1.1 If all you have is a hammer, does that make everything a nail?

If all you have is a hammer, does that make everything a nail?

When you re really familiar with a product, it s tempting to use it for all your needs. Many people have been doing that with their favorite applications for years. We know people who do their word processing in Quattro Pro and others who do "database processing" with mail merge in Word.

Certainly it s true of FoxPro programmers. Need a number cruncher? Write it in FoxPro. Need a word processor? Write it in FoxPro. Need a file manager? Write it in FoxPro. That we can do so many diverse things is a testament to FoxPro s strength and versatility. But using our hammer (FoxPro) to do it doesn t make all those tasks nails.

Both users needs and applications capabilities are growing. While it made sense to write a simple word processor for editing customer notes in FoxPro/DOS in 1994, it doesn t make sense to do so in Visual FoxPro 6.0 in 2000. There are too many alternatives out there that can just be plugged into a VFP app.

 

Copyright 2000 by Tamar E. Granor and Della Martin All Rights Reserved