jim said:
>   Post your tools, including source code, and then let’s talk about it.

maybe you're too new here to know this, but i don't post my source code.

even if i did, it wouldn't do you any good, unless you can use realbasic...

likewise, your code doesn't do me any good, because i don't deal with
whatever language you've posted it in, so you have done me no favors,
and thus i don't feel any need to "reciprocate" for your posted code...

but what _might_ do you some good is for me to talk in pseudo-code,
if you're interested in hearing that, which i am more than happy to do.

but none of this is difficult.  especially from a line-based perspective.

you read one file into one array, and the second file into a second array,
and then compare the two arrays, item-by-item.  it ain't rocket-science.

the main difficulty in any comparison routine is the re-sync process;
but if you work in a line-based way, your lines don't get out-of-sync.
(in the rare cases where they do, you can make a manual adjustment.)

so with this, the interface is more important than the underlying code.

but i'm even willing to post compiled versions of a comparison tool,
so that you can get a very good idea about the interface i am using,
provided you can get a handful of people -- i.e., 5 people -- to say
publicly, right on this listserve, that they would like to see my tool...

but i haven't gotten the impression that anyone here can code a g.u.i.
for an offline app.  i'd love to be wrong about that, so please please
do correct me, anyone listening out there, if you can indeed do that...

-bowerbird

p.s.  if you can't get 5 people to say "please", then you should read
the design description that keith wrote up last night, as it's decent.