Talk:HyperCard

What? HyperCard inspired the creation of HTTP?
"... inspired the creation of both HTTP itself and JavaScript"

HyperCard inspired the creation of WWW itself, not HTTP, which is the transfer protocol.

Considering what the WWW is today, it should be put in bold letters at the beginning of the article, not in a cryptic allusion hidden in the "Legacy" section.

Given the interest in software patents, there is no mention here of Paul Henckel's claim to have been the "inventor" of the Hypercard idea. See his patent us4,736,308 and his article in Comms of the ACM, Debunking the Software Patent Myths, June 1992, Vol 35, No 6.

The Hypercard was - he suggests - based on a similar but more limited card and stack version of the metaphor in his program "Zoomracks". Apple, he claims, had seen his program earlier under a non-disclosure agreement. Apple licensed the patent. He did not have much success, though, with IBM.

PL


 * I used Zoomracks (briefly) on the ST, and it was similar to HC only peripherally IMHO. Zoomracks was essentially a GUI-based dBASE with a "card filing" metaphor, which is the basis of the lawsuits. In any other way the two products are entirely unlike each other. One could safely describe Zoomracks as "a database with a card-rack interface", while, as this article demonstrates, that only describes one tiny part of HC. Personally I always considered the argument meritless, the idea of representing data on cards predates either product, and the idea of making a computer-based database look like a card has "obvious" written all over it.
 * The claim that HC inspired the web is somewhat difficult to pin down exactly without asking -Lee directly. The claim that it inspired JS appears to be a fabrication. Maury 14:41, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually the JavaScript claim can be sourced. Quoting Brendan Eich from the foreward to the 5th. Edition of Danny Goodman's JavaScript Bible: "“Java-lite” syntax. Although the “natural language” syntax of HyperTalk was fresh in my mind after a friend lent me The Complete HyperCard Handbook by some fellow named Goodman, the Next Big Thing weighed heavier,...Events for HTML elements. Buttons should have onClick event handlers. Documents load and unload from windows, so windows should have onLoad and onUnload handlers. Users and scripts submit forms: thus the onSubmit handler. Although not initially as flexible as HyperCard’s messages (whose handlers inspired the onEvent naming convention)..." from the Foreward page vii. Seems like a strong inspiration from HyperTalk. Gwernol 14:51, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I stand (well, sit) corrected -- and surprised! Well done Gwernol, I wouldn't have thought a ref would be available one way or the other, let alone such a direct one. Maury 21:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Someone added a "citation needed" to the "contentious lawsuit against Apple" mention on Zoomracks. The reference is there: It simply summarizes the first paragraph of the Zoomracks page here on Wikipedia. If you think that needs more references, I would recommend you add the "citation needed" there as well, to see what the original author has to say. Uliwitness (talk) 10:31, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Myst was originally created and published in HyperCard
I'm surprised that the Applications section doesn't mention Myst!! The original Myst for Macintosh was indeed written and published in HyperCard (using some colour add-on that I don't remember the name of). I have clear memories of hacking into the game to grab a look at the interpreted code. Cyan also made Cosmic Osmo and other previous games in HyperCard. Sbwoodside 04:59, 26 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Myst definitely was written and published in HyperCard, much to our publishers chagrin, and our delight. And if it weren't for HyperCard, we would have never gotten it done. The only bugs we had to work through were game design problems. It was a sheer delight, and very conducive to creativity. For Riven (the sequel to Myst, the publisher said they needed something they could work with more easily, but saw no reason to switch away from such a flexible platform, so we used HyperCard again, this time as a prototyping engine. Robyn —Preceding comment was added at 19:29, 8 May 2008 (UTC)


 * If anyone wants to learn more, I spent a few hours last year spelunking inside the original Myst for Mac and looking at how they did things, explaining HyperCard and Mac-specifics along the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpOdFduEM0A&list=PLaXsdjqTEdE7pFsVUvysDRFwinKXJ_jNp&index=2 Uliwitness (talk) 10:35, 31 January 2022 (UTC)


 * By the way, the color add-on Myst used was "HyperTint". Uliwitness (talk) 10:47, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

As We Do Think.
I programmed in HyperCard and loved it when it came out 1987. For me personally it was a turning point and got me all interested in multimedia - even without color, animation and video. Now I have the same feelings again when I create, script and moderate networks with Ning. But now it's even more powerful - because you can combine the power of internet with a construction kit like environment like Ning and tweak the whole thing with CSS, Javascript , PHP , AJAX , Yahoo Pipes , conference calling , video mail and chat , polls [], gadgets and widgets. Again - you don't have to be a programmer to do all that. It's like everything comes together after all those years. The tools (web 2.0), the infrastructure (many people on high speed connections) and the devices (PCs, laptops and gadgets like the iPhone ). In that sense I think HyperCard was an important step to what we have now with the World Wide Web. [] So maybe Marc Andreessen will write history again – after Mosaic  now with Ning. 

But wasn't this all foreseen already 1930 by Vannevar Bush in his essay "As We May Think" with MEMEX?  Andres1961 (talk) 00:11, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Interesting note
http://www.apple.com/hypercard/ redirects to this page. --Mwongozi (talk) 08:49, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

So HyperCard is a hypermedia system?
I've read the article; it sounds more like a programming language with point and click GUI-creator to me. I think this point and click GUI creation is called Rapid Application Development, right? Than what makes HyperCard a hypermedia system, and Visual Basic a programming language? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.126.42.203 (talk) 14:27, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

TileStack
I don't know much about it yet, but maybe somebody who knows more about TileStack can see an appropriate way to mention it in this article. TileStack will probably merit its own article eventually. --Lance E Sloan (talk) 14:50, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Paul Heckel
Is anybody familiar enough with Paul Heckel's patent claim to add something? See and. MarkMLl (talk) 22:47, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

HintBits
The article refers to a "patented hintBits algorithm". I searched the PTO and could not find this patent. Was the hintBits algorithm patented, and if so, what was the patent number? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.238.172 (talk) 22:22, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

Is macintouch RS
Looking around for form information I found an archive of macintouch articles regarding Hypercard; does macintouch meet RS requirements?--BruceGrubb (talk) 08:26, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

GAN
Hi, I haven't so much experience in the GA process, but what I've seen now is that this article won't get the GA status! The article lacks many inline citations (not only that are marked with the citation needed tag!), the actual references are not very well formated. For the bibliography could also be found more books. The redlink category isn't really good, the applications section seemed a bit short (for me). Don't misunderstand me: The article has potential, but at the moment it wouldn't pass the GA-process. My advise is to remove the GAN and make a WP:peer review before renominate the article! folding@home has the same problems a few days ago. mabdul 10:44, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I removed it from GAN, but I forgot to put in an edit summary for it. Usb10 Let's talk 'bout it! 15:13, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I also can't seem to get the date parameter on the FailedGA template to work. Usb10 Let's talk 'bout it! 15:26, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Nevermind, fixed the date. Usb10 Let's talk 'bout it! 18:55, 18 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Maybe you want to add an information about ENQUIRE - it was a similar system - said TimBL. mabdul 16:25, 25 August 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't see how I should write out a new part of the article about the similarity between HyperCard and ENQUIRE, however, I could add ENQUIRE to the Legacy section of the article where they list programs similar to HyperCard. (Don't be alarmed that I changed my signature.) Usb10 Connected? 22:46, 26 August 2010 (UTC)
 * maybe create a comparison (maybe as a seperate article, i would help) between the different hypertext systems. mabdul 23:43, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

GUI—small suggestion
GUI should be defined as Graphical User Interface the first time the term appears in the text. I'd fix it myself, but I'm not allowed. Greetings from a friendly gnome!KC 14:16, 19 February 2016 (UTC) KC 14:16, 19 February 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Boydstra (talk • contribs)
 * ✅ Thanks for the suggestion. (Also, you don't seem to be blocked and the page isn't protected so I don't see a reason not to be bold in the future :)). Opencooper (talk) 14:42, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

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Web sites from HyperCard?
Is there any way of making websites directly from old HyperCard stacks? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.217.59.229 (talk) 05:01, 10 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Yes, there was an software package called LiveCard, by Royal Software, that enabled HyperCard stacks to be available in partial form online. Source: https://tidbits.com/article/931 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewferguson (talk • contribs) 22:58, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

HyperCard - what is it?
After reading this article, I still do not know what HyperCard is/was. And I programmed computers in 1986 (!). Pictures are needed here. Zezen (talk) 23:13, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Update: I have read this in 2 minutes, and I grok Hypercard now. I suggest replacing/updating this article with the external one, especially the screenshots and musings. Zezen (talk) 23:39, 29 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Hypercard is proprietary software, thus we cannot include screenshots of it due to licensing issues. At the top of §External links is a Computer Chronicles episode hosted by Internet Archive covering Hypercard (few others found can also be found on IA here). A talk called "Wasn't HyperCard Cool?" presented by Drew Ivan at Notacon 5 (2008) covers Hypercard and usage (video also hosted on IA; talk #29) -- dsprc   [talk]  23:42, 29 March 2017 (UTC)


 * @ dsprc :
 * 1. It seems to me to be abandonware, if anything. Also, see Fair use "... whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes". Here, this WP art is for nonprofit and educational uses par excellence.


 * 2. In practice, nobody will watch these external vids just to learn what Hypercard was. As a non-specialist reader (that is one who never seen or used it), I expect to learn what it was, and why it was so special, after a 2 minutes' skim through this WP article. As I wrote above, I could not. Zezen (talk) 00:34, 30 March 2017 (UTC)


 * Still restricted under the Berne Convention; in U.S. it's 120 years (!!). See: WP:COPYRIGHT and WP:NONFREE.
 * The loper-os link is listed at bottom of EL; evidently some venture down there. Just because it's not something you'd partake in doesn't mean others won't. If article is lacking: improve it yourself. -- dsprc   [talk]  01:11, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

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Is Hypercard still going somewhere/somehow?
I know this is a forum for the article, and I apologise ab initio. I wrote a huge interactive hypercard program for medical students in the late 1980's. It is a pity to lose all of this, as is was quite powerful: quizzes, animations, interactive hyperlinks, drug database, etc. Does anyone know if this material could be ported form hypercard into a current program/application so that I could revive it?? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:3597:3400:8CF2:A5AA:1962:5C2A (talk) 01:31, 1 November 2018 (UTC)


 * There's the HyperCard Online project which has so far got ~3,500 stacks running (emulated) in the web browser. If you upload the stack there, it should be processed and uploaded so it can be run by anyone, online. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewferguson (talk • contribs) 09:14, 24 November 2018 (UTC)