🚀 go-pugleaf

Want my opinion on 4D?  It sucks.  Big time.  I've had nothing but headaches
from it.  Still, rumour has it that it's better than  anything else out
there.  Here are a few annoying problems:  There is no record modification
date/time field as a default.  When I transformed a 4D app to multi-user
and placed the data file on the server, I has no idea that people would
be clueless enough to work with their local data files thinking that
the data would magically appear elsewhere.  The result: two weeks worth
of data from two different people were split between two data files.  It
was a nightmare to merge to two files.  Later, I added a modification date
and time field that would update anytime a record was changed.
   Problem #2: A manager asked me to build a system to show where the
staff were in their payscale graphically.  I thought "Oh, 4D has thermometer
objects.  I can use that."  Wrong.  Thermometer objects don't work on
output layouts.  AUGH!!!!!!  I called Acius.  There response "No they don't
do that."  What?  How about documenting this bug-not-a-feature?!?
   Problem #3: I ran into a situation where a sequence number was used to
generate a unique key.  Well, seems that the current sequence number stored
in thedata file got screwed up and the value is in the middle of the
range of existing records.  And there's no way to reset this number.  I tried
looking at the data file with a disk editor but it seems this number is
duplicated many times throughout the file.  Sheesh.
  Problem #4: I wanted to print the source for all the procedures I've got.
Bzzzt!  Can't do that unless you cut and paste them all.  Turns out that
Acius sells a utility to do this.  Holy dogcow, guys!  This is really cheesy
IMHO.
  On going problem: The documentation is so cluttered that you can't find out
anything useful.  You don't document a crucial feature in the tutorial section
of a manual.  Their technical writers should be dragged into the street
and shot.
  Problem #5: What company in their right mind sends their entire tech support
staff to MacWorld and puts a message on the hotline saying to call back in a
week?
  Problem #6: I'm an engineer.  I've got a Bachelors on Computer Engineering
and a Masters in Software engineering.  I know how to debug software.  I
know how to reproduce errors so that developers can fix them.  After having
informed the tech support staff of this I still get treated like a
freshman in computer science.  These guys need to improved their social skills.

I've got a lot of gripes about the way 4D is built like the fact that
it's bad form to redraw the menu after every window change and the fact
that you can't run more than one database at a time but I'll hold off
my flames.  Acius if you're listening, hire some MacApp programmers and
a new tech support staff.
-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+ Blair M. Burtan:  bear@netcom.com bear@csa.bu.edu bear@bu-pub.bu.edu +
+ My opinions don't necessarily reflect those of Mattel Toys, so there +
+ "If it's not baroque, don't fix it."  - Beauty and The Beast         +
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+