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Softwrights Reminder... Technical Details (Nerd Notes)

This page contains details that some people may find useful. If you're a nerd, you'll love it. If not, you'll probably be bored to death.

File Descriptions

Softwrights doesn't believe in littering your valuable hard disk. That's why there's only a few compact files on the Softwrights Reminder disk. All the following files were created from scratch by Softwrights to ensure fast performance and compact size. All files are installed in one place (directory).

SREM_L.EXE (47K bytes) is the Lite Edition executable file. SREM_MM.EXE (47K bytes) is the Multimedia Edition executable. These tightly-coded programs are programmed in C (not inefficient C++). Direct calls to Windows API are made instead of indirect calls through easier-to-use, but inefficient tools like MFC or Visual Basic. These file are also compressed and remain compressed on disk. They auto-decompress in RAM before program starts.

SREMUSER.DAT (12K bytes) is a custom-made database file that contains all your reminders. This file is automatically created the first time that you run the program. The file is the same for both editions of Reminder ... So you can use either edition with the same data file. Extra unused bytes are in this file in case new fields have to be added in the future ... This will (hopefully) make upgrades transparent to users (new version will check for old file and update automatically, if necessary... without increasing the size of the file ... so program won't require two or more file readers for different versions).

SREM_L.DAT (5K bytes) is a custom-made graphics database file for the Lite Edition. SREM_MM.DAT (338K bytes) is a graphics/sounds database for the Multimedia Edition. These files prevent the wasteful litter (numerous individual files) found in many other programs.

CUSTOM1.WAV thru CUSTOM6.WAV are customizable sound files for the Multimedia Edition. These files are outside the SREM_MM.DAT database so they can be edited/replaced by you.

SETUP.EXE (19K bytes) is the install program. It's a tightly-coded Windows program, programmed in C. It installs Softwrights Reminder's files and installs a Windows icon for the program. The program is compressed and remains compressed on disk. It automatically decompresses in RAM, before the program starts. SETUP.EXE file is not installed on your hard disk to gather dust!

Note: If you have doubts about Softwrights'superior software engineering, take a look at the tiny size of this installation program ... Hardly anybody makes programs this efficient.

Programming Details

Softwrights abhors the popular trend of, slow-as-molasses-in-Antarctica, bloated, programs & disk files. Our programs were crafted in the C programming language for peak performance, compact size, control, and portability. C++ was not used since appropriate tests on the leading C++ compiler available at language-selection time produced programs that were bigger and slower than C.

Thanks to tight coding, our programs are extremely compact and require no extra .DLL files like the big, bloated VBRUN.DLL file required by programs written in Visual Basic.. To conserve your valuable disk space, the executable file is compressed, and remains compressed on disk. It is de-compressed in RAM, as needed.

To ensure quality, one source file is kept for both the Multimedia Edition and Lite Edition of the program. Compiler preprocessor commands (conditional compilation) are used to separate edition-specific code.

For high-performance and efficiency ... C (not inefficient C++) and direct calls to the Windows API (not inefficient Foundation Classes) results in programs that are among the fastest, smallest programs ever made. Writing everything in C (including a custom-built database) and direct calls to the API are a pain to program. But the results are worth it since our programs are not bloated with inefficient and/or unused code as in most other products that take the easy way out.

If you doubt these claims, look at the the file size of any other Setup program on any disk that you have ... You'll see the difference that Softwrights' fine craftsmanship makes.

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