> Eric: STACKS ON THE WEB...
Alain: This subject has several major threads to it.
> Eric: Ok, i read the browser configuration idea
> and it sounds really cool ...
Alain: This is the easiest option of all. It is the
same trick that allows stuffit-Expander to unstuff
".sit" URLs, and Acrobat Reader to be used when the
URL ends with ".pdf". Nothing more, or less, than
that.
> Eric: ... except for one thing,
> most people are dumb which is why we use
> point and click technology
Alain: The above translates into configuring one of
the preferences of Netscape, namely "Applications".
> Eric: (yes, chimpanzees could be trained to use the
> internet. Scary?)
Alain: If a chimp can do it, then any person with a
normal-IQ should be able to do it too!
> So when i saw the stacks online i was impressed.
> Unfortunately I did not follow/see/understand the
> technical details. Are they scripted entirely in js?
> Partly? Not at all? Are they exported from HC?
Alain: They are un-modified HyperCard stacks. What you
are doing is telling your browser that your local copy
of HyperCard will handle any URL that ends with
".stak"
> Eric: I am curious about the mechanics because -
> barring further paralytic attacks and really
> yesterday was without doubt the most paralyzed
> i've ever seen the net ... i do think that the
> future of hypermedia is on the internet.
Alain: I wholeheartedly agree, Eric. There are many
reasons, of course, but the main one I suppose is the
fact that we are dealing with a new communication
medium (together), instead of merely consuming
multimedia wares by our selves (alone). Let us not
forget Marshall McLuhan's prophetic words concerning
the far-reaching impacts of new (communication) media.
> I think eventually we _could see metaTalk or an
> xTalk derivative as a serious competitor for JS:
Alain: This is another alternative to
stacks-on-the-Web, completely different from the
first. This is likely to take the form of a
multi-platform FreeCard stack, scripted in FreeScript,
instead of burdening the application with these
extras. So says Anthony and Uli, I believe. This is
where the talk about 'streaming' comes in.
Alain: I have recently proposed yet another suggestion
for making stacks available on the web, namely the
export stack to HTML/CSS/JS trick. My suggestion was
flatly dismissed by FreeCarders, but warmly welcomed
by several people on the HC-list. So you know where I
am going to go with that one, eh!
>Eric: 1) From what I hear JS has a lousy rep
Alain: In terms of security, or user-friendliness, or
cross-browser difficulties, or all of the preceding?
> 2) xTalk is no more complex than BASIC
> - and thus is a potential mass market.
Alain: I believe that this is one of the founding
ideas behind HyperTalk, in the first place. How
appropriate!
> Eric: The more I get into it the more
> similarities i see between it and
> our favorite descendant of Pascal...
> (which i am dabbling in ...
Alain: It is my understanding that HyperTalk was
indeed inspired by Pascal.
> Eric: ... my un-accelerated 68030 ...
Alain: Ouch!
> Well will a dialect of xTalk ever get real arrays?
> There is an XCMD out there and I know MT allows
> associative arrays (whatever that is) but i would
> like to have a nice array as a standard feature.
> I do not think that is much to ask for. Is it?
Alain: Arrays, and native database functionality too.
:)
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