OK, somebody said it; the secret's out!

Pick is a "primitive file processor" with
one simple file type where everything
be string; it uses delimiters from the 60's,
and the only math is "you can think of
a record as a row." You can do some
relational-esque things with it, and
repeat values, too. BASIC, dictionary,
query language... I miss anything?

Pick is not a dbms, and Dove is not a soap.

The questions seem to be how Pick differs
from a [relational] dbms (something our
friends in cdt may be enticed to reveal) and
the importance of those differences in the
real world, which I think we can figure out.

-- frosty

Originally posted by Frostalicious



Are you saying the differences in perception in the market place and in
academia - (that relational is cool and Pick is more or less defunct,
and often apparently debunked without a fight) - is important or
unimportant?


--
Posted via http://dbforums.com

"mikepreece" <member31023 (AT) dbforums (DOT) com> wrote

YES! That's exactly what he is saying.
BobJ

Thanks, Bob... couldn't have said it better, myself. =`:^>

It's not important to me; it's very important to the theorists.
Except that Pick is cool, and not defunct. It is what it is.
You can build an application with it. You can make that app
work. You can balance your financials, and do everything
that's really important. You just can't call it "Relational,"
nor, technically, a DBMS. That was my first impression of
Pick about thirty years ago, and it hasn't changed.

Looking back, I want to retract one thing that I said, though:
it's "'Zest" that's not a soap.

-- frosty

"frostalicious" <frostyj (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote:
Sorry bud, but discussions like this are a little self-gratifying. It
doesn't matter what we can or can't do with the tools we have. There
is no documentation, no marketing, and little interest in integrating
with the technologies that the mainstream world finds important at
this moment in time. These factors contribute to the demise of our
field of specialty. It's a spiral into oblivion that's obvious to
everyone. It's not important to be right, cool, superior, cost
effective, easy, efficient, or any of those other adjectives we
associate ourselves with - if we don't address the real problems we
need to find another way to make a living and/or plan for retirement.

It's my somewhat optomistic belief that any one of the MV vendors
could create the popular surges required for us to make at least a
heroic last stand. Unfortunately I don't see enough cajones or money
at any of the vendors to really make this happen. Take a look at
humble Cache' for an example of how some marketing smarts can turn
around an entire industry. Unless and until one or all of the vendors
actually decides that they WANT to make money and keep this industry
alive, it aint going to happen.

Tony

My sentiments are echoed by those who have come before...

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." - Oscar Wilde
"I find nothing more depressing than optimism." - Paul Fussell
"The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum." -
Havelock Ellis

"frostalicious" <frostyj (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote

[snip]
I get the distinked [sic] impression that many CDT regulars as well as
IT consultants and people in the halls of acadamia (nuts anyone?),
influenced by people like Fabian Pascal, are able to go around
debunking Pick without being called upon to back up their criticisms
with anything resembling fact. It stinks. Bad odour indeed. High time
decovers were taken off debunk and hung on defence for an airing.

Mike Preece wrote:
It's this word 'debunking' that gets me... If they say, "It's not
relational,"
but that only debunks the claim that Pick is relational. I don't have a
problem admitting it's not; I don't even want it to be. It's better that I
know it's not, because I might decide that it's just not rigorous enough
for me to waste any more of my time with. (Except, if I was going to decide
that, I would have done it... let's just say "many" years ago.)

Have you seen delight, yet?

-- frosty

Originally posted by Frostalicious



Funny you should ask...



I was travelling through India (Varanasi actually) in late '84 and
experienced something similar to a great white light while feeling that
the top of my head was lifting off allied to a tremendous feeling of
wellbeing, that life, the universe and everything was absolutely
beautiful - and all of this happenned while I was sitting cross-legged
on my bunk one morning after a shower in a travellers hotel without aid
of any intoxicants or substances. Maybe I was just coming down with some
weird tropical thing though.



Haven't seen anything like the delight I saw then recently. For the past
"I don't know how long" I've found I've been getting up on the wrong
side of...


--
Posted via http://dbforums.com

Originally posted by Tony Gravagno



ummm... There is some documentation. I'ld be lost without my
Pick Pocket Guide (Copyright JES & Associates, Inc.) There are also
EPICK manuals, and I'm sure there are others out there.



There is very little marketing. There is already a thread dedicated to
discussing how little marketing there is.



Some of us are interested in trying to force an integration with the
mainstream world (see my 2 threads trying to get a report to create a
PDF record).



------------------

That said, one of the users walked into the office the other day and was
surprised that I had a manual. He thought that this company was the
only company ANYWHERE that used jBase (or PICK like products).


--
Posted via http://dbforums.com

mikepreece wrote:
<snip>

string handling and storage tools available in the market today. In
order to even emulate the basic string handling tools RD had to create
a specific VB component to emulate these dataBasic tools. Along the same
lines the AQL/English/Uniquery etc. query language beats SQL six ways to
Sunday in its power and simplicity. With the available connectivity
tools on the market, it provides us with an advantage in both speed
of development, agility in modification and reduced complexity in
acomplishing complex tasks. I plan to take advantage of this as long as
I can. I know it sounds like I'm preaching to the choir, but if these
humps are the competition, we obviously have an intelectual advantage as
well.

Patrick, <;=)

P.S. You can move a large load with a plane, but it’s just not a
functional as a helicopter.