Summary

HyperCard is a software program that can be used to author an application of the user's design.

HyperCard can be compared to a stack of cards, similar to a card index, in which each card contains information as pictures or text. The user can move from card to card sequentially or from one card to any other card in the stack and one stack can be linked with other stacks. This freedom of movement through data is similar to what we now experience in moving around the internet.

With HyperCard the user could :
Create and store text, graphics, sound and animation sequences
Program buttons to launch other applications or control external devices
Integrate QuickTime movies into stacks with point-and-click ease
Implement hypertext applications through links from a single word or group of words to related information
Create or change the appearance, order and function of menus to build custom software
Through external commands, control and access mainframes, networks, videodisc placer and CD-ROM drives.

Hypercard was used to develop a wide variety of applications such as databases, spreadsheets, simulators, calculators, animations and address books. Stacks could also be modified by the user to suit their needs, for example customising the graphics or the search facility. Some HyperCard stacks were developed as commercial enterprises. One of these was Reports For HyperCard which was designed to add reporting functionality to databases. Myst, one of the best-selling computer-games ever was initially released as a HyperCard stack.

HyperCard supports its own powerful programming language called HyperTalk whose command lines are written in an English-like language. HyperTalk can be used to manipulate data and the user interface. The HyperTalk programming language was created in 1986-87.

At the time of introduction in 1987 it was a software application program in a genre all of its own. Apple described it as a hypermedia program or construction kit. HyperCard was originally released with Macintosh System Software 6 in 1987, and was finally withdrawn from sale in March 2004.

For several years from about 1990-1993, Claris Corporation, a corporation wholly owned by Apple, owned and marketed HyperCard. The floppy disks in this version are of version 2.2 and date to 1993, and are Apple branded disks. The box and documentation, however, bear the Claris Corporation name and relate to an earlier version or versions of HyperCard. It is likely that this package was purchased at about the time that Apple bought back HyperCard from Claris.

Part of a representative collection of hardware, software, trade literature and promotional material that documents the history of the Apple company, and its contribution to, and impact on the computer industry and society.

Physical Description

HyperCard Developer Kit version 2.2 software package consisting of: Claris HyperCard Getting Started manual Claris HyperCard Script Language Guide Claris HyperCard Reference Claris HyperTalk Beginners Guide to Scripting manual Claris HyperCard Quick Reference Guide Claris HyperCard 2.1x Release notes and 3 other brochures and registration card 3.5 inch disks (8 Apple disks, 2 Addmotion II disks)

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