When you are filing notes in a 'paper' office, you may often
wish that you could file the same note in more than one place
under different headings.
You have heard of the 'computer age', and think that at
long last your problem is solved.
Then someone 'offers' you the computer 'solution',
and it turns out to be the relational database, a very hostile
solution in the worst 'Take no prisoners' mode of computers
indeed.
The Literary Machine [The name is a reference to the theme
of a work of linguistic philosophy] is a program that offers
a friendlier solution.
It is written by Gunnar Sommestad, an ordinary writer
on philosophical and other topics who happens also to be
a programmer; firmly not the other way about.
To assist himself--and in turn other writers like himself--,
Gunnar has taken the Paradox 5.0 relational database 'engine'
[which Borland has generously released as freeware], and
supplied it with a purpose-designed 'front end' that enables
the writer to file notes (and recover them) under as many
separate headings for each note as he or she chooses.
The front end deliberately conceals the inner workings
of Paradox entirely from the user.
The computer-literate--or ordinary ingenious--user can
of course make the Literary Machine do more than organise
a writer's notes.
They can turn it to other, more sophisticated, purposes.
But even they are likely to appreciate a front end that
enables them, free from distraction, to concentrate entirely
upon the task in hand.
By way of special features:
(a) Headings can be designed with great flexibility.
(b) Notes are presented on the desktop as cards. The cards
can be laid out and manipulated in a number of different
ways.
As a new feature of The Literary Machine version 2000,
the cards can in particular be spread out, yet conveniently
viewed, over a 'desktop' that is of greater area than
the screen itself.
By way of limitations:
(a) The corollary of the presentation of notes as cards
is that practically--Even given the refinements of Version
2000--there is a limit on the number of notes that can be
displayed on the screen at any one time.
(b) As a Stage 1: 'Assembly of material' writer's tool,
the focus of The Literary Machine is upon the convenient
classification of notes under multiple headings, and
their speedy retrieval; not their further sorting and
ordering.
[Ie, in the usual way, for Stage 2: 'Sorting &
Ordering', the user is expected to employ an outliner;
for Stage 3: 'Editing', a text editor or word processor;
or for Stage 4: 'Layout & Presentation', a word processor or
desktop publishing program.]
So, whilst notes can be automatically date-stamped as
they are entered (and if so later found and recovered by
date), they cannot be automatically presented in date order.
Equally they cannot be automatically presented in
alphabetical order of the first word or words of the note.
However, for the purposes of assisting the writer's
transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2, Gunnar has provided
the facility that an 'ad hoc' group of notes can be
manually ordered under a special title, and re-presented
(or as needs be, converted into a textfile for export)
in the same order.
And the non-writer may also exploit the facility, as
he or she chooses, for his own less specialised purposes.
Gunnar Sommestad has released The Literary Machine as freeware.
Since 1997 he has gradually refined the original 16-bit
version, improving its features and manner of operation.
This year he has written, and released in Beta, a new
32-bit version, The Literary Machine 2000.
The Literary Machine 2000 is stable, and now undergoing
debugging and improvement in detail before its release in
final form.
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