-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 
|-=>CompuNotes<=-|
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing
January 9, 1997
Volume 63

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Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@inlink.com
Assistant Editor: Writer Liaison: Doug Reed-- mailto: dr2web@sprynet.com
Graphics Editor, Webmaster: Judy Litt mailto:jlitt@aol.com

Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/
Website: http://users.aol.com/CompNote/
email: notes@inlink.com
fax: (314) 909-1662
voice: (314) 909-1662
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CONTENTS
My Notes:
1=> Products of the Year Contest and St. Louis Snow!
2=> This Week's Winner!

Columnists' Corner:
3=> Product of the Year Voting Form!

Reviews:
4=> Product: Trophy Bass by Sierra Online -- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
5=> Product: World Wide Web Journal -- mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com
6=> Product: The Java Language Specification & The Java Virtual Machine 
Specification -- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

Web Site:
=> None this issue.

Interview:
=> None this issue.

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CompuNotes is: Available weekly via email and on-line. We cover the PC
computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites, great
columns and interviews. We also give away one software package a week
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Patrick's Notes
1=> Products of the Year!
Enclosed in this issue you'll find our best of the year ballot form. 
Please take a few minutes and vote for those products you would like to 
see win! We'll post the results in about a week! 

2=> Winner!
This week's winner is myersaj3@NETCOM.COM! Send them a congrats message 
mailto:myersaj3@NETCOM.COM!

3=> Product of the Year Voting Form! mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
CompuNotes Software of the Year Awards, 1996

There was a lot of great software that came out in 1996, and we'd like 
to give you the chance to reward those that were the cream of the crop. 

I've compiled a list of nominees in 8 categories for you to select from. 
All of these nominees were software titles that were reviewed by 
CompuNotes and appeared in CompuNotes issues starting with Issue 26 and 
Issue 61, all of which were published in 1996. After the list of 
nominees is a short form which you can cut and paste into an email 
message to send back to me - simply fill in your selection for each 
category. 

The product with the most votes wins it's category; the product with the 
most overall votes also wins the "Overall Product of the Year" prize. 
Write-in's are allowed but are limited to software that we reviewed 
during 1996 - for example, the review of Quake is forthcoming, so Quake 
will appear among the list of nominees for 1997. 

Please do not vote more than once! This isn't because it would be 
"wrong" but simply because I expect to be getting a large volume of 
replies and multiple messages from the same person won't help matters. 
Voting ends effective one month from today. Thanks, and thanks for being 
such great readers! 

If you'd like to know what issue the product was reviewed in, check out 
the CompuNotes Archives Database at 
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dr2web/compnote (a JavaScript enabled 
browser is required). 

-Doug Reed, Associate Editor mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

-=>Category: Business Application
Microsoft Office 95, Professional Edition
WordPro96
AskSam Pro 3.0
DacEasy Accounting
ABC Graphics Suite

-=>Category: Internet Application
HotMetal Pro 2.0
HTML: The Definitive Guide
Website Professional
Digiphone Deluxe
Net Chameleon

-=>Category:Utility
Norton Navigator for Windows 95
WinProbe95
WinShield95
WinZip 6.2
Norton NT Tools

-=>Category: Communications
Procomm Plus 3.0
LapLink 7.5
Delrina CommSuite95
PC Anywhere32

-=>Category: Game
Warcraft II
Mechwarrior II
Civilization II
Zork:Nemesis
MissionForce:Cyberstorm
Descent II
Steel Panthers

-=>Category: Educational
Encarta '95
Mathemagics
Complete Guide to Gardening
Mighty Math Numbers Heroes
Discovery: Ocean Planet
Healthy Cooking Deluxe

-=>Category: Programming
Symantec Cafe
Visual C++ 4.0
Perl 5 Desktop Reference
Visual Basic 4.0
The Java Programming Language by Ken Short and James Gosling

-=>Category: Reference
Complete User's Survival Guide
The Corner Drug Store
When You Can't Find Your Unix Systems Administrator
Dictionary of PC Hardware and Terms

<cut here>
CompuNotes Awards -1996
mailto: Doug Reed, dr2web@sprynet.com

Business Application:
Internet Application:
Utility:
Communication:
Game:
Educational:
Programming:
Reference:

<cut here>


4=> Product: Trophy Bass 2
Requirements: 486/66, 8MB RAM, Windows 3.1+
Reviewed on: 486/66, 12 MB, Windows 95
MSRP: $49.95
Reviewed by: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com

Few things in life are certain, but this is one thing that is: you are 
either born a fisherman or you aren't. Sierra's Trophy Bass 2 is 
designed to appeal to those with a yen for the rod and reel without the 
time to hook up the boat and head to the nearest lake (of course, right 
now the nearest lake to me has about 3 inches of ice on it!). As you may 
have guessed from the name, it is the sequel to the immensely successful 
Trophy Bass, part of the Front Page Sports lineup created by Dynamix and 
sold by Sierra. Trophy Bass 2 comes with lots of enhancements to improve 
the game, not least of which is ability to play against human opponents 
over the Internet. 

Trophy Bass 2, like all Windows-based games is easy to install; the 
Windows 95 version supports autoplay which will get you up and running 
completely. When you start the game it plays a short movie designed to 
get you in the mood; essentially it is a good quality multimedia clip of 
fisherman heading towards their favorite fishing holes. From the opening 
screen you can choose to fish quietly by yourself or enter a tournament 
competing against either real or artificial opponents. When fishing 
quietly by yourself you can choose the lake and the water conditions, as 
well as weather and the time of year. All of these factors greatly 
affect your success in catching a lunker (large mouth bass). All of the 
lakes from the original game are included, as well as two new lakes for 
a total of ten. All of the lakes are real, and navigation around the 
lake is carried out over well-designed, highly- detailed terrain maps. 
"Free-play" is fun and is a relaxing diversion, great for unwinding from 
a long and stressful day. Here you can practice your casting and reeling 
skills, as well as try out the various lures and see how they work. 
Practice is essential if you want to do well in any competition. In a 
nice touch, the various commands for casting and reeling are mouse 
driven, and the player can control the degree to which they can 
influence the outcome of a cast. 

The ability to compete in tournaments is the heart of the game, of 
course. As mentioned, the game comes with the ability to play against 
human opponents over a modem, LAN, or Internet connection. The Internet 
connection requires that you be running the Windows 95 version, and 
plays through the Sierra Internet Gaming System (SIGS). With a fast 
modem and a good connection, you can be up and fishing at almost any 
time of day or night. Trophy Bass 2 is actually the first Sierra game to 
work with the SIGS system, although several others are in the works or 
nearing release soon. The ability to play over the Net using a free 
system like SIGS is very appealing. I would expect this style of 
gameplay to catch fire very quickly. 

Tournaments can be conducted as single events or as part of a season. 
During a season the goal is to get as many points as possible in order 
to be recognized as the best fisherman by your peers. Tournaments are 
staged at each of the lakes, and the conditions vary significantly 
between them to provide the maximum challenge. Tournaments are conducted 
over several days, and with the size and weight of your catch each day 
determining victory or defeat. Win enough tournaments and you can 
compete in the Trophy Bass Classic (kind of the bass fisherman's Super 
Bowl). 

Fishermen (and women) will find plenty to love about Trophy Bass 2. 
Virtually every lure you can think of is included, as well a large 
number of rods and reels to create your perfect setup. The graphics are 
great although they do take a little getting used to; the main thing 
that most people will find a little strange is the fact that the little 
fisherman that represents you stays stationary on the bottom of the 
screen even as the lure is flying across the surface towards its target. 
The environs of the lakes are very accurate; if you know where to look 
for bass you will find them. And just like their real counterparts, a 
large part of your success is due to a little dose of luck. Once a fish 
is hooked it is more or less a matter of reeling it in, although you 
could break the line or not set the hook properly. In addition, however, 
Sierra has added a little kind of "power-meter" during the fight that 
shows who is winning the battle, man or fish. That plus some fast-paced 
music adds some well-needed excitement to the fun and fury of fighting 
and landing a good-sized bass. You can catch a variety of fish, not only 
just bass but almost any other sort of fish found in fresh-water lakes 
in the US. Trout, catfish, and others will also take your lure from time 
to time. The game does take into effect that all fish are different; a 
lunker will be a lot harder to land than a good old sandie. 

In conclusion, Trophy Bass 2 is a great game for avid fishermen. People 
who don't like to fish are not going to like this game; despite the 
inclusion of the competitive tournaments, this is a game for people who 
like to fish. The game does have great graphics and sounds and appeared 
to run very well throughout, a special bonus is these bug-ridden 
software days. The added bonus of Internet play means that the game will 
enjoy a long life on your hard drive. Now, should I go with the purple 
worm or do I try my luck with a red and white spoon? 

Sierra On-line
P.O. Box 85006
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506
206-644-4343
http://www.sierra.com

Ratings:
Installation/Ease of Use: Gold
User-Friendliness: Gold
Quality: Gold
User: avid fishermen


5=> Product: World Wide Web Journal, volume 1, Issue 3, "The Web After 
Five Years"
A publication of the World Wide Web Consortium, edited by Rohit Khare
Price US $24.95, Can $35.95
Reviewed By: Don Hughes, mailto:dhughes@wwdc.com

The World Wide Web Journal is published quarterly by O'Reilly & 
Associates, and contains reports, interviews, journals and technical 
papers. This is not a book for the average net surfer, nor is it 
designed to be. Issue three deliberates such complex matters as: "Inter- 
creativity by small groups.technical, economical, and ethical challenges 
of tracking and measuring mass Web usage." 

Through-out the book references are made to "W3C" or the World Wide Web 
Consortium. For more information about W3C you can visit their Web site 
at <http://www.w3.org/pub/www>. The following text is a sample of 
information from the web site: "The World Wide Web (WWW or W3) is the 
universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human 
knowledge. It is an initiative started at, now with many participants. 
It has a body of software, and a set of protocols and conventions. W3 
uses hypertext and multimedia techniques to make the web easy for anyone 
to roam, browse, and contribute to. The World Wide Web began as a 
networked information project at CERN. Tim Berners-Lee developed a 
vision of the project. An early paper talks about the Web gives some 
more background on how the Web was originally conceived." 

Moreover, an interview with Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World 
Wide Web, and director of W3C is in this issue. During his interview 
such subjects as "simplicity, standards and intercreativity are 
discussed, and the cyberporn Time magazine story of July 3, 1995. In 
1991, Tim Berners-Lee released his "WWW program" on the Internet, 
triggering the mass influx of Internet users that abound today-90 
percent of the current net users have only been doing so for one year. 

Additional topics covered in this issue are: Work in Progress people & 
projects at W3C, and W3C reports: Inserting Objects into HTML, A Lexical 
Analyzer for HTML and Basic SGML. There is also a section on Technical 
papers: WILL THE WEB DEMOCRATIZE OR POLARIZE THE POLITICAL PROCESS? WWW 
SITE MEASURMENT, REAL-TIME GEOGRAPHIC VISULATION OF WORLD WIDE WEB 
TRAFFIC. The World Wide Web journal contains a wealth of data for those 
who are involved in providing service to Internet clients. There are 
also Demographic studies on Internet users, as to age, education and 
income levels. 

The importance of publications like the "World Wide Web Journal" is: 1. 
To provided their members and the Internet community with technical 
papers and the type of research being conducted world wide, 2. Alerting 
the Internet community to bottlenecks and problem areas, before things 
get out of control. 

 The current estimates list Web users somewhere among 18 to 24 million 
(Nielsen/Commerencenet survey) world wide with the expectation of this 
doubling, by 2000. The World Wide Web Journal is a 218 page book jam 
packed with technical data and reports encompassing many varied aspects 
of the Internet. This Journal is unique in that is tactful user oriented 
and for its technical content and viewpoint it rates five out of five- 
but then I tend to enjoy reading technical data. 

Subscription prices (subject to change without notice)

USA...................$75.00
Canada & Mexico............$81.00
Europe, Africa, Central & South America....$105.00
Asia, Australia & New Zealand.......$110.00

The World Wide Web Journal
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
103 Morris Street, Suite A.
Sebastopol, Ca 95472
800-998-9938 USA/Canada 
707-829-0515 Overseas 
707-829-0104 Fax.
<http://www.ora.com>


6=>Product: The Java Language Specification & The Java Virtual Machine 
Specification
Reviewed by: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com
MSRP $36.53 each

The Java Language Specification and The Java Virtual Machine 
Specification are the latest books published by Addison-Wesley in their 
definitive Java Series developed in collaboration with Sun Microsystems 
and the creators of the Java programming language. These two books are 
designed to be the ultimate technical reference to the inner workings of 
Java. I'll review each in detail and then sum them both up together. 

The Java Language Specification is written by James Gosling, creator of 
Java, as well as Bill Joy (creator of the Berkeley version of UNIX) and 
Guy Steele, who is responsible for the specification of Java at Sun 
Microsystems. The book offers detailed coverage of the latest version of 
Java's syntax and semantics, including proper grammar and lexical 
structure in Java, program structure, classes and interfaces, 
exceptions, threads, and so on. The Java Language Specification is a 
reference, not a tutorial or primer, and as such I would recommend it 
only for expert programmers looking for a resource of information about 
proper construction of Java applets and applications. The reading is at 
times a bit dense and difficult to understand, while at other times it 
comes through with perfect clarity. For example, a large portion of 
chapter 6 is spent explaining naming conventions and proper naming of 
methods, variables, and classes. This section is actually very coherent 
and explains a lot about proper naming in Java. This book does not make 
for great reading on the couch after dinner, but it does make a good 
reference for programming in Java. If you really need a complete and 
comprehensive guide to the syntax and semantics of programming in Java, 
than this book is for you. For most Java programmers, however, I think 
there are other references which would be of more benefit (including 
some of those published earlier in the Java Series like The Java API, 
volumes 1 & 2). 

The Java Virtual Machine Specification is a technical reference that 
covers the "Virtual Machine" that allows Java to achieve its cross- 
platform portability and security capabilities. The book is written by 
Tim Lindholm and Frank Yellin, the men responsible for designing and 
implementing the Java Virtual Machine. Since the first book explained 
the grammar and structure of Java programming; this book undertakes to 
explain what a virtual machine is and how it works, including an 
overview of the Java Virtual Machine contained in the latest release of 
Java by Sun. Also included is a detailed listing of the commands and 
methods available in the Virtual Machine Instruction Set, allowing 
expert programmers to manipulate the Java Virtual Machine . Again, 
unless you're an expert programmer, much of what's written in this book 
is going to require considerable effort to understand even partially. 
Certainly this was true in my case! Slogging through it requires 
considerable fortitude. As with The Java Language Specification, this 
book is primarily a reference tool for Java programmers looking to 
increase their knowledge of the workings "under the hood" of Java. While 
to a certain extent this book does provide some interesting information, 
one has to wonder just how many Java programmers are really going to 
want to open the hood and start tinkering with the parts. 

In summary, these two books are for expert programmers looking to 
understand the details of how Java works and what can be done to 
manipulate it or to essentially create your own version of the Java 
Virtual Machine. Both books thoroughly and completely cover their 
respective subject matters, however, I would recommend that beginners 
and novices check out Addison-Wesley's earlier books in the Java Series, 
like The Java Programming Language by Ken Arnold & James Gosling. In 
addition, The Java API Volumes 1 & 2 make an excellent reference on the 
packages and interfaces contained in the Java libraries. 

Addison-Wesley Publishing Company
One Jacob Way
Reading, MA 01867
800-822-6339
<http://www.aw.com/cp/javaseries>

Installation/Ease of Use:  Silver
User-Friendliness: Silver
Quality: Silver
User: Expert Java Programmers

--END OF ISSUE

