4 ms·

My dream is to build a modern take of the fox/dbase family. I starting with the inner language http://tablam.org http://tablam.org Access, as concept, is grea

by mamcx 7y ago

My dream is to build a modern take of the fox/dbase family. I starting with the inner language http://tablam.org http://tablam.org Access, as concept, is great. Is exactly what many need. But it have a lot of small deficiencies that make it disliked by developers. I have used FoxPro, and it have almost all the right things instead (Fox is Access, but goooood!... except a bit less user friendly). I wish I could dedicate to build this. Is weird to me why this kind of tool have so little support?

taffer 7y ago
I really like the idea of developing a modern Access alternative, but why are you trying to create a new language? Aren't QBE and SQL sufficient? Why not something that is like a cloud SaaS version of Access, but can be extended with some procedures and later used as a GraphQL backend like Hasura?
- codeulike 7y ago
  Salesforce is (among other things) basically a cloud SaaS version of Access. And people pay a lot of money for it. See my other comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21403393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21403393
  - taffer 7y ago
    True, when I think about what I've seen, what people are building with Access and what people are building with Salesforce, there's a lot of overlap.
- mamcx 7y ago
  SQL/GraphQL are query languages. Good for that, but not for fully develop an app. FoxPro have his own language that allow mix SQL and imperative constructs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro This mean: * You code login in foxpro * And the stored procedures * And the forms * And the reports * And the script glues * .... "Just" adding SQL/GraphQL to a RDBMS is absolutely not enough. Both are too limited. For example: - Can you build a btree with SQL? No - Work with the terminal? No - Make a visual grid? No - etc Only query and maybe crud.
antod 7y ago
There was a FoxPro inspired Python tool I remember from about 10-15yrs back: https://dabodev.com/ https://dabodev.com/ A bit more coding than Access, but it was DB independent on the backend. Looks like nothing has happened on it for quite a while though.
gonzus 7y ago
If you come from the dBase / Clipper experience, then Harbour could be considered a more modern version => https://github.com/harbour/core https://github.com/harbour/core

by mamcx 7y ago

taffer 7y ago

I really like the idea of developing a modern Access alternative, but why are you trying to create a new language? Aren't QBE and SQL sufficient? Why not something that is like a cloud SaaS version of Access, but can be extended with some procedures and later used as a GraphQL backend like Hasura?

codeulike 7y ago
Salesforce is (among other things) basically a cloud SaaS version of Access. And people pay a lot of money for it. See my other comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21403393 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21403393
- taffer 7y ago
  True, when I think about what I've seen, what people are building with Access and what people are building with Salesforce, there's a lot of overlap.
mamcx 7y ago
SQL/GraphQL are query languages. Good for that, but not for fully develop an app. FoxPro have his own language that allow mix SQL and imperative constructs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro This mean: * You code login in foxpro * And the stored procedures * And the forms * And the reports * And the script glues * .... "Just" adding SQL/GraphQL to a RDBMS is absolutely not enough. Both are too limited. For example: - Can you build a btree with SQL? No - Work with the terminal? No - Make a visual grid? No - etc Only query and maybe crud.

antod 7y ago

There was a FoxPro inspired Python tool I remember from about 10-15yrs back: https://dabodev.com/ https://dabodev.com/ A bit more coding than Access, but it was DB independent on the backend. Looks like nothing has happened on it for quite a while though.

gonzus 7y ago

If you come from the dBase / Clipper experience, then Harbour could be considered a more modern version => https://github.com/harbour/core https://github.com/harbour/core