Historical+Antecedents

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__**The Memex**__ is the name given by __Vannevar Bush__ to the theoretical proto-hypertext computer system he proposed in his __1945__. The memex is a device in which an individual compresses and stores all of their books, records, and communications, which is then mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. A document can be given a simple numerical code that allows the user to access it after dialing the number combination. Documents are also able to be edited in real-time. A memex consists of a desk, where on top are slanting translucent screens on which material can be projected for convenient reading. Within the desk were mechanisms that stored information through microphotography. Most of the memex contents are purchased on microfilm ready for insertion. On the top of the memex is a transparent platen. When a longhand note, photograph, memoranda, and other things are in place, the depression of a lever causes it to be photographed onto the next blank space in a section of the memex film, dry photography being employed.



__**ZOG**__ was an early hypertext system developed at Carnegie Mellon University during the __1970s by Donald McCracken and Robert Akscyn__. Consisted of frames that contained a title, a description, a line containing ZOG system commands, and selections (menu items) that led to other frames. ZOG pioneered the "frame" or "card" model of hypertext later popularized by HyperCard.

The ZOG database became fully functional around 1977. Beginning in 1980, ZOG was ported from DEC VAX version (written in an experimental language called "L*") to the Pascal-based Three Rivers PERQ workstation and was used for a shipwide local area network on the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.



__**HyperCard**__ is an application program created __by Bill Atkinson__ for Apple Computer, Inc. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard is based on the concept of a "stack" of virtual "cards." Cards hold data, just as they would in a rolodex. The layout engine was similar in concept to a "form" as used in most Rapid Application Development (RAD) environments.

The layout of each card could be unique, just as one can write additional non-standard information on a Rolodex card. A special background layer contained elements that appeared on all cards of that stack or on all cards grouped under a certain background. Backgrounds could include pictures (its original purpose, "background picture"), in addition to the objects also available for each card: fields; buttons; (static) text; (editable) text fields; and other common GUI elements. Each card then could contain different data in the text or picture fields, as in a database. For instance, an address book could be built by adding to the background a few text fields to hold the name and address. Once completed, the user adds a new card (by typing Command-N or under software control) and types into the fields.