|
.dbf
The .dbf file extension represents the dBase database file. The file type was introduced in 1983 with dBASE II. The file structure has evolved to include many features and capabilities. Several additional file types have been added, to support data storage and manipulation. The current .dbf file level is called ''Level 7''. The .dbf format is supported by a number of database products. Overview The original dBASE database was known as Project Vulcan and was started by Wayne Ratliff in 1978. At the time the file that held the data was a simple table that could have data added, modified, deleted, or printed using the ASCII characters set. By 1985 ''PC Magazine'' described its file format, .dbf, as "a de facto standard" for other software. As the product became more popular .dbf was expanded, and additional files were added to increase the capabilities of the database system. Despite dBASE being an IDE (integrated development environment), a database system, a compiler, and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
DBase
dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a Form (programming), forms engine, and a programming language that tied all of these components together. Originally released as Vulcan for PTDOS in 1978, the CP/M port caught the attention of Ashton-Tate in 1980. They licensed it, re-released it as dBASE II, and later ported it to IBM PC computers running DOS. On the PC platform in particular, dBase became one of the best-selling software titles for a number of years. A major upgrade was released as dBase III and ported to a wider variety of platforms, including UNIX and OpenVMS, VMS. By the mid-1980s, Ashton-Tate was one of the "big three" software publishers in the early business-software market, along with Lotus Development and WordPerfect. Starting in the mid-1980s, several companies produced their own variations on the dBase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
XBase
xBase is the generic term for all programming languages that derive from the original dBASE (Ashton-Tate) programming language and database formats. These are sometimes informally known as dBASE "clones". While there was a non-commercial predecessor to the Ashton-Tate product (Vulcan written by Wayne Ratliff), most clones are based on Ashton-Tate's 1986 dBASE III+ release — scripts written in the dBASE III+ dialect are most likely to run on all the clones. History of the X Ashton-Tate always maintained that everything relating to dBASE was proprietary, and as a result, filed lawsuits against several of the "clone" software vendors. One effect of this action was to cause the clone vendors to avoid using the term "dBASE": a trademark term held by Ashton-Tate. This gave rise to the creation of the generic term "xBase" meaning "dBASE or dBASE-like." A suggested name that narrowly failed was "*base" (pronounced "star base" and an Homage (arts), homage to Vulcan and ''Star Trek'') ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Command-line Switch
A command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interacting with software via commands each formatted as a line of text. Command-line interfaces emerged in the mid-1960s, on computer terminals, as an interactive and more user-friendly alternative to the non-interactive mode available with punched cards. For a long time, a CLI was the most common interface for software, but today a graphical user interface (GUI) is more common. Nonetheless, many programs such as operating system and software development utilities still provide CLI. A CLI enables automating programs since commands can be stored in a script file that can be used repeatedly. A script allows its contained commands to be executed as group; as a program; as a command. A CLI is made possible by command-line interpreters or command-line processors, which are programs that execute input commands. Alternatives to a CLI include a GUI (including the desktop metaphor such as Windows), text-based menuing (including DOS S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Endianness
file:Gullivers_travels.jpg, ''Gulliver's Travels'' by Jonathan Swift, the novel from which the term was coined In computing, endianness is the order in which bytes within a word (data type), word of digital data are transmitted over a data communication medium or Memory_address, addressed (by rising addresses) in computer memory, counting only byte Bit_numbering#Bit significance and indexing, significance compared to earliness. Endianness is primarily expressed as big-endian (BE) or little-endian (LE), terms introduced by Danny Cohen (computer scientist), Danny Cohen into computer science for data ordering in an Internet Experiment Note published in 1980. Also published at The adjective ''endian'' has its origin in the writings of 18th century Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift. In the 1726 novel ''Gulliver's Travels'', he portrays the conflict between sects of Lilliputians divided into those breaking the shell of a boiled egg from the big end or from the little end. By analogy, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Borland Database Engine
Borland Database Engine (BDE) is the Windows-based core database engine and connectivity software behind Borland Delphi, C++Builder, IntraBuilder, Paradox for Windows, and Visual dBASE for Windows. History Borland’s Turbo Pascal had a "database" Toolbox add-on, which was the beginning of the Borland compiler add-ons that facilitated database connectivity. Then came the Paradox Engine for Windows – PXENGWIN – which could be compiled into a program to facilitate connectivity to Paradox tables. The first DLL-based connectivity engine was ODAPI (Open Database API). It represented Borland’s attempt to centralise connectivity in its suite of applications that included the brand-new Paradox for Windows 4 and Quattro. With version 4.5 / 5.0 of Paradox for Windows, this database engine was crystallised as IDAPI. In 2000, Borland introduced a new SQL driver architecture called dbExpress, which deprecated BDE SQL links technology. In 2014, Embarcadero removed the BDE installer fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Wildcard Character
In software, a wildcard character is a kind of placeholder represented by a single character (computing), character, such as an asterisk (), which can be interpreted as a number of literal characters or an empty string. It is often used in file searches so the full name need not be typed. Telecommunication In telecommunications, a wildcard is a character that may be substituted for any of a defined subset of all possible characters. * In high-frequency (HF) radio automatic link establishment, the wildcard character may be substituted for any one of the 36 upper-case alphanumeric characters. * Whether the wildcard character represents a single character or a String (computer science), string of characters must be specified. Computing In computer (software) technology, a wildcard is a symbol used to replace or represent zero or more characters. Matching wildcards, Algorithms for matching wildcards have been developed in a number of recursion, recursive and non-recursive varietie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Digital Research, Inc. CP/M is a disk operating system and its purpose is to organize files on a magnetic storage medium, and to load and run programs stored on a disk. Initially confined to single-tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors. CP/M's core components are the ''Basic Input/Output System'' (BIOS), the ''Basic Disk Operating System'' (BDOS), and the ''Console Command Processor'' (CCP). The BIOS consists of drivers that deal with devices and system hardware. The BDOS implements the file system and provides system services to applications. The CCP is the command-line interpreter and provides some built-in commands. CP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ashton-Tate
Ashton-Tate Corporation was a US-based software company best known for developing the popular dBASE database application and later acquiring Framework from the Forefront Corporation and MultiMate from Multimate International. It grew from a small garage-based company to become a multinational corporation. Once one of the "Big Three" software companies, which included Microsoft and Lotus, the company stumbled in the late 1980s and was sold to Borland in September 1991. History The history of Ashton-Tate and dBASE are intertwined and as such, must be discussed in parallel. Early history: dBASE II (1981–1983) In 1978, Martin Marietta programmer Wayne Ratliff wrote Vulcan, a database application, to help him make picks for football pools. Written in Intel 8080 assembly language, it ran on the CP/M operating system and was modeled on JPLDIS, a Univac 1108 program used at JPL and written by fellow programmer Jeb Long. Ashton-Tate was launched as a result of Georg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze the data. The DBMS additionally encompasses the core facilities provided to administer the database. The sum total of the database, the DBMS and the associated applications can be referred to as a database system. Often the term "database" is also used loosely to refer to any of the DBMS, the database system or an application associated with the database. Before digital storage and retrieval of data have become widespread, index cards were used for data storage in a wide range of applications and environments: in the home to record and store recipes, shopping lists, contact information and other organizational data; in business to record presentation notes, project research and notes, and contact information; in schools as flash c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Integrated Development Environment
An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, and a debugger. Some IDEs, such as IntelliJ IDEA, Eclipse (software), Eclipse and Lazarus (software), Lazarus contain the necessary compiler, interpreter (computing), interpreter or both; others, such as SharpDevelop and NetBeans, do not. The boundary between an IDE and other parts of the broader software development environment is not well-defined; sometimes a version control system or various tools to simplify the construction of a graphical user interface (GUI) are integrated. Many modern IDEs also have a class browser, an object browser, and a class diagram, class hierarchy diagram for use in object-oriented programming, object-oriented software development. Overview Integrated development environments are designed to maximize progra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
