Making a few more comparisons of code
February 11, 2014
It's always a good thing for the community to read about a tool they need and use, because it usually brings up some notes about allied solutions. When we wrote about replacing code comparison tools for developers who work on the 3000, we got several notes about other solutions. One can't be purchased any longer. Come to think of it, the other one cannot either -- but both of these tools can be obtained and be used in a development environment for HP 3000s.
The first is the much-beloved Whisper Programmer Studio. Bruce Hobbs left us a comment to say that this PC-based dev environment, one built to talk to the HP 3000 and files on the server, "offers a Compare Files item from their Tools menu. It does a fine job in a GUI environment."
Whisper came up in a note that our contributing editor Brian Edminster sent after the story emerged. "I still use it daily at my primary client," Edminster said, while giving us a heads-up he's still looking into how to make Notepad ++ a better player in the MPE development world. 3000 access is a problem to be solved, but Edminster specializes in open source solutions, so we'll stay in touch to see what he discovers.
In the meantime, you can enjoy his rundown on Programmer Studio versus Qedit for Windows.
The other solution for comparing files lies inside MPE/iX itself. That OS is also a product that, like the beloved Whisper, is no longer being sold. (It's being re-sold, however, each time a used 3000 changes hands.) Vesoft's Vladimir Volokh called to remind us of the hidden value inside MPE.
The HP 3000's File Copier, FCOPY, includes a COMPARE option. Vladimir called to remind us (after he mentioned celebrating his 75th birthday last week) that FCOPY COMPARE will only work on a single file at a time. "But with MPEX, you can use it on a file set," he said.
If you're able to log onto a 3000 you can find FCOPY and COMPARE with it. MPEX is for sale, so that makes a complete solution set. Alas for Whisper, it dropped out of the market. The company that built the Studio ended an 18-year run in 2009, according to company founder Graham Wooley. The UK's Whisper built and promoted the Programmer Studio PC-based toolset, selling it as a development environment which engineered exchanges with the 3000 but could be used to create programs under Windows. Robelle responded promptly with a Windows version of Qedit, and the 3000 ecosystem had a lively competition for programming tools for more than five years.
Programmer Studio seems to be available as 1. A free download, or 2. A $299 product, also downloadable. Sources include Download A to Z, and another location is googooster.blogspot.com. But with commerical products on hand, we'd urge some caution about downloading free versions of formerly commercial software. Heaven only knows what might come down into a Windows hard drive while looking for something with so much value -- but now being offered for nothing.