Apple HyperCard (1987) was a revolutionary "no-code", object-oriented, personal toolkit for the Mac that allowed non-programmers to create interactive, hyperlinked documents called "stacks". It used an easy-to-learn language, HyperTalk, to link cards containing text, graphics, and buttons, essentially acting as a precursor to the World Wide Web.

Key Takeaways

"Programming for the Rest of Us": Created by Bill Atkinson, HyperCard was designed to make application creation accessible to everyone.
Functionality: It combined a paint program, database, and scripting language, allowing users to create interactive stacks (apps), such as games (e.g., Myst), personal organizers, and educational tools.
HyperTalk Language: The scripting language allowed users to attach behaviors to objects (buttons, fields, cards), making it easy to create complex, interactive software without traditional code.
Evolution: While 1.0 was slow, 2.0 (1989) improved performance with an on-the-fly compiler and debugger.
Legacy: Despite being discontinued in the late 90s, it is recognized as a pioneering tool for interactive multimedia and a "pre-web" web.

Pros

Extremely user-friendly for non-programmers.
Highly flexible, allowing for, but not limited to, simple databases, presentations, and games.
HyperTalk language was intuitive and read like English.

Cons

Initial versions (1.0) were relatively slow.
It was ultimately superseded by the World Wide Web and Apple's own later software shifts.