappropriate for business oriented software. Were the bell not just a Ctrl-G but a more subdued sound then it might be less disconcerting. You create your data entry screen by first entering an optional heading which will appear centered and in INVERSE. Next you enter each field name and field type at the desired location on the screen by specifying a screen line number from 1 to 9 or A to I (18 lines maxi- mum). The types of fields are alphabetic, numeric, anything, and dollar, and includes the option of specifying a decimal point position. No standard date field is available. A “key” field is specified which is the field used for rapid searches. Non-field text (instructions, titles, etc.) can also be included on this screen. Two minor irritations were noted in the screen entry mode; single letter responses required the RETURN key to be used instead of a single keypress entry method (true throughout C.O.R.P. and the generated program) and when specifying a screen line for entering text or data, the right arrow key must be used to move the cursor one position to the right (to get off the line number) before entering your text. Why the cursor was not placed here to begin with is unknown. If you forget and don’t move the cursor one position to the right, then your entry will seem to be not accepted but in fact will appear briefly on your data entry screen minus the first character. C.O.R.P. checks for invalid field type en- tries and editing of the screen can be done simply. It is possible to clear the screen and start over. After entering the name of your data file, you must determine the maximum number of records this file will ever have. You can select the largest file possible by pressing RETURN (based on the number of characters in each record and the disk capacity; limited to one file per disk per data base) or you can enter a smaller number. To give the user an indication of the maximum number, the manual says to count the data field characters on your screen. Since C.O.R.P. knows this number it should have been displayed. In fact, in this lat- est version, it is displayed briefly but scrolls off the visible area by the time you are prompted for the number of records. Peelings II - S&H Software Is Speeding up The Appie'! 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Here’s what the critics say: e John Mitchener of PEELINGS II: “The speed increase with TDE is awesome and is probably worth the price of the program alone, without all the other features.” Chuck Carpenter of INFOWORLD: “Results ina disk that will boot — very fast — in any Apple system.” “To achieve speeds even faster than a hard-disk drive, combine TDE with Axlon’s RAMDISK 320K Memory System. Val Golding, Editor of Call. example of how utility and appl possible system configuration.” Clark Congleton of The Apple Orchard: “The Quick-load capabilities will make this package attractive to anyone who spends a lot of time at the keyboard.” Amper-Sort/Merge (A-S/M Il) works up to 1000% faster than even VisiCorp’s VisiFile program...$69.95 bid “UNPROTECTED,” to allow user-modification to 8", RAM disk, or hard-disk rives. A-S/M II is the fastest “file clerk” you've ever met. Of all the sort utilities developed to manage Apple ][ data files none does the job nearly so fast as A-S/M Il! A-S/M I's new features include: S&H's superfast VisiFile index sort (callable from within VisiFile for effortless use), an equally fast S&H random access file index sort, and parameter file editing. A-S/M Il can sort/merge from one to five unsorted files into a single file of up to 125K in size per disk. A-S/M II's “package” includes: utility disk, training disk, step-by- step instruction manual, and S&H’s new Supercat/menu. A-S/M II's system requirements: 48K Apple ][ with ROM or RAM card or 48K Apple }[+ with DOS 3.3 and Disk Il. -A.P.P.L.E.: “(TDE) stands as a shining ition programs take into account every S&H Dealer inquiries invited. mH Software Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc Availabe from your dealer. Mail Order: Send checks to S&H Software, $8 Van Orden Rd., Harrington Park, NJ 07640. 201-768-3144 Credit Cards: Phone Cybertronios International at 212-592-2069 (Overseas Airmail: Add $10.00 postage and handling.) You are now finished with your part of the program generation; C.O.RP. will proceed to create your program and some file informa- tion. The program is written to disk as a sequential textfile, EXECed back into memory by C.O.R.P. and then SAVEd as an Applesoft BASIC program on your work disk. To verify that the program works you can either leave C.O.R.P. and RUN your new program or execute it from the C.O.R.P. main menu. In either case, after some setups by the computer, you are pre- sented with the data entry screen you created. It is a nice looking screen with the following file data presented: percent full, maximum number of records, number used, and number left. You can A)dd, S)earch, or Qhuit. In the add mode the program will check for improper data entry and will not accept incorrect entries. This check is slow and makes for a long data entry session. Colons and commas can not be en- tered. The specified field length is shown with underlines. When entering data you can backup to a previous field until you press RE- TURN after the last entry. At that point your record is accepted with no opportunity for confirmation. Since the program is modifiable, you could insert one, but it’s curious as to why it was left out. When entering dollar amounts you must include the decimal point even though it appears on the screen. You must add a trailing “00” instead of the computer adding them for you if you were to press RETURN after entering whole dollar amounts. If you did not turn off the bells by reading ahead in the manual, you will have lots of them in your program. If they had been turned off, your program would run totally silently. To search on the “key field” you enter at least two characters of the field and then press RETURN for all of the remaining entries on the screen (specifying other fields will narrow the search). Shortly, the record will be displayed which matches your entry (no timings were done due to the lack of a large enough file in the proper format but it seems to be relatively fast). A record-by-record search from the be- ginning of the file can also be done. Once the record you want is dis- played, you can either modify or delete the entry, or continue the search. Modification is done by stepping through the fields, reenter- ing data as required. Records can be deleted but no opportunity is given to verify your choice. Should a search fail to find the record, you are returned to the initial screen with no other indication such as a message saying “NOT FOUND.” Quitting the program updates the files and then tells you to insert a disk to be booted in drive #1. If you don’t want this message displayed, you will have to modify the created program but no REMark statements are added to the pro- gram, so this job will be time consuming. One final point: the manual says the “Termination Code” should be “0000” and if it isn’t, refer to the appendix. Well, it wasn’t, so I re- ferred to the appendix to see what “0005” (the code received when I quit) was. It stated that “O005” was the normal termination code for the data entry program and should not appear on any other gener- ated program. The manual also says that “YES” or “NO” must be en- tered at the various prompts when in fact a “Y” or “N” is sufficient. These are just indications of the inconsistencies created by the lack of a stable product. If you are following the tutorial in the manual, you have now reached the information needed to silence all those bells you have been hearing. The change system characteristics option allows you to silence the bell, change the printer parameters, change the disk slot, or reboot. All changes are for that C.O.R.P. session only and must be reentered after each reboot of the Master Disk. It would have been nice if these changes were made permanent. Other functions you will learn about at this time are CATALOGing the disks, verify- ing or deleting the data files, and backing up your programs and files. The CATALOG function on the main menu is useful but should have also been available whenever C.O.R.P. asks for a filename on the disk. You will have to remember or write down the filenames. The data entry program just created does not have a printout 20 capability so you have to create a print program to get hardcopies of your data. That is the next step in the manual. Right off you discover the value of a CATALOG option at a prompt; C.O.R.P. asks you for the master file name for your data file. If you can’t remember it, you have to quit C.O.R.P. and reboot it (oh no, all those bells again, and now you have to reconfigure again. . something needs changing here). If you guess at a filename, this is the name your print program will look for when it runs. C.O.R.P. does not check for it on the disk before continuing. The manual warns you of this but that doesn’t make it right. You next select report header options (page numbering and dating), column width, and what fields to print. It is possible to cross-reference files, i.e., use code from one data file and print the en- tire name from another. This is a very useful feature for large and multi-use data bases. When entering the fields to print, you are shown all your fields from the data entry program and the current column for printing. You are warned when you exceed the width selected but can ignore it if planning to use more than one line for each record. User-defined fields such as calculations can be used. You can elect to have the computer format the report or do it your- self; the computer will format the fields in columns but you specify where user-defined fields are to be printed (total at the bottom of the page or end of the report, etc.). Once you complete the field entries, they can be edited in case of error. A good feature is selectively in- serting or omitting fields based on certain criteria («, =, >) for alpha- numeric data fields. Give your program a name and C.O.R.P. does its thing again. The print program can also be executed from within C.O.R.P. I thought the program had hung when it finished reading the directory file and didn’t do anything for nearly a minute. The confusion results from a flashing “** LOADING DIRECTORY **” message on the screen. Apparently, there is some garbage collection occurring but the message is misleading. A worthwhile feature of the print program is a “transaction file” for keeping the values of user defined fields, i.e., you can keep a file of the current balances in your inventory program. The manual says this file is optional but as it turns out, it is mandatory. The print program asks if you want to print and update the transaction file or just update it. Being able to just update the file is good if, for example, you need to log the end of the day balances and don’t want a hardcopy. Since I selected computer formatting during the print program creation, I was surprised to discover that my reports were messed up. The spe- cified line length was exceeded with the data that was to be at the end of the line overprinting the beginning of each line. This is obvi- ously not acceptable. (I should point out that these print program comments are from an earlier version of C.O.R.P. The version received for this review would always give me a FATAL ERROR DURING PROGRAM GENERATION message and necessitate starting over. At first I thought maybe I had entered too many characters for a field image — there is no error trapping here — but after restarting and entering the correct number of characters, it still failed. Following the manual very strictly, I was never able to get this version of the print program gen- erator to work.) After you have finished the tutorial portion of the manual, it will be apparent just how easy it is to create data base entry and printout programs. In general, the features offered within your programs will be more than adequate for most requirements. But some comments are necessary about areas of C.O.R.P. that limit its usefulness. The manual does not indicate any limit to the number of fields per record but as there is only one screen available for data entry you will be limited by how much information you put on this screen. A properly formatted screen should be able to contain sufficient fields for most data base uses. The maximum size program that can be generated is also not described but is certainly limited since parts of C.O.R.P. and your program must be resident in memory at the same time. How much of C.O.R.P. is co-resident is unknown. (None of the other pro- Peelings II TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPECIAL OFFER (See Cards Below — Offer Expires 1 April 1983) Use this Toll-Free Number For MasterCard and Visa Orders 1-800-345-8112 1-800-662-2444 (Pennsylvania only, Peelings |||. HARDWARE EVALUATION SUBSCRIPTION CARD (SPECIAL OFFER EXPIRES 1 APRIL 1983) Please (] Enter my subscription to PEELINGS II 0) Renew 1 Year (9 issues) 2 Years (18 issues) - $24-007$ 18.95 OC $38.00 $36.00 $ 33-95. OC $68.00 Mexico; APO; FPO C South America; Europe $4800 $45.95 O $92.00 CO All Other. SEO $54.95 CO $110.00 SAMPLE COPY [] USA $4.00 [J ELSEWHERE $8.00 st of programs is basically the same as for the es. The utility programs are for creating a menu ‘eating and executing a form letter or simple ata file merger program, and a powerful editor adard C.O.R.P. options are also available ? and DELETE files, and change system char- 0 way to silence the bells on this disk which re- amount of noise from the utility programs. 1 program will simplify the running of the vari- by C.O.R.P. by displaying a menu of items and ie selection. Using the menu creation program natory. You first enter the heading desired for screen and then enter the program names and program does not allow duplicate codes which king this type of error. Disk functions can be in- d to quit the menu requires a reboot option or a \ould have been a quit to Applesoft option but user modifiable, it can be inserted. Programs obeC.O.R.P. created. This menu program can HELLO program and other non-C.O.R.P. gen- ded onto this disk. on program is a simple line-oriented editor to a simple printout program that will use the data data file. Editing functions like add, delete, in- are available. Calculations on existing fields are entry was possible using the Videx Enhancer II ising other lower case entry methods (this is not nual). Editor commands were converted auto- Payment must accompany order and must be made in US funds and drawn on US bank — ae ni GUS ‘se. Print margins must be specified but other COMPANY INVITED must be changed with the change system char- ADDRESS city STATE ZIP couse [a | Charge my [J VISA C MasterCard Signature. ) ™ Card # Expires h make checks payable to PEELINGS II, INC. SOFTWARE AMD HARDWARE EVALUATION Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. SUBSCRIPTION CARD (SPECIAL OFFER EXPIRES 1 APRIL 1983) Please [] Enter my subscription to PEELINGS II 0 Renew 1 Year (9 issues) 2 Years (18 issues) OUuSA.. . - -$24-00-$ 18.95 O $38.00 C1 Domestic 1st - $3600 $ 33-95 C0 $68.00 Mexico; APO; FPO CO South America; Europe . - $48.00 $45.95 C $92.00 0 All Other. . . - SBFOO $54.95 C1 $110.00 SAMPLE COPY [] USA $4.00 (] ELSEWHERE $8.00 NAME DEALER INQUIRIES COMPANY INVITED ADDRESS cITy STATE ZIP COUNTRY Chargemy [1 VISA O MasterCard Signature. Card # Expires Payment must accompany order and must be made in US funds and drawn on US bank — make checks payable to PEELINGS II, INC. ‘Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. APPLE Il +™ ny normal 128K card specifically for other 128K cards 3 a diskette cted Programs ($15 option) vare extra) od nited time only! lng combo for you! ‘ademark of Apple Computer. Inc fh, Inc. Made In USA ABACUS [?] Enterprises i p peripherals 21 You are now finished with your part of the C.O.R.P. will proceed to create your program 2 tion. The program is written to disk as a seque: back into memory by C.O.R.P. and then SA’ BASIC program on your work disk. To verify that the program works you can and RUN your new program or execute it fro menu. In either case, after some setups by the c sented with the data entry screen you createc screen with the following file data presented: p number of records, number used, and numbe S)earch, or Qhuit. In the add mode the program will check fo and will not accept incorrect entries. This che: for a long data entry session. Colons and cor tered. The specified field length is shown wi entering data you can backup to a previous fie TURN after the last entry. At that point your re no opportunity for confirmation. Since the pi you could insert one, but it’s curious as to why entering dollar amounts you must include thi though it appears on the screen. You must add of the computer adding them for you if you we after entering whole dollar amounts. If you did by reading ahead in the manual, you will have program. If they had been turned off, your prog silently. To search on the “key field” you enter at le the field and then press RETURN for all of the the screen (specifying other fields will narrow th record will be displayed which matches your e done due to the lack of a large enough file in th seems to be relatively fast). A record-by-recori ginning of the file can also be done. Once the ri played, you can either modify or delete the e search. Modification is done by stepping throu ing data as required. Records can be deleted given to verify your choice. Should a search f you are returned to the initial screen with no ot! a message saying “NOT FOUND.” Quitting the files and then tells you to insert a disk to be boc don’t want this message displayed, you will created program but no REMark statements < gram, so this job will be time consuming. One final point: the manual says the “Terr be “0000” and if it isn’t, refer to the appendix. \ ferred to the appendix to see what “0005” (the quit) was. It stated that “0005” was the norma the data entry program and should not appea ated program. The manual also says that “YES tered at the various prompts when in fact a “) These are just indications of the inconsistencic of a stable product. If you are following the tutorial in the mi reached the information needed to silence all been hearing. The change system characterist to silence the bell, change the printer parame slot, or reboot. All changes are for that C.O.F must be reentered after each reboot of the Mast been nice if these changes were made permai you will learn about at this time are CATALO‘ ing or deleting the data files, and backing up yo The CATALOG function on the main menu is t also been available whenever C.O.R.P. asks { disk. You will have to remember or write dow The data entry program just created does 20 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS SPECIAL OFFER (See Cards Below — Offer Expires 1 April 1983) Use this Toll-Free Number For MasterCard and Visa Orders 1-800-345-8112 1-800-662-2444 (Pennsylvania only) BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 385 LAS CRUCES, N.M. POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE Peelings ||| Ormmomasm, EVALUATION 2260 Oleander Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001 BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST CLASS PERMIT NO. 385. LAS CRUCES, N.M POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE HARDWARE EVALUATION 2260 Oleander Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES grams reviewed to date indicate this size either.) There is also no dis- cussion of multi-disk files. You are probably limited to single disk files although your data files can reside on the same disk as your program or on a separate disk in either drive. OTHER FEATURES C.O.R.P. currently supports the following printers from the change system characteristics option: 1. Centronics 779 2. Centronics 704 3. Silentype 4. Qume/Diablo 5. Other/Unknown If selecting the last option you will have to define your printer codes for expanded print, speed, formfeed, clear buffer and more. All codes must be in decimal. I was unable to find the proper combinations or options to get the print program to work totally correctly with my Ep- son MX-80. It should be noted that there is no indication of