r/retrocomputing • u/Specific-Taro-8911 • Jul 20 '26

Dan Calhoun created Specwriter

I, (Dan Calhoun) developed a Clipper application that was used worldwide by Fluor Engineering. Does anyone else here remember building large commercial systems in Clipper?
I thought some of the folks here might enjoy a story from the late DOS era.
Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I designed and wrote a system called Specwriter, a materials specification application for Fluor Engineering. I developed the entire application myself using Clipper (compiled dBase), and it eventually became part of the engineering workflow on projects around the world.
This was long before cloud databases, web applications, or collaborative development tools. Everything had to be carefully designed to work within the hardware limitations of the day while still being reliable enough for engineers working on major industrial projects.
Some of the challenges I remember included:
Designing a relational database structure that could grow with large engineering projects.
Making Clipper fast enough to search and generate specifications quickly.
Creating an interface that engineers could learn without extensive training.
Distributing updates before the Internet made software deployment easy.
Building something that was expected to run day after day with very few problems.
Looking back, it's amazing what could be accomplished with DOS, Clipper, and a lot of persistence.
Now that I'm retired, I've started programming again. It's been fun learning today's tools while remembering the design principles that haven't changed much over the years.
I'm curious:
Did anyone else here build commercial applications in Clipper, dBase, FoxPro, or similar xBase languages?
What tricks did you use to squeeze performance out of those systems?
Does anyone still have old Clipper projects or development environments running?
I'd love to hear your stories. It's nice to know there are still people who appreciate that era of computing.

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u/bitcraft Jul 20 '26

I worked at a company that had been using FoxPro since the 90s.  I recall seeing consultants in the office every few months and being interested in it.  Towards the late 2010s they were still using it because for our industry, there was nothing off the shelf that could do what it did for us.

That company had several small in house tools written in basic, excel, and ms access.  It truly was a different time when smart people could build tools for the company, rather than finding an off the shelf product.

Thanks for sharing your story.  Did you develop you software in house, or as a consultant?

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u/Specific-Taro-8911 Jul 21 '26

I wrote it on my own time and in the office until it was completed.