Information about Xbase

xBase is the generic term for all programming languages that derive from the original dBASE (Ashton-Tate) programming language and database formats. These are sometimes informally known as dBASE "clones". There are indicators that there was a non-commercial predecessor, although most clones are based on the dBASE commercial product.

The 'x' means the various flavors, such as dBASE, (dBXL/Arago) QuickSilver, Clipper, FoxPro, xBase++, and xHarbour. As of this writing (April 2006), the following are commercially available: Visual FoxPro is available from Microsoft, Recital from Recital Corp., xBase++ from Alaska Software, Clipper, Visual Objects (Windows 32) and Vulcan.NET from GrafxSoft, Flagship from multisoft GmbH, dBase from dBASE Inc., xHarbour Builder from xHarbour.com Inc.. Some free versions are also available, like: CLIP, the Harbour Project and xHarbour.

A developer community support for xBase that is focused mainly on Clipper, FoxPro, [x]Harbour, and xBase++ can be found here: Oasis Web Site. A comprehensive list of communities related to Visual FoxPro can be found here.

Starting around 1987, an effort began to create some sort of standard for the dBASE programming language syntax, since there were an increasing number of "clone" software products that mimicked dBASE. However, each of these products had its own unique set of supported language features and syntax. As such, it was often very difficult to move code developed with one dBASE-like product to run in another one. (This was in contrast to older programming languages such as C or COBOL where due to published official standards, carefully developed code could possibly be run in a wide range of software environments.) Ashton-Tate, however, maintained that everything relating to dBASE was proprietary, and had even filed lawsuits against several such "clone" software vendors. This gave rise to the creation of the generic term "xBase" meaning "dBASE or dBASE-like" (A suggested name that narrowly failed was "*base", and some wanted it spelled "X-base") Once Borland acquired Ashton-Tate in mid 1991 (and was apparently required to drop the lawsuits as an anti-trust related condition of the merger), such standardization efforts were given new life. An ANSI committee was officially formed, and began regular meetings in 1992. Marc Schnapp was the first chairman, and the first meeting was held at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California which was essentially the birthplace of dBASE II a number of years before. The group met on a regular basis in a variety of locations over the next few years, and representatives from most major vendors participated. But despite lip service from all the vendors on the need for a standard, no one seemed willing to change their product syntax to match that of a competitor.

In 1993, Sybex, Inc. [computer books] published the Xbase Cross Reference Handbook, by Sheldon M. Dunn, a cross reference of the most commonly used xBase languages at that time -- dBASE III+, dBASE IV, FoxPro for DOS, FoxPro for Windows, FoxPro for Macintosh and Clipper 5.1. At 1352 pages and 5.1 pounds shipping weight, the Cross Reference was hardly a handbook, but it provided the xBase community with an up-to-date, all-in-one reference manual, and addressed one of the major documentation problems that the community was facing. The software companies had decided to break their manuals into sections, separating commands from functions, etc., and splitting the [previous] manual into two or three different manuals, and the community was left trying to figure what-was-what and which manual to keep close at 'hand'. 1993 was pivotal for the xBase community because, as previously noted, Ashton-Tate had earlier sold dBASE as well as the rest of their product line to Borland and Microsoft had purchased FoxPro from Fox Software. Borland had also purchased QuickSilver to get a foot up the development ladder for a dBASE version for Windows [then 3.1]. In 1994, Borland launched dBase V for Windows and dBASE V for DOS before selling the dBASE name and product line to dBase Inc.

In recent years there seems to be a renewed interest in xBase, mostly because of a number of open source, portable, xBase implementations (listed above), and the scripting applicability of the language. While newer desk-top database tools are optimized for mouse usage, XBase has always been "keyboard friendly", which helps make scripting and meta-programming (automating the automation) easier. Meta-programming generally does not work as well with mouse-oriented techniques because automating mouse movements can require calculating and processing of screen coordinates, something most developers find tedious and difficult to debug. XBase is one of the few table-oriented scripting languages still available.

As of this writing (April 2006) xBase is available and aggressively expanded, on practically any available platform, including scripting environment such as HTML clients, ASP Servers, Windows Scripting Host, and self contained Interpreter.

External links

• [news:comp.lang.clipper Clipper Newsgroup]
• GrafX Software
• Vulcan.NET Xbase language for Microsoft .NET
• NTK Project, WIN32 Gui Framework for (x)Harbour, backward compatible with Clipper and Clip4Win.
• Xbase ( & dBASE ) File Format Description
• Xbase Appreciation

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