The PICK Collection
A unique Library of books and historical documents
devoted to the 
Pick "MultiValue" D3 Database.
Jonathan E. Sisk
Publisher: Tab Books
Publication date: 1987
Binding: Hardcover
Pagination: XVI, 300p.
Edition 01
Book category Adult Non-Fiction
ISBN 0830628452Download PICK BASIC: A Programmer's Guide
Original list price $36.95
Notes from Jonathan E. Sisk:
This was the first textbook devoted entirely to the PICK/BASIC language. It provided a step-by-step approach to learning the language, and covered nearly every instruction in the many programs included in the book. It was modeled after the popular JES course on Pick/BASIC Programming.
Contents:
Pick terminology and concepts; The related TCL processes; Fundamental PICK/BASIC statements and instructions; The concept of loops; Calculation and the principle of precedence; String-handling intrinsic functions; Data conversion and print masking; Numeric data conversion and output routing; The CASE statement and controlling switches; Looping with the FOR-NEXT statement; Extending the FOR-NEXT construct; An introduction to file I/O; Manipulating dynamic arrays; A generalized data entry program; Formatting reports and passing PROC arguments; Using the EXECUTE statement; External subroutines; Additional PICK/BASIC concepts; Appendices; Glossary; Review quiz answers; Index.
Jonathan E. Sisk and Steve VanArsdale
Publisher: Hayden Book Co.
Published: 1985
ISBN: 9780810462861Download Exploring the PICK Operating System
Summary:
Covers PICK Operating System, PICK/BASIC, ACCESS (Data Base Manager), the EDITOR, PROC (Stored Procedure Language), and TCL (Terminal Control Language)
Notes:
Includes index.
Classification: Dewey Class: 5.43 -- Computer programming, programs, data
LCC Number: QA76.76
Book Details: Language: eng Physical Description: 238 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
We connected with Hayden thanks to them running the company on a Pick System, and naturally, loved it.
Hayden commissioned us to write the first definitive textbook on Pick, which appeared on retail shelves shortly later in hard-cover format. The book itself was modeled after the "Pick Fundamentals" course that JES offered at the time, and remained the only title on Pick available in retail outlets for the next several years.
Publisher: Hayden Book Co., Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. 1989.
ISBN: 0-672-48412-9
Download Exploring the PICK Operating System, 2nd Edition
Want a copy? We have a few of these books in pristine condition. Contact if interested.
Summary:
Covers PICK Operating System, PICK/BASIC, ACCESS (Data Base Manager), the EDITOR, PROC (Stored Procedure Language), and TCL (Terminal Control Language)
Contents:
An introduction to the PICK system; Getting around in the PICK world; The user processes: TCL; The EDITOR: the window into the processes; ACCESS: the data retrieval process; PROC: the stored procedure language; PICK/BASIC: the programming language; Controlling peripherals; The logical computer; Putting the parts together: applications; Analysis and design for PICK-based systems; The future of the PICK system; Appendixes; Index.
Notes:
On t.p. the registered trademark symbol "TM" is superscript following "PICK" in the title.
Includes index.
Classification: Dewey Class: 5.43 -- Computer programming, programs, data
LCC Number: QA76.76
Book Details: Language: eng Physical Description: 342p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Pagination: xxi, 342p.
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:This was not just a new edition, but really a much-improved new book, with much more information on all topics. It still has the useful summary and comments on implementations and the very clear treatment of correlatives and conversions.
The second edition of this book was packaged in a paperback, perfect-bound format. The content was revised to reflect changes that had taken place in the code since the first edition, plus, it gave us the chance to tighten up the loose parts.
Jonathan E. Sisk
ISBN 0-8306-3245-X
Publisher: JES Publishing Co. for Pick Systems
Published: 1982
Price: $50
Print run: 1000
Download The Pick Pocket Guide, 5th Edition, Desk Reference
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
In early 1982, Dick Pick saw a copy of the Reality Pocket Guide I had written and published the previous year.
He tasked Ken All, their PR guy at the time to contact me to see if I would produce a custom version for Pick & Associates.
I estimated that it would take about six weeks to produce, since I only had to search and replace certain bits. But that was before I met the legendary "Harry Emerson", widely considered to be the principal architect of the system.
Harry had a keen interest in ensuring the written word describing his efforts was accurate.
He became my personal mentor on the depths and intricacies of the Pick System in a friendship still going strong in 2023.
My six week estimate turned into six months of rewrites, long discussions with Harry who also wrote, among other things, the Print Spooler
I was lucky to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with the real heavyweights of the Pick industry at the height of their powers and the products' popularity.
This edition was produced in a 5 by 7 inch loose-leaf binder, which we called the "hard cover" version. Each copy in the first edition had a serial number, which precipitated the first real application at Pick & Associates, to track the sales and owners of the copies. The database we began at that time became the basis of the now-legendary "entity" file that Dick Pick obsessed on for the remaining years of his life.
It might be of interest that it was during the writing of this book, we came up with the name "ACCESS" for the retrieval language and "Pick/BASIC" for the programming language. Up to that point, Pick had called them "English" and "DATA/BASIC" as they were in the original REALITY implementation.
It also precipitated another change at Pick, resulting in the renaming of the company from Pick and Associates to Pick Systems.
This book spawned a cottage industry for me. It went through a half-dozen editions, and about a half-dozen of the early Pick Licensees wanted custom versions for their implementations, which I also wrote.
Jonathan E. Sisk
Publisher: JES Publishing for Pick Systems
Published: 1992
Price: $50
Pagination: 1432pp
Download EPICK Encyclopedia PICK 1st edition
Current D3 Online Reference Manual
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
In this first edition, every topic was in alphabetical order, like an encyclopedia. There was a very good reason for this: Dick Pick wanted it that way.
When Dick commissioned me to write this, I knew it would be unpopular in this presentation format. That's why I built EPick, an (Pick) documentation database out of each discrete topic (2345 discrete topics, to be exact), which could then be sorted in any order for future editions.
This edition was by far the most comprehensive. In subsequent editions, much of the contents of the first edition was systematically removed, including such things as examples, "see also's", compatibility indexes and virtually all of the "white space". This resulted in a much more compact print format at the expense of containing less information.
Publisher: JES Publishing for Pick Systems
Published: 1993
Price: $19.95
Download EPICK Encyclopedia PICK 2nd Edition
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
In this edition, Dick Pick took a much more proactive role, resulting in a reduction in page count by nearly half (from 1440 to 746 pages).
This reduction was in part facilitated by reducing the point size by half to 6-point font, making it two columns (like a real encyclopedia), and removing a bunch of "unnecessary" stuff, like examples and cross-references to related subjects, plus, all that pesky "white space".
Author: Harvey Rodstein
Editor: Jonathan E. Sisk, The Pick Library
Publisher: Tab Books (McGraw-Hill)
ISBN: 0830601252
Summary: This book is the first to address the needs of the experienced applications programmer.
Topics include database organization, quick data query, process control without PROC, ACCESS correlatives, functional integration, system performance, and more.
Book Details:
Physical Description: 354 pages
Edition Info: Hardcover; 1990-02
Price: $29.95
Download PICK for Professionals Advanced Methods and Techniques
Notes:
Pagination: xiv, 354p. Contents: The Pick database; File management; A closer look at PICK/BASIC; List processing; Process control; Access programming; Dictionary driven data entry; The virtual machine; Working in the virtual environment; Index.
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
This was the first book for long-time Pick Guru Harvey Rodstein. Written for experienced programmers, topics include database organization, quick data query, process control without PROC, ACCESS correlatives, functional integration, system performance, role of fourth generation languages, and more.
Author: Ian Jeffrey Sandler
Editor: Jonathan E. Sisk, The Pick Library
Publisher:Blue Ridge Summit, PA : Tab Books, 1989.
ISBN: 0830631232
Dewey Class: 5.43 -- Computer programming, programs, data
LCC Number: QA76.76
Book Details:
Language: eng
Physical Description: xiv, 290 p. ; 25 cm.
Edition Info: $29.95
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
Ian Sandler was one of the top experts working in Pick at the time he wrote The Pick Perspective.
This book contains a vast collection of the knowledge, tips and techniques he acquired over his 25+ years of experience in the Pick marketplace.
This was the first book available that explained in simple terms exactly what Pick is, why it is that way, and how to use it to produce successful, large-scale commercial applications.
Editor: Jonathan E. Sisk, The Pick Library
Publisher: Tab Books (McGraw-Hill)
ISBN: 0830633227
Download PROGRAMMING WITH IBM PC BASIC AND THE PICK DATABASE SYSTEM
Book Details:
Language: eng
Physical Description: xii, 458 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Comments from Jonathan E. Sisk:
A programmer's guide comparing instructions between PICK/BASIC and Microsoft BASIC, with emphasis on converting application programs.
Published: 1984
Chapter 5 of this book was devoted to the PICK Operating System
Download Microprocessor Operating Systems Volume III