[newbie]database/wordProcessor

Karl Wilson khwilson at bigfoot.com
Wed Mar 7 06:46:36 UTC 2001


Hi,

I am relatively new to computers in general, I have been using Filemaker
Pro to make a living for about three years.

(waiting for the laughter to subside...)

When I found Smalltalk and Squeak I knew I had found what I was looking
for. Elegance and revolution and fun. When I saw the Alan Kay video
called "The Computer Revolution hasn't Happened Yet" I was even more
convinced. Rather than destroying the world by enabling greed to know no
bounds, computers could actually be tools for enhancing creativity and
learning and life. I started thinking maybe I really did want to strive
to be a hacker.

It has been slow going, and my enthusiasm and energy fluctuate, but I
(may have) finally gotten the courage to post a couple newbie questions.

1. I would love to be able to do in Squeak what I can do in Filemaker
(and more). I noticed a postGreSQL file on the CD, and my heart skipped
a beat, but then I realized that it must just be a way of connecting to
postGreSQL (because the file is so small). I have been very interested
in learning a "real" database, and postGreSQL seems to be a great
choice, but doesn't run on Mac OS. I am guessing it's likely it will run
on OSX, or maybe I need to learn to run Linux (so much to learn, so
little time). At any rate, Filemaker makes security and multi-user stuff
fairly easy, would Squeak/postGreSQL be a viable combo for doing the
same sort of work I am doing with FileMaker (a business database) only
more adaptable and fun? Or is this world in more of the experimental
realm right now?

2. Is there some sort of word processor in Squeak? I am starting to
figure out how to use the book Morph - maybe you have to build your own
page template and just go from there, piling up Morphs that do what you
want them to. Maybe it is just that I am not used to how things work
from a user perspective. For example, if I want to keep an address book,
do I have to create an address book, or has someone already done a good
job of it? I would love to do everything from Squeak, does this mean
that I have to build everything out of textMorphs and polygonMorphs et
al?

3. I am noticing that when I am using some other program in a window
above squeak, that Squeak responds to those mouse clicks even though it
doesn't seem like it should be active - do I have a preference set
strangely - or is this just how it is?

I know that I just need to bumble around a lot more, but any hints would
be appreciated.

Karl

PS
 
*Newbie tip of the day* - I just figured out what the "?" button in
between the "class" and "instance" buttons in the class pane is for -
extremely useful information sometimes, for getting a quick clue about
what is going on.

*Newbie anxiety enhancer of the Day* - those Morph error walkbacks sure
are long and full of stuff I don't have a clue about...





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