<s>
Clipper	B-Application
is	O
an	O
xBase	B-Language
compiler	B-Language
that	O
implements	O
a	O
variant	O
of	O
the	O
xBase	B-Language
computer	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
or	O
extend	O
software	O
programs	O
that	O
originally	O
operated	O
primarily	O
under	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
major	O
dBase	B-Application
feature	O
not	O
implemented	O
in	O
Clipper	B-Application
is	O
the	O
dot-prompt	O
(	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
prompt	O
)	O
interactive	O
command	O
set	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
an	O
important	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
dBase	B-Application
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clipper	B-Application
,	O
from	O
Nantucket	O
Corp	O
and	O
later	O
Computer	O
Associates	O
,	O
started	O
out	O
as	O
a	O
native	B-Language
code	I-Language
compiler	B-Language
for	O
dBase	B-Application
III	I-Application
databases	O
,	O
and	O
later	O
evolved	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clipper	B-Application
was	O
created	O
by	O
Nantucket	O
Corporation	O
,	O
a	O
company	O
that	O
was	O
started	O
in	O
1984	O
by	O
Barry	O
ReBell	O
(	O
management	O
)	O
and	O
Brian	O
Russell	O
(	O
technical	O
)	O
;	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1992	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
was	O
sold	O
to	O
Computer	O
Associates	O
for	O
190	O
million	O
dollars	O
and	O
the	O
product	O
was	O
renamed	O
to	O
CA-Clipper	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Clipper	B-Application
was	O
created	O
as	O
a	O
replacement	O
programming	O
language	O
for	O
Ashton	O
Tate	O
's	O
dBASE	B-Application
III	I-Application
,	O
a	O
very	O
popular	O
database	O
language	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
advantage	O
of	O
Clipper	B-Application
over	O
dBASE	B-Application
was	O
that	O
it	O
could	O
be	O
compiled	B-Language
and	O
executed	B-General_Concept
under	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
as	O
a	O
standalone	B-Application
application	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
years	O
between	O
1985	O
and	O
1992	O
,	O
millions	O
of	O
Clipper	B-Application
applications	O
were	O
built	O
,	O
typically	O
for	O
small	O
businesses	O
dealing	O
with	O
databases	O
concerning	O
many	O
aspects	O
of	O
client	O
management	O
and	O
inventory	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
many	O
smaller	O
businesses	O
,	O
having	O
a	O
Clipper	B-Application
application	O
designed	O
to	O
their	O
specific	O
needs	O
was	O
their	O
first	O
experience	O
with	O
software	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
applications	O
for	O
banking	O
and	O
insurance	O
companies	O
were	O
developed	O
,	O
here	O
especially	O
in	O
those	O
cases	O
where	O
the	O
application	O
was	O
considered	O
too	O
small	O
to	O
be	O
developed	O
and	O
run	O
on	O
traditional	O
mainframes	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
these	O
environments	O
Clipper	B-Application
also	O
served	O
as	O
a	O
front	O
end	O
for	O
existing	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
product	O
matured	O
,	O
it	O
remained	O
a	O
DOS	B-Device
tool	O
for	O
many	O
years	O
,	O
but	O
added	O
elements	O
of	O
the	O
C	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
and	O
Pascal	B-Application
programming	I-Application
language	I-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
OOP	B-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
code-block	O
data-type	O
(	O
hybridizing	O
the	O
concepts	O
of	O
dBase	B-Application
macros	O
,	O
or	O
string-evaluation	O
,	O
and	O
function	B-Language
pointers	I-Language
)	O
,	O
to	O
become	O
far	O
more	O
powerful	O
than	O
the	O
original	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nantucket	O
's	O
Aspen	O
project	O
later	O
matured	O
into	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
native-code	O
CA-Visual	O
Objects	O
compiler	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
article	O
,	O
Clipper	B-Application
had	O
sold	O
2,000	O
copies	O
in	O
the	O
Soviet	O
Union	O
(	O
compared	O
to	O
250,000	O
worldwide	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
,	O
under	O
new	O
ownership	O
,	O
Clipper	B-Application
failed	O
to	O
transition	O
from	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
to	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
almost	O
no	O
new	O
commercial	O
applications	O
were	O
written	O
in	O
Clipper	B-Application
after	O
1995	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
then	O
,	O
the	O
"	O
classically	O
trained	O
programmer	O
"	O
commonly	O
used	O
strong	O
typing	O
,	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
dBASE	B-Application
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
evolution	O
of	O
Clipper	B-Application
,	O
named	O
VO	O
,	O
added	O
strong	O
typing	O
but	O
made	O
it	O
optional	O
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
remain	O
compatible	O
with	O
existing	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Four	O
of	O
the	O
more	O
important	O
languages	O
that	O
took	O
over	O
from	O
Clipper	B-Application
were	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
,	O
Microsoft	O
Access	O
,	O
Delphi	B-Language
,	O
and	O
Powerbuilder	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Clipper	B-Application
language	O
is	O
being	O
actively	O
implemented	O
and	O
extended	O
by	O
multiple	O
organizations/vendors	O
,	O
like	O
XBase++	B-Language
from	O
Alaska	O
Software	O
and	O
FlagShip	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
free	B-Application
(	O
GPL-licensed	O
)	O
projects	O
like	O
Harbour	B-Application
and	O
xHarbour	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
of	O
the	O
current	O
implementations	O
are	O
portable	O
(	O
DOS	B-Device
,	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
(	O
32	O
-	O
and	O
64-bit	B-Device
)	O
,	O
Unix	B-Application
(	O
32	O
-	O
and	O
64-bit	B-Device
)	O
,	O
and	O
macOS	B-Application
)	O
,	O
supporting	O
many	O
language	O
extensions	O
,	O
and	O
have	O
greatly	O
extended	O
runtime	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
various	O
Replaceable	O
Database	O
Drivers	O
(	O
RDD	O
)	O
supporting	O
many	O
popular	O
database	O
formats	O
,	O
like	O
DBF	B-Application
,	O
DBTNTX	O
,	O
DBFCDX	O
(	O
FoxPro	B-Application
,	O
Apollo	O
,	O
Comix	O
,	O
and	O
Advantage	O
Database	O
Server	O
)	O
,	O
MachSix	O
(	O
SIx	O
Driver	O
and	O
Apollo	O
)	O
,	O
SQL	B-Language
,	O
and	O
more	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
newer	O
implementations	O
all	O
strive	O
for	O
full	O
compatibility	O
with	O
the	O
standard	O
dBase/xBase	O
syntax	O
,	O
while	O
also	O
offering	O
OOP	B-Language
approaches	O
and	O
target-based	O
syntax	O
such	O
as	O
SQLExecute( )	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Clipper	B-Application
Usenet	B-Application
newsgroups	I-Application
are	O
and	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
standard	O
clipper	B-Application
library	O
,	O
a	O
library	O
named	O
"	O
Clipper	B-Application
Tools	O
"	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
CA	O
after	O
purchasing	O
Nantucket	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Three	O
versions	O
of	O
this	O
library	O
were	O
released	O
,	O
alongside	O
Clipper	B-Application
versions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
library	O
became	O
a	O
de	O
facto	O
standard	O
amongst	O
Clipper	B-Application
clones	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
xHarbour	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
also	O
cloned	O
by	O
several	O
of	O
Clipper	B-Application
's	O
clones	O
.	O
</s>
