Birbla

Comments

Hacker News

It's kind of a shame this uses its own, probably more powerful, language instead of HyperTalk.

HyperTalk is one of the most accessible languages for beginners I've ever seen. Sure it was primitive and had somewhat weak data organization capabilities, but if you're like 6 it's pretty incredible for your experience to be:

    1. Open a blank script
    2. Drag a field on the screen and name it "myname"
    3. Drag a button on the screen, open up it's script and see:
       on mouseUp
       end mouseUp
    4. You then enter the following two lines between those two lines:
         ask "What is your name?"
         put it into card field myname
    5. Then you go back and click the button and a dialog box appears asking your name and when you type it in an hit enter the name appears in the field you created.
That sort of directness is lost in modern development environments. The concept that the button's script lives inside of the button, and in fact everything on the page could have its own script. The page itself also has script, even the stack itself. Your code can of course call code in other objects if need be (typically at the page or stack level), and there is a whole message passing thing happening in the background. It's by far the most intuitive programming environment I've ever seen. It has the kind of immediate impact that helps to save off boredom or feeling like there's too much homework before the fun starts.

In the day people complained about the syntactic sugar in HyperTalk, but I think it was just right for the target audience. They did have more of a point about the difficulty in managing structured data, often having to store things in hidden fields referenced by line and word number or hacks like that.

The most incredible part is this was all in an application that came with the OS. It was the perfect opportunity for a bored kid to randomly come across it and discover a lifelong passion. There was nothing to install, no product to buy first--it was just there, asking to be discovered. And even if your parents weren't about to buy a reference book you could open up other stacks and start reading the code to learn the language. Because most scripts were small and self contained (remember that they were stored at the widget level) this was a legitimate way to understand the basic syntax and keywords.

by jandrese

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.

by donohoe

Never used HyperCard, but from descriptions and screenshots in the article reminds me a lot of Delphi/Pascal/Lazarus IDE’s. Appeal is understandable, because it is so cool to be snore to from a few lines of code to a clickable intractable executable, that is the sort of Feedback loop that I miss in python and go GUI builders that I’ve used previously, and why I keep c inning back to Lazarus.

by proxysna

I wrote one-off scientific applications in HyperCard for a rocket science company.

Graphics via creating HyperBasic XFCN's IIRC.

One was a simulator for trading off various optical sensors that our Director enjoyed using.

Again, IIRC, graphics output was also in EPS, that the tech pubs group could import directly into reports.

Another was a form, using built-in fields, that my boss stole (YAY) for creating documentation for a progranning project we were working on.

Output was in Postscript, basically in Unix manpage format.

When your boss steals the documentation job, it's a big win.

Fantastic rapid prototyping environment with no-brainer UI elements and persistent database.

by k310

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?

by mbreese

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 applications.

And the best part - at that time it didn't looked cheap.

This one is really hard to describe - it's the same uncanny valley that makes small village in Fallout 1 feel massive and full of people despite it taking two screens with just few sprites running around, while full blown 3D world of Fallout 3, with real buildings and voice overs felt flat, soulless and empty.

by zeroq

Join the discussion

Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.

Sign in
  • Hacker News
  • Decker is amazing. I've started a set of tutorials (decks + videos) as a byproduct of trying to teach my 8-year old daughter to program with it.

    https://itch.io/t/6632495/decker-programming-tutorials-video...

    by tangentstorm
  • It's kind of a shame this uses its own, probably more powerful, language instead of HyperTalk.

    HyperTalk is one of the most accessible languages for beginners I've ever seen. Sure it was primitive and had somewhat weak data organization capabilities, but if you're like 6 it's pretty incredible for your experience to be:

        1. Open a blank script
    2. Drag a field on the screen and name it "myname"
    3. Drag a button on the screen, open up it's script and see:
       on mouseUp
       end mouseUp
    4. You then enter the following two lines between those two lines:
         ask "What is your name?"
         put it into card field myname
    5. Then you go back and click the button and a dialog box appears asking your name and when you type it in an hit enter the name appears in the field you created.
    That sort of directness is lost in modern development environments. The concept that the button's script lives inside of the button, and in fact everything on the page could have its own script. The page itself also has script, even the stack itself. Your code can of course call code in other objects if need be (typically at the page or stack level), and there is a whole message passing thing happening in the background. It's by far the most intuitive programming environment I've ever seen. It has the kind of immediate impact that helps to save off boredom or feeling like there's too much homework before the fun starts.

    In the day people complained about the syntactic sugar in HyperTalk, but I think it was just right for the target audience. They did have more of a point about the difficulty in managing structured data, often having to store things in hidden fields referenced by line and word number or hacks like that.

    The most incredible part is this was all in an application that came with the OS. It was the perfect opportunity for a bored kid to randomly come across it and discover a lifelong passion. There was nothing to install, no product to buy first--it was just there, asking to be discovered. And even if your parents weren't about to buy a reference book you could open up other stacks and start reading the code to learn the language. Because most scripts were small and self contained (remember that they were stored at the widget level) this was a legitimate way to understand the basic syntax and keywords.

    by jandrese
  • 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.

    by donohoe
  • Never used HyperCard, but from descriptions and screenshots in the article reminds me a lot of Delphi/Pascal/Lazarus IDE’s. Appeal is understandable, because it is so cool to be snore to from a few lines of code to a clickable intractable executable, that is the sort of Feedback loop that I miss in python and go GUI builders that I’ve used previously, and why I keep c inning back to Lazarus.
    by proxysna
  • I wrote one-off scientific applications in HyperCard for a rocket science company.

    Graphics via creating HyperBasic XFCN's IIRC.

    One was a simulator for trading off various optical sensors that our Director enjoyed using.

    Again, IIRC, graphics output was also in EPS, that the tech pubs group could import directly into reports.

    Another was a form, using built-in fields, that my boss stole (YAY) for creating documentation for a progranning project we were working on.

    Output was in Postscript, basically in Unix manpage format.

    When your boss steals the documentation job, it's a big win.

    Fantastic rapid prototyping environment with no-brainer UI elements and persistent database.

    by k310
  • Previously:

    Decker: A reincarnation of HyperCard with 1-bit graphics - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40292181 - May 2024 (78 comments)

    Decker – A HyperCard Replacement - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38985409 - Jan 2024 (36 comments)

    Decker, a platform that builds on the legacy of Hypercard and classic macOS - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33377964 - Oct 2022 (88 comments)

    by tomhow
  • 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?

    by mbreese
  • 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 applications.

    And the best part - at that time it didn't looked cheap.

    This one is really hard to describe - it's the same uncanny valley that makes small village in Fallout 1 feel massive and full of people despite it taking two screens with just few sprites running around, while full blown 3D world of Fallout 3, with real buildings and voice overs felt flat, soulless and empty.

    by zeroq