Windows software for Bible study

Abstract

"Bible software has come a long, long way. The procedure for doing computerized biblical studies in the late 1970s began something like the joke about the recipe for elephant soup: “First, catch an elephant.” There were no publicly available texts of the Bible, so one had first to devise a coding scheme and type in the data to be searched. There were no standard search mechanisms, so one had to code the search program in a language such as Fortran, C, or Pascal. Many computer systems were batch processors; running a query meant loading a stack of punched cards into the hopper and going out for lunch while waiting for the program to reach the top of the queue and execute. This process required prolonged residence at the computer center, and turnaround was often measured in hours. The field was accessible only to scholars who combined philological and computer skills, or who could form a close team to bring together the needed capabilities"