"You get to see your code in the context of the code around it. That’s not something that many systems offer you."

- Bruce Johnson

Download audio file (ClarionFolklore-3.mp3)

• Download original (44 meg)
• Download 32kbps version (13 meg)
• Right-click, download the link.
• 47 Minutes Long

Hosts

Ken Wragg

• http://www.agedcaresoftware.com

Bruce Johnson

• http://capesoft.com

Stu Andrews

• http://clarionfolk.com

Some Of The Things We Talk About:

• Clarion 7
• Conversion from Clarion 7 to Clarion .Net
• The Entry Level Barrier to Programming is low. Yet Programming is much harder.

So that we continue to grow the podcast, I have a question for you.

What questions/topics would you, the community, like discussed in the podcasts?

Please feel free to leave a comment, or go the Contact page and use one of the many methods :)

One percent of the Clarion Community is “New Blood”.

ONE PERCENT.

The vast majority of voters have been using Clarion for a _long_ time.

As the next pic shows, just over 60% of voters have been using Clarion for fifteen-plus years.

Sure, It’s only a small section of the Clarion Community who would vote (and read) this blog, but still it’s indicative of what most people have told me over the years.

We’re an old community. We’ve been around for a long time.

What worries me is the tiny TINY percentage of voters that have had five or less years. Four voters. That’s right. Four.

I realise there are plenty of other factors that go into _reading_ polls, but I’m taking this at face value. We need new blood. We need people who are brand new, people who will ask the crazy questions, who will bring new ideas, who will annoy and cajole and be frustrated and make the community better and bigger and all things bright.

Oh wait, it’s not THOSE kind of results.

We held a poll here on Clarion Folk asking the question, After The New Clarions Are Released, What Will You Be Using?.

Clearly, people are looking forward to Clarion 7 (see Images #1, #2). When reading the results, it must also be remembered that the poll allowed multiple choices to be selected. I suspect that quite a few people would have selected Clarion 6, 7 and .Net. I would have.

This brought about some interesting conversation in the Non-Recorded podcast (listen to the actual podcast for details on that particularly tragedy, heh).

In a big corporation, moving code to another version can be an absolute nightmare. For example, you might have a system that consists of many dlls, over ten years old, and having had at least a dozen people working on it over it’s lifetime. There’s a reason why we call this a dinosaur. A Behemoth, and not a pretty one.

In this situation, it’s hard to imagine the effort it would take to port to a new version. On the other hand, the challenge payout would be huge. Imagine successfully porting a system like that!

The last topic I’d like to cover is that of the Other results.

The first point of interest (to some of us, I mean, stats are cool for _some_ people aren’t they?) is that there are five “Clarion 5ish” results (see Image #3). Six if you count the “Plus older versions” item.

The big corporation discussion above ties directly to this.

The other point of interest is that there’s not a great deal of range. I mean, we’ve got previous versions of Clarion, VS, Windev, and Notepad.

What the?

We are limited, I’m pretty sure there are a lot more dev environments out there. I guess desktop development is in the forefront of the general community’s mind. Also, there’s the fact that only a few people voted, so this is only a small section.

I realise to, that the question was directed to the Clarion Community.

It’s a topic I’m going to go into more detail in the coming weeks. The scope of vision that exists within our community, and others.

So there you go. Thanks for reading!

Are there any other Dev Environments you would add to this?

“What I like about being able to keep those windows open <<the Template files>> .. as long as they’re open I still have undo.”

- Dave Harms

Download audio file (ClarionFolklore-2.mp3)

• Download original (44 mins, 41 meg)
• Download 16 bit version (44 mins, 7 meg)
  • Right-click, download the link.

Hosts

Bruce Johnson

• http://www.capesoft.com

Dave Harms

• http://www.clarionmag.com

Stu Andrews

• http://clarionfolk.com

Some Of The Things We Talk About:

• Clarion 7
  • Templates
  • Appgen
  • Using different Clarion versions within the 7 IDE
  • Real Undo

Anyway, please take time to vote. I’ll keep the poll up for 4 days (stopping Friday).

Right now, this very instant, people have got their grubby mitts on the Clarion 7 AppGen and are playing with it. The folk at Soft Velocity must be breathing erratically right now :)

I’ll be adding more to this post as the information comes in.

QUOTES

(Newest at Top)

“In a procedure with a menu tree, you can expand and contract and the tree.  This is FAR easier to use than before as there was little visual indication as to which tree node you were in.  In C7, there is no doubt.”

“In C6, to get  to the global application properties, you have to press the global button on the toolbar, then press Extensions. In C7, you select the Proerties tab and then press Actions. The dialog opens near instantly.”

“C7 is tough on enforcing rules. Got an invalid use of PRIVATE procedure in a 3rd party template used in it.”

“At the top is the drop down list of ALL the public methods in the class I’m in right now.  I can jump right to the one I want!” (In Embeditor)

“The one thing that is going to take some getting used to is the close window buttons.  They are in different locations.”

“When there are no embeds in the procedure, the prev/next filled embed buttons are disabled.  When you have one, they become enabled.”

“Window designer has those nifty little alignment helpers.”

“Compile and gen is significantly faster.”

“.. out of the box, its VERY nice.”

“first feed back… the template registry loads VERY quickly!”

FEEDBACK

• Template Registry loads very quickly.
• Interface is sleek, modern (As expected).
• Speed:
  • School App - Adding Global Variable, 17 seconds down to 10 seconds for a Regen and Compile.

Image by niallkennedy via Flickr

Imagine this.

It’s an ordinary day. Minding your own business, coding away, you are a little annoyed when the doorbell buzzes. It disturbs the sanctity of your workplace.

Of course, when it’s Larry Page standing in your doorway, there are only two reactions.

1. Punch him in the face because you are one of the wierdos who doesn’t like Google, or,

2. Invite him in.

Larry knows your name. He’s been watching you, watching what you’ve been doing. He and his Crew are very interested in Clarion, and you are the man to push interest into actual development.

He gives you 6 months and the insane financial backing of Google to write an App in Clarion .Net.

What App would you create with Clarion .Net?

Back on the 14th I posted $10 Million To Make A Clarion .Net Ad.

There was a great response, both here and on the newsgroups. Following is a summary of your thoughts:

BLOG

Murray Gillespie

• It was a simple ad, “Ease of use vs Price”, that sold Clarion to him.

Richard Rose

• Language. Appgen. Smart Approach. Templates. Integration. Code Generation (from Dave).
• Talk about global companies who are using it. Mentioned largest construction project in the world (www.alrahabeach.com).

Image via Wikipedia

Dave Harms (http://clarionmag.com)

• “Templates” while the world was saying “Objects”.
• Quote: “We’ve been doing code generation since Bill Gates was in short pants. And now we do it for .NET.”

Gustavo Pinsard

• “From novice to expert, to customer satisfaction.”
• True language. Strong code generation capabilities built into the IDE.
• Screenshots:
  1. A piece of Clarion source.
  2. Appgen in action.
  3. Image picturing satisfied Customer.
• Programmers / Developers AND Customers / End Users.

Paul MacFarlane

• Do a World Tour.
• Give out Subscriptions.
• Training Class, in two halves.
  1. Demo the program, Instructor creates an App.
  2. Attendees create their own Apps.

NEWSGROUPS

Paul MacFarlane, Mark Riffey, Pratik, Myself

• Conversation about the Intangibility of Advertising.

Andy Morgan, Dave Harms, Jeff Slarve, Richard Rose, Myself

• Conversation about Trial Versions, Time Limit, Usage Counters.

Pratik

• Hold a conference next to MS Visual Studio’s next one.
  • “Clarion: Be productive .. Be Profitable.”

Paul MacFarlane, Richard Rose, Andy Morgan

• Conversation about World Tour, User Groups.

Art Bonds, Myself

• Pirate jokes. Because no conversation is complete without them.

There you have it. If I’ve left anything out, please let me know in the comments.

This was a fantastic exercise. I’m going to continue down the same vein.

QUESTION: What would you like me to ask the Community next?