x64base

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About x64base

A modern 64-bit evolution of the xBase lineage, built to be taught from.

What it is

x64base is a DBF-family database engine written in modern C++, driven by a command shell. It handles tables, records, fields, work areas, indexes, memos, relations, metadata, help, and scripts — and it is built so that each of those is a thing you can look at while it works.

It exists for two reasons. First, DBF data has not gone away, and a 64-bit engine for it that is readable rather than sealed is worth having. Second, database fundamentals are taught almost entirely through abstraction, and they do not have to be.

What it is not

Stated plainly, so nobody has to infer it:

  • Not a finished commercial database system
  • Not a Visual FoxPro clone
  • Not a drop-in replacement for Harbour or Alaska Xbase++
  • Not unlimited in scale — the 64-bit widening is partial and audited in the open
  • Not compatible with every DBF dialect
  • Not for sale, and not a hosted service
  • Not a learning-management system, and not a student portal

How claims work here

Every capability on this site is labelled with the strength of its evidence, and the labels are enforced by demotion: wording changes the day the evidence stops supporting it.

Runtime-proven A transcript or regression shows it.
Source-evidenced The mechanism is confirmed in source; the end-to-end run has not happened.
Active beta Usable and exercised, still changing.
Chartered Designed and registered, not yet built.
Not started Named here so its absence is visible.

The status board is the only place these live, and it includes work that has not been started — because an absence you cannot see is a claim by omission.

Lineage

The project has roots in ANSI C xBase work from 1993 and later recovery branches. Those historical sources are inventoried separately from the current codebase, with checksums and evidence labels, so old code can be studied without being confused for present behavior. Thirty-three years is the reason the DBF focus is deliberate rather than nostalgic.

Author

Derald Grimwood. B.S. Management Information Systems; xBase, SAP, and ERP background.

On documentation. Parts of this site were drafted with AI assistance and reviewed against source. That is disclosed rather than hidden, and it does not change the evidence rules: a tier is earned by a transcript, a regression, or a line of code — never by prose.

Preserve the past. Teach the layers. Fix the architecture. Move forward.