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Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

beyondloom.com

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Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#21

Post by mbreese »

Is there a place these days for interfaces like this? I’m thinking about self contained applications like HyperCard stacks, but also FileMaker databases or even Access databases where we had interfaces linked to a database all as a self contained application. These tools with scripting languages powered a ton of small business applications. I know a lab I worked with was still using FileMaker databases up until a few years ago. These were user developed applications, done by people who may have been a bit technical, but who didn’t to know a full programming language.

If you’re a small shop and have a need for a little database, what do you use? Is there a default now? Notion?

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#22

Post by RodgerTheGreat »

janci wrote: post #20

It seems application state is mainly maintained in the widgets. Reminds me of Delphi. Is there a similar concept for representing state in a well-suited data structures, that can be created and composed visually like the UI widgets?

Decker heavily emphasizes the concept of "reified data", representing information as tangible entities within a deck.

You can create "contraptions" as specialized data containers/editors for specific applications:

http://beyondloom.com/decker/decker.html#customwidgets

For example, "WigglyKit" offers several contraptions which operate on a shared convention for representing animated images:

http://beyondloom.com/decker/wigglykit.html

You can also represent composite data as a series of cards in a deck, or use cards as encapsulated "objects" that you communicate with via events:

http://beyondloom.com/blog/sketchpad.html#cardsarerecords

In a pinch, you can also easily encode arbitrary data in fields as a JSON superset with their ".data" attribute.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#23

Post by chrisweekly »

mbreese wrote: post #21

Is there a place these days for interfaces like this? I’m thinking about self contained applications like HyperCard stacks, but also FileMaker databases or even Access databases where we had interfaces linked to a database all as a self contained application. These tools with scripting languages powered a ton of small business applications. I know a lab I worked with was still using FileMaker databases up until a few…

SQLite seems to me like it fits the bill.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#24

Post by josters »

This reminds me of LiveCode[1] (aka Revolution and MetaCard) which I’ve used quite a bit about a decade ago. Was also inspired by HyperCard. Just checked their site again and it seems they’ve discontinued the open source version and have pivoted to an AI-assisted drag and drop UI builder.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiveCode

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#25

Post by InsideOutSanta »

donohoe wrote: post #11

I miss HyperCard and I love projects like this at a nostalgia level - but if you're going to have aspirations that this is useful today (2026) with a real project then its a complete waste of time. I want HyperCard where I can build out a stack or whatever and actually present it to people as a real and tangible thing. I love living in the past as much as anyone else, but this is a little disappointing.

A lot of these modern HyperCard reinterpretations get stuck on the black-and-white aesthetics of the original. That's cool, but it limits how broadly appealing they become. Even back when HyperCard was relevant, Apple's inability to properly introduce color as a first-class feature was what effectively killed the product.

A few years ago, I think there would have been a market for a HyperCard-inspired tool that targeted modern technologies - probably web tech.

Today, I guess vibecoding is what HyperCard was in the 80s and 90s, the tool you can use to quickly and easily build a little program that fills your specific need.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#26

Post by giantfrog »

zeroq wrote: post #15

I'm afraid that HyperCard is too old for broader audience to be able to grasp how extraordinary experience it was providing. As a 6-7yo I had a collection of English words, stored with my own definitions and pronunciations, using basic building blocks, and it was as easy and intuitive as writing these words in my notebook. People used the same building primitives to make real games or stuff like accounting applicatio…

The Fallout analogy is perfect. Limitation stimulates imagination. I think that’s part of why essentially limitless AI models produce things that are so devoid of it.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#27

Post by pjmlp »

mbreese wrote: post #21

Is there a place these days for interfaces like this? I’m thinking about self contained applications like HyperCard stacks, but also FileMaker databases or even Access databases where we had interfaces linked to a database all as a self contained application. These tools with scripting languages powered a ton of small business applications. I know a lab I worked with was still using FileMaker databases up until a few…

Why past tense, Filemaker and Access are still being sold.

A solution would probably be Airtable.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#28

Post by jcynix »

mbreese wrote: post #21

Is there a place these days for interfaces like this? I’m thinking about self contained applications like HyperCard stacks, but also FileMaker databases or even Access databases where we had interfaces linked to a database all as a self contained application. These tools with scripting languages powered a ton of small business applications. I know a lab I worked with was still using FileMaker databases up until a few…

I've seen people (non IT) do similar things (i.e. develop small applications) with Excel.

I created my bibliographic database with HyperCard. And I still miss it. HyperCard's attractiveness was the easy UI creation. FileMaker wasn't bad, but a bit more limited UI wise. And sqlite, while a phantastic DB misses the easy UI.

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#29

Post by swiftcoder »

chrisweekly wrote: post #23
mbreese wrote: post #21

Is there a place these days for interfaces like this? I’m thinking about self contained applications like HyperCard stacks, but also FileMaker databases or even Access databases where we had interfaces linked to a database all as a self contained application. These tools with scripting languages powered a ton of small business applications. I know a lab I worked with was still using FileMaker databases up until a few…

SQLite seems to me like it fits the bill.

SQLite doesn’t have a built-in user interface. The value of something like FileMaker isn’t the underlying storage mechanism, it’s the WYSIWYG user interface building that lets you quickly build custom apps around it

Re: Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS

#30

Post by weaksauce »

zeroq wrote: post #15

I'm afraid that HyperCard is too old for broader audience to be able to grasp how extraordinary experience it was providing. As a 6-7yo I had a collection of English words, stored with my own definitions and pronunciations, using basic building blocks, and it was as easy and intuitive as writing these words in my notebook. People used the same building primitives to make real games or stuff like accounting applicatio…

the original Myst was created using HyperCard... which in and of itself is a crazy app with a huge impact on gaming in general.
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