Personal Pearl, Programmer's Apprentice and TLO (The Last One) are among the latest entrants in the microcomputer software field. They are program generators which lead nonprogrammers through a series of all-English prompts and queries in the course of building their own custom applications programs. The program generator turns the English-language instructions into a computer code.
Tasks difficult to accomplish with BASIC are relatively easy with a program generator. Productivity is usually double that which can be achieved using BASIC. Nevertheless, it takes most people about one month of regular use to master a program generator and even then, programming is still slow enough to warrant the purchase of off-the-shelf software packages when available. A program generator allows the user to modify software packages to fit the individual situation.
While vendors of program generators claim that no previous programming experience is necessary, it does help considerably to know BASIC or some other micro programming language because this gives an understanding of how a program is structured and how data flows through it. The vocabulary in the manuals for users of the program generators might also be unfamiliar to a complete novice.
All program generators have different physical limitations: most can create only a limited number of files, as well as a maximum number of characters per line; some offer graphics capability while others don't; and all run on only certain hardware and operating systems.
Prices for program generators range from $295 to $800. They are generally available at computer stores.
