READ.ME



The name of this disk is TOP-50.  It was designed to offer you
statistical information on the TOP-50 (that is the 50 most
populous cities) and offer you a quiz to determine which, if any,
of these cities would be the best and worst for you.

The TOP-50 are:

Albuquerque, New Mexico            Atlanta, Georgia
Austin, Texas                      Baltimore, Maryland
Boston, Massachusetts              Buffalo, New York
Charlotte, North Carolina          Chicago, Illinois
Cincinnati, Ohio                   Cleveland, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio                     Dallas, Texas
Denver, Colorado                   Detroit, Michigan
El Paso, Texas                     Fort Worth, Texas
Honolulu, Hawaii                   Houston, Texas
Indianapolis, Indiana              Jacksonville, Florida
Kansas City, Missouri              Long Beach, California
Los Angeles, California            Memphis, Tennessee
Miami, Florida                     Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis, Minnesota             Nashville, Tennessee
Newark, New Jersey                 New Orleans, Louisiana
New York, New York                 Oakland, California
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma            Omaha, Nebraska
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania         Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania           Portland, Oregon
Sacramento, California             St. Louis, Missouri
San Antonio, Texas                 San Diego, California
San Francisco, California          San Jose, California
Seattle, Washington                Toledo, Ohio
Tucson, Arizona                    Tulsa, Oklahoma
Virginia Beach, Virginia           Washington, D.C.

The Programs:

1.  CARDS.EXE.  This is a card data base giving you the current
population, altitude, area and City Hall phone # for each of
these cities.

2.  CARDS.DAT.  This is the data file for CARDS.EXE and can be
used only in conjunction with CARDS.EXE.

3.  CELEB.EXE., CELEBII.EXE  These programs list the famous
people born in each of the TOP-50 cities.  The celebrities
include movie stars, major league ball players, politicians,
writers and scientists.  

4.  POP.EXE and POPII.EXE give the populations of the cities from
1910 through 1980. (Later census figures are on CARDS.EXE).  A
few of the Rust Belt cities have a smaller population now than
they did in 1910.  Some of the Sun Belt cities showed tremendous
growth.

5.  LISTS.EXE gives the BEST-5 and WORST-5 cities in a potpourri
of categories such as weather, transportion, schools, recreation,
etc.  

6.  PEOPLE.EXE gives the five cities (among the TOP-50 group)
that have the most people of various ethnic groups.  Not
surprisingly, New York is on almost every list.  We couldn't get
enough information to list all ethnic groups but have a wide
sample.

7.  QUIZ.EXE allows you to pick the best (and worst) TOP-50
cities for you based on your personal preferences.  There are two
groups of questions:
 
    a.  Eleven of the "yes" or "no" type which are routine.

    b.  Next there are 10 questions covering the following rating
        categories:    

         1.  The Arts
         2.  Crime   
         3.  The economy 
         4.  Education
         5.  Health
         6.  Housing
         7.  Recreation
         8.  Transportation (commute time)
         9.  Transportation (public transportation)
        10.  Weather

        (We go into detail on the above categories in QUIZ.EXE.) 
  
        You are asked to rate each item from 1 to 5.  One would  
        mean that the category was unimportant to you and five of 
        the highest importance.  Two, three and four would be    
        degrees in between.  (This rating system is explained in 
        detail in the program.)
  
        For best results, instead of giving an isolated rating to
        each, you might compare the categories to see which are  
        the most important.  For instance, if you were willing to 
        tolerate a high crime rate to live in a city strong in  
        The Arts, then you might give The Arts a "5" rating and  
        Crime a "4".

        Another example:  If you are willing to commute great    
        distances to give your kids better schools, then        
        Education would get a "5" and Commute Time a "4".

        Lastly, on Public Transporation, don't give it a low     
        rating because you prefer to drive.  Even if you drive,  
        you benefit from a good Public Transporation system that 
        gets other drivers off the road.


8.  NEXT50.TXT.  This is a text file that gives information on
registration and gives details on a disk covering the Next-50
cities.