
       BACKGROUND
  A database program is a program that manipulates lists of 
facts. It can store information about your friends & enemies, 
customers & suppliers, employees & stockholders, students & 
teachers, hobbies & libraries. It puts all that data about your 
life and business onto a disk, which acts as an electronic filing 
cabinet. Then it lets you retrieve the data easily. It can 
generate mailing lists, phone directories, sales reports, and any 
other analyses you wish.
  It's called a database program or database management system 
(DBMS) or information retrieval system. The terms are synonymous.

   File-cabinet jargon
  In an old-fashioned office that lacks a computer, you'll see a 
filing cabinet containing several drawers. One drawer's labeled 
CUSTOMERS; another drawer's labeled EMPLOYEES; another drawer's 
labeled SUPPLIERS. Each drawer contains alphabetized index cards.
  For example, the drawer labeled CUSTOMERS contains a card about 
each customer; the first card might be labeled ``ADAMS, JOAN''; 
the last card might be labeled ``ZABRONSKI, JILL''. The first 
card contains all known information about Joan Adams: it contains 
her name, address, phone number, everything she bought, how much 
she paid, how much she still owes, and other personal information 
about her. That card is called her record. Each item of 
information on that card is called a field.
  If the card is a pre-printed form, it allows a certain amount 
of space for each item: for example, it might allow only 30 
characters for the person's name. The number of characters 
allowed for a field is called the field's width. In that example, 
the width of the NAME field is 30 characters.
  Each drawer is called a file. For example, the drawer that 
contains information about customers is called the customer file; 
another drawer is the employee file; another drawer is the 
supplier file.
  The entire filing cabinet ___ which contains all the 
information about your company ___ is called the database.
                                             A sample file
                             Here's a file about amazing students 
in the School of Life:
Last name: Smith                        First name: Suzy
Age: 4              Class: 12
Comments: Though just 4 years old, she finished high school 
because she's fast.

Last name: Bell                         First name: Clara
Age: 21             Class: 10
Comments: The class clown, she never graduated but had fun 
trying. Super-slow!

Last name: Smith                        First name: Buffalo Bob
Age: 7              Class: 2
Comments: Boringly normal, he's jealous of his sister Suzy. 
Always says "Howdy!"

Last name: Kosinski                     First name: Stanislaw
Age: 16             Class: 11
Comments: He dislikes Polish jokes.

Last name: Ketchopf                     First name: Heinz
Age: 57             Class: 1
Comments: His pour grades make him the slowest Ketchopf in the 
West.

Last name: Nixon                        First name: Tricky Dick
Age: 78             Class: 13
Comments: The unlucky President, he disappointed our country.

Last name: Walter                       First name: Russy-poo
Age: 44             Class: 0
Comments: This guy has no class.
                             That file consists of seven records: 
Suzy Smith's record, Clara Bell's record, Buffalo Bob Smith's 
record, Stanislaw Kosinski's record, Heinz Ketchopf's record, 
Tricky Dick Nixon's record, and Russy-poo Walter's record.
                             Each record consists of five fields: 
last name, first name, age, class, and comments. The age and 
class fields are narrow; the comments field is very wide.

                               Database programs versus word processing
                             Like a word processing program, a 
database program lets you write information, put it onto a disk, 
edit it, and copy it onto paper.
                             In a word processing system, the 
information's called a document, consisting of paragraphs which 
in turn consist of sentences. In a database system, the 
information's called a file (instead of a document); it consists 
of records, which in turn consist of fields.
                             Since a database program resembles a 
word processor, a word processor can act as a crummy database 
program. A good database program offers the following extras, 
which the typical word processor lacks. . . . 
                             A good database program can 
alphabetize, put information into numerical order, and check for 
criteria. For example, you can tell it to check which customers 
are women under 18 who have light red hair and live in a 
red-light district, make it print their names and addresses on 
mailing labels in zip code order, and make it print a phone book 
containing their names and numbers. As you can see, database 
programs are very potent and can be nasty tools for invading 
people's privacy!
                 PFS
  Most database programs are hard to use. In 1980, John Page 
invented the first easy database program. He called it the 
Personal Filing System (PFS). It ran on Apple 2 computers. He 
developed it while sitting in his garage.
  He showed the program to two friends: Fred Gibbons and Janelle 
Bedke. The three of them tried to find a company willing to 
market his program, but no company was interested, so they 
decided to market the program themselves by forming a company, 
Software Publishing Corporation.
  The program became very popular. Software Publishing 
Corporation became a multi-million-dollar corporation. It 
developed improved versions of PFS for the Apple 2 family, Radio 
Shack models 3 & 4, Commodore 64, Mac, and IBM PC. Today, the 
fanciest version of PFS is Professional File, which runs on the 
IBM PC.
  The company also invented a word processor, whose IBM version 
is called Professional Write. It works well with Professional 
File. Discount dealers sell Professional Write for $142; when you 
buy it, you get Professional File free!
  You can write a memo by using Professional Write and build a 
mailing list by using Professional File. Then use those programs 
together to print personalized copies of your memo to everybody 
on your mailing list.
  Software Publishing Corporation has invented an even easier 
program, called PFS First Choice. It includes the easiest parts 
of both Professional File and Professional Write. It also 
includes spreadsheets, graphics, and telecommunication. It's 
simple to use and cheap: $159 list, $76 at discount.
  In 1988, John Page and Janelle Bedke got bored and quit the 
company, but Fred Gibbons and the rest of his staff are hanging 
on. Although they still publish Professional File and 
Professional Write, they no longer publish PFS First Choice. 
Instead, PFS First Choice is published by Spinnaker, which pays 
Software Publishing Corporation a 16% royalty.
                                                        Q&A
                                         Inspired by the PFS 
series, a new company called Symantec developed a similar 
program, called Q&A.
                                         At first glance, Q&A 
seems to just imitate the PFS series, since Q&A uses almost the 
same commands and keystrokes as the first IBM version of PFS. But 
Q&A understands many extra commands also, making Q&A much more 
powerful than the PFS series. Q&A handles just two topics ___ 
databases and word processing ___ but very well! In the entire 
history of mankind, Q&A is the most useful program ever invented! 
It's fairly easy (almost as easy as the PFS series), and it's so 
powerful that it can handle the computing needs of almost all 
businesses.
                                         Versions Symantec 
started selling version 1 of Q&A in 1985, versions 1.1 and 2 in 
1986, version 3 in 1988, and version 4 in 1991. All those 
versions use MS-DOS, which requires that you buy an IBM PC or 
clone.
                                         Symantec has developed a 
Windows version, but don't buy it. Everybody who's tried it hates 
it. It requires too many keystrokes and mouse-strokes per task. 
The DOS version is much easier and swifter. Also, the Windows 
version consumes 20 megabytes of your hard disk. I'll discuss the 
DOS version.
                                         RAM Q&A requires at 
least 512K of RAM. Q&A runs much faster if you have at least 640K 
of RAM. To run version 4 of Q&A with version 4 of MS-DOS (which 
consumes lots of RAM), you must have at least 640K.
                                         Hard disk Version 4 
requires a hard disk. If you don't have a hard disk, you must buy 
an earlier version instead and use two floppy drives.
                                         Cost Version 4 lists for 
$399. A New York discount dealer, called Harmony, sells it for 
just $189 (plus shipping). Phone Harmony at 800-441-1144 or 
718-692-2828.
                                         Programmable Q&A is 
programmable, which means you can teach it new tricks.
                                         For example, I taught 
Q&A how to run my business. Now Q&A handles all my mailing lists, 
orders, shipping labels, income, expenses, and taxes. Q&A runs my 
entire life!
                                         I also used Q&A to 
create the master index at the back of this book.
                                         Gigantic files Q&A can 
handle gigantic files. Each file can contain up to 256 megabytes. 
You can divide the file into as many records as you wish and 
divide each record into as many fields as you wish.
                                         In version 4, each 
record can be as long as you wish, and each field can contain up 
to 32 kilobytes. Earlier versions restrict each record to 16 
kilobytes and each field to 1.6 kilobytes.