Background.

    Once upon a time (all good stories start like this), there was an idea.
    It was, for once, a good idea. And it was simple. The idea went something
    like this: Why not connect up a few bulletin boards and get them talking
    to each other and have them all sharing the same messages.

    Now this idea was simple: allow people to talk to each other, discuss
    clipper programming, clipper bugs, and many such other things.

    So one day, the Great Wizard decided he was going to do this, and so he
    did. He started up some message areas and slowly but surely they began
    to distribute themselves around the world.

    And thus, today, we have the Clipper echos. A few things have changed
    since then. There are 5 Clipper sponsored echos that originate from the
    First Independent Republic of Aberwhat'sitsname. Each covering a specific
    sub-topic of Clipper.

    Access to these messages areas is free of charge, so there's no need
    to worry about having a bill charged to your credit card once a month.

    Some of these board are dedicated to Clipper and contain Clipper related
    file areas. Most of these files appear on these boards before appearing
    anywhere else. And the SysOp's are far more attentitive than other lesser
    spotted clones, where you have to wait a few days, if you're lucky, for
    requests to be carried out<G>.


Nearly background, but not quite.

    This library was brought to you courtesy of the users of the GT Clipper
    echos. The users of the echos suggested that it might be a nice idea, if
    they had their own PUBLIC DOMAIN library. A few, had seen and used the
    NANFORUM Toolkit and had been impressed by the efforts of those who had
    contributed. The message went out for contributions to the library. Slowly,
    the files began to mount up and several revisions later, what you see here
    is the result.


Guidelines for submitting code.

    One of the things decided early on was that we would not refuse any
    piece of code submitted to the library. There are no standards set for
    for what we will or will not accept. As long as authors acknowledge the
    fact that any code submitted is given free of charge and submitted to
    the PUBLIC DOMAIN.

    All pieces of code MUST follow a standard header format. This header is
    contained in the Norton Guides file, and all pieces of code contained in
    each version of the GT Clipper Library.

    We do not practise the art of Mickey taking over pieces of code submitted
    to the library. If a piece of code submitted contains PUBLIC or PRIVATE
    variables, we will shudder a bit, and discuss the usage of these with the
    author. But on the whole, PUBLIC and PRIVATE variables are not considered
    standard practise for the Library.

    For more information and exact layout, please refer to the Norton Guide