Editing NoteCards

{{short description|Hypertext-based personal knowledge base system}}
[[File:Screenshot_of_Xerox_PARC%27s_NoteCards_hypertext_application.png|thumb|right|Scan of printed screenshot of NoteCards hypertext application]]
{{InfoMaps}}
'''NoteCards''' was a [[hypertext]]-based [[personal knowledge base]] system developed at [[PARC (company)|Xerox PARC]] by Randall Trigg, Frank Halasz and Thomas Moran in 1984.<ref name="Nutshell"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Conklin |first=Jeff |date=September 1987 |title=Hypertext: an introduction and survey |journal=[[IEEE Computer]] |volume=20 |issue=9 |pages=17–41 |doi=10.1109/MC.1987.1663693 |s2cid=9188803 |url=http://www.cognexus.org/Hypertext-_An_Introduction_and_Survey_%281987%29.pdf}}</ref> NoteCards was developed after Trigg's pioneering 1983 [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] thesis on hypertext while at the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland College Park]].

NoteCards was built to model four basic kinds of objects: notecards, [[hyperlink|links]], browser card, and a filebox.<ref>{{Cite journal
| last = Halasz
| first = Frank G.
| title = Reflections on NoteCards: seven issues for the next generation of hypermedia systems
| journal = ACM Journal of Computer Documentation
| volume = 25
| year = 2001
| pages = 71–87
| doi = 10.1145/507317.507321
| issue = 3
| s2cid = 53245008
}}</ref> Each window is an analog of a cue card; window sizes may vary, but contents cannot scroll. Local and global maps are available through browsers. There are over 40 different nodes which support various media.

{{blockquote|The basic construct in NoteCards is a semantic network composed of notecards connected by typed links. Each notecard contains an arbitrary amount of information embodied in text, graphics, images, or some other editable substance. Links are used to represent binary connections between cards. NoteCards provides two specialized types of cards, Browsers and FileBoxes, that help the user to manage networks of cards and links.|source="Notecards in a nutshell" (1987)<ref name="Nutshell">{{Cite conference
| publisher = ACM Press
| isbn = 0-89791-213-6
| pages = 45–52
| last = Halasz
| first = Frank G.
|author2=Thomas P. Moran |author3=Randall H. Trigg
 | title = Notecards in a nutshell
| book-title = Proceedings of the SIGCHI/GI conference on Human factors in computing systems and graphics interface
| location = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| date = 1987
| doi = 10.1145/29933.30859
}}</ref>}}

NoteCards was implemented in [[Lisp (programming language)|LISP]] on [[Lisp machine|D-machine]] workstations from [[Xerox]] which used large, high-resolution [[Computer monitor|displays]]. The NoteCards interface is event-driven. One interesting feature of NoteCards is that authors may use LISP commands to customize or create entirely new node types. The powerful programming language allows almost complete customization of the entire NoteCards work environment.

==Availability==
NoteCards was available commercially from the [[Common Lisp]] software vendor Venue,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://top2bottom.net/medley.html#notecards |title=Venue (Common Lisp software vendor) |website=top2bottom.net |access-date=2007-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516233113/http://top2bottom.net/medley.html#notecards |archive-date=2008-05-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> compiled for [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] 2.5 and 7 (untested on later versions) and [[Linux]] [[x86]] with the [[X Window System]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://top2bottom.net/venue_pricing.html |title=Compatibility information from vendor website pricing page |website=top2bottom.net |access-date=2007-10-01 |archive-date=2017-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324223054/http://top2bottom.net/venue_pricing.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://notecards.online/user/login Online version of NoteCards]
* [https://xeroxparcarchive.computerhistory.org/Xerox_PARC_source_code.html#Lisp Xerox PARC archive of Lisp code that includes the 1984–1989 version of NoteCards]
* [https://github.com/Interlisp/notecards Source code for NoteCards 2.0, patched to run in modern emulators]

[[Category:Hypertext]]
[[Category:HyperCard products]]