fp file locking behavior

[John Esak]

> | > I just verified it using filePro 5.6.06 on SCO OSR6.  The date-time
> | > stamp appeared to represent the time I entered the file, where I
> | > simply sat at the IUA prompt on the first record for a minute or so.
> |
> | Bob--thank you for taking the time to test this.  I could swear that
> | this wasn't always the case, but I'll be the first to admit my
> | memory isn't the best.  I guess it can't be chalked up to a platform
> | issue.  Doesn't the changing date-time stamp mean that the index
> | file was opened for write access?  Or maybe my understanding here
> | is incorrect?
>
> I imagine the index is opened for write access just in case anything
> is written to it - if nothing is written to it, my guess is that its
> date-time stamp reflects when it was opened, else its date-time stamp
> would show when it was modified.
>
> I think Jean-Pierre Radley (or it could have been John Esak) pointed
> out this index file behavior to me about 35 or 40 years ago,
>
> Bob (who celebrates 79 years on this earth next Friday [1])

It was JP Radley who first brought it to my attention that automatic index
file stamps get changed just by someone entering into a file in clerk. Yes,
it was long ago, but not more than 23 years or so... I found a reference to
his notation about this back in some CompuServe stuff in 1985.... and I
actually remember when he brought this up, thinking that it was odd that the
stamps should change when no actual modification was made to the file(s).
This behavior has never caused me a bit of hassle in all those years,
though.

However, Profile nor even its predecessor Electric File Clerk was yet a
gleam in Howie Wolowitz's massive brain 40 or even 35 years ago.  That would
pre-date the earliest developments in PC invention at PARC labs by the
collective genius sprinkled liberally throughout that amazing place and
time. (Where by the way, oddly enough, besides the PC, the mouse, the GUI,
the LaserJet, Ethernet, TCP/IP [and many other fantastic things] were
brought into reality, along with the original "Smalltalk". :-) But, it
'tweren't no magazine!)

Happy Birthday Bob, you are forgiven the mistake of adding a decade here or
there onto any recollection  you want... being that you can honestly say you
probably have *socks* older than most of us! :-) except for JP that is...
isn't he about 100?

Yours truly,
Young and always-clear-thinking...never-a-mistake-making...John Esak

Does this even require a smiley face?  oh, excuse me... an emoticon? <smile>