The xBase family of languages/development environments. They are still around - Harbour (open-source multi-platform Clipper implementation) and Ashton-Tate dBase which changed many hands and is now dBase LLC.
They were one of the fastest environments to build business software in till the early 90s. Then Client/Server and Windows happened. Visual Basic and Delphi occupied the niche with support for SQL based databases. xBase tried playing catch-up but by the time they caught up clunkily to GUI programming, the effort was wasted and the Web came around.
This is how xBase was loved:
This isn't a question or a bug or a complaint. This is just to say
that using your prg files from Foxapp, modifying the startup,
creating a database, compiling and debugging I created an
beautiful working application in 45 minutes today, including the
time it took for the client to explain what they wanted in the
database. The client was duly impressed, and I marvelled at just
how much 2.0 had made programming fun and had increased my
potential income. I am now taking on programming jobs that would
have been painful in the past, and find that I can afford to do
some pro bono work knowing that with Foxpro 2.0 and my
distribution package I can whip up a quick database for the church
or the school or anybody who just can't afford custom programming.
I've been hacking PCs since I bought an Apple at Homebrew Computer
Club in Palo Alto from a couple of kids who were building them in
a garage. (In those days they were talking about marketing them as
a multilevel, like Amway). I've played with a lot of software,
ranging from user-hostile to stuff that curls up on your lap and
talks dirty in your ear.
But Foxpro 2.0 is something special. What you folks have created
is an elegant solution. When you finaly go public, may you all
cash out as rich as Bill Gates.
Please thank all the Fox folks for me.
Charles
-- "Letter from a FoxPro admirer". FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software, Kerry Nietz.
They were one of the fastest environments to build business software in till the early 90s. Then Client/Server and Windows happened. Visual Basic and Delphi occupied the niche with support for SQL based databases. xBase tried playing catch-up but by the time they caught up clunkily to GUI programming, the effort was wasted and the Web came around.
This is how xBase was loved: