At work I used SAS and FoxPro and liked them both very much.

I had the opportunity to sit in at a course in DB2, but when I asked
how to set up a database, that was "The IT people will do that for
you". Not good. My tasks didn't allow to sit through meetings and
suffer from delays to get things done.

Of course, all my home needs I did in FoxPro, then. What I have set
up served me excellently for about 15 years. I would very much like
to continue that, but Bill Gates has done XP in a way that using DOS
programs has nearly ceased to be fun. I'm seriously considering
a complete move to linux or BSD.

Now I am looking for a single user, relational, database with
programming language. I have a CD with Access 97, but
I don't like to turn my desk according to Bill's moods.

I have read some about SQL. This may be too large a gun, and
I did not find a simple overview of how to set up a database, how
create a stylish report, or how to read in data from, eg, a text file.

Glad for any hints,
regards,
H.

Heinz Schmitz <HeinzSchmitz (AT) gmx (DOT) net> wrote:

I use Visual FoxPro.

How about Visual FoxPro?

No, it is not. SQL makes some things very quick and easy, much
more so than record-at-a-time processing.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.

Gene Wirchenko wrote:

For home use, cost is rather prohibitive. I would consider it,
but the newest version needs WinXP, and I have still some
machine with Win98SE. And I do not like XP at all.
If Bill would guarantee Version 9 to run on all coming MS OSes,
starting with Win98, for the next 15 years, well, I might reconsider.

Presently SQL looks to me like you have to know how to drive a car
to be able to learn to drive it.

LOL

Regards,
H.

Heinz Schmitz <HeinzSchmitz (AT) gmx (DOT) net> wrote:

The latest version (9) requires either WinXP or 2000 SP 3. this
is from
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190292.aspx

You may be able to find an earlier version Out There.

Nope. It can be very simple, and fast. Some queries execute on
the order of a second. My record-at-a-time versions usually took much
longer.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.