From: akcs.ejf@hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com (Ed Fasula)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48
Subject: Facts About SmartROM
Date: 17 Jan 93 16:40:01 GMT

The following is my "official" response to Flavio Cassetta's
posting (hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com comp.sys.hp48)
 
         }>>  Resp: 1 of 2 by flavio at cflav.sublink.org
         }Author: [Flavio Casetta]
         } Date: Tue Jan 12 1993 01:10
 
}>akcs.ejf@hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com (Ed Fasula) writes:
}> I want to sort a stack of lists by the first object.  How
}>does one do this with SmartROM?  I looked into the hidden
}>commands and there was reference to sortn, sortIDONTREMEMBER,
}>anyway only sortany and sort show-up in the index.
 
}sortany goes for you (the name should tell you something...)
 
The name tells me that command is more general than what I need.
That's why I looked at the "hidden command" sort (p.36 Hidden
Commands) first. I see listed under sort:
 
         Uses: sortany, sortr, sortre, sort$, sortsb,
         sortu, sortg, sortm
 
Well, I thought it strange that of this list only sortany shows
up in the index.  Okay, these must be listed in the User's
Guide, I thought.  No, not there either.  Perhaps these are
example programs?  No, not  in the EXAMPLES.1C directory, MANUAL
directory, or the APP.1C directory.  I think this deserves an
explanation, even if I may be missing an "obvious" direction. 
It seems Flavio Disagrees.
 
}Let's create a program sorting the list on the first element.
 
Better yet, why not create it and many other utilities and post
them with proper documentation so everyone does not need to go
through a programming exercise just to get SmartROM performing
simple tasks simply as, as JKH pointed out (in response 2 to
article #2576 at hpcvbbs.cv.hp.com in comp.sys.hp48.), James
Donnelly's Toolkit does.
 
 
}> I also got a whole bunch of programs with SmartROM (on disk)
}>and I don't know what 90% of them do. This Package is
}>confusing!
 
}As usual you don't tell us the name of the programs.  How can
}I tell you what they do if you don't tell me the name ?
 
What I should have said is I don't have the time or inclination
to go chasing back-and-fourth between the _five_ documents that
accompany SmartROM (four on disc) in order to research
intellectually simple and marginally useful utilities,
especially when they don't work (i.e. PRINT fails in recalculate
mode and 4Calc has not, contrary to the offer of support via
internet, told me why) and the documents are more focused on the
contents of the code than on the use of the program.
 
 
}The SmartROM may be confusing. Since it is not toy but a very
}complex application development platform, I can understand you
}are confused.
 
}Simple software is seldom powerful.
 
I told Flavio Cassetta that I was specifically interested in
the spreadsheet library and that I saw it as a tool for an
Engineering student.  He encouraged me to buy his package then. 
Now it seems he is using me as an example of a user who is too
simple to use his package, trying to market it as a super-
powerful at my expense.  Powerful software that is created and
documented without a thought for the user's needs is seldom
useable.  It might be unfair if I were to accuse him of being
unprofessional and greedy.  However, it is invalid and offensive
for him to patronize me (or anyone else) because of_his_ mistake
in recommending and promoting a package which is inadequate and
incomplete to the point that users (in Flavio's words) are
"confused."
 
Flavio ought not forget that it is_his_business_to offer help
and precise answers, unpadded by his personal editorials
(especially since support via internet is offered in his User's
Guide,) and with a positive attitude.  After all, living up to
his professional obligations will benefit his business and his
future endeavors.  In the meantime, I expect him to send the
manual for the spreadsheet library I have already paid for and
he promised a month ago, or refund me and any other user who may
have been mistakenly led into buying 4Calc's unsupported
"complex application development program."
                 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp48