by About Three weeks ago, I posted an article asking about Object-oriented
4GL for engineering applications and promised to post a summary of the
replies. I have got six replies from different people. My appreciation
to all of them for their time and informative messages.
The following is the summary of the six replies, in which I did not include
names of people who sent me messages except those that have to be included
for getting further information.
------------- the Eiffel language -------------
Eiffel, developed by Interactive, is an object-oriented
programming language for engineering
quality software for production applications. The Eiffel Extended
Environment developed by Interactive combines
the ideas of object-oriented design with modern
principles of software engineering, providing a framework
for the development of highly reusable and flexible
software packages.
The Eiffel language itself is in the public domain, and
is defined in "Eiffel: The Language" by Dr. Bertrand Meyer,
(Prentice Hall 1991).
There are Eiffel library and environment components available for database
capabilities {EiffelStore (Standard Relational DBMS interface)},
GUI Capability {EiffelBuild (Interactive GUI development system)},
and concurrent/distributed processing capabilities.
The software components are available through:
Interactive Software Engineering
270 Storke Road, Suite 7
Goleta, CA 93117
Phone: 805-685-1006, Fax: 805-685-6869
email: quer...@eiffel.com
The book "Eiffel: The Language" is available through most
bookstores.
------------------- Objectworks\Smalltalk and Facets -----------------
I am responding to your request for information about CASE tools or systems
using 4th generation languages. I would like to introduce you to ParcPlace
Systems' products Objectworks\Smalltalk and Facets. Objectworks\Smalltalk
(OWST) is a pure object oriented development environment. Facets is a
4/GL, written in Smalltalk, that helps you build graphical interfaces. If
you would forward your complete mailing address, I would be happy to send
you the product brochures, and information about the educational discount
we offer.
In the meantime, I would like to tell you a little about the products:
What is Objectworks\Smalltalk?
It is a development environment for creation, management and delivery of
object-oriented software programs using Smalltalk-80. The development
environment includes:
Substantial Class Library
Source code browsers and editors
Symbolic Debugger
Object inspector
Access to other languages, such as C
On-line Tutorial
What hardware will it run on?
Objectworks\Smalltalk will run on Macintosh II, 80386 PCs with MS-Windows
3.0,
Sun-3, Sun-4, SPARCStation, DECStation 3100 and 5000, Hewlett-Packard 9000
series 300, Apollo workstations, IBM RS/6000, and Sequent. Applications
written in Smalltalk-80 are portable across all platforms.
What is Facets?
Facets is a fourth generation language written in Smalltalk that helps you
quickly generate screens,reports, menus, and other interface components.
What hardware will it run on?
The Facets product will run on all platforms that OWST runs on.
How can I order Objectworks\Smalltalk and Facets?
ParcPlace Systems accepts purchase orders, check, Visa and MasterCard. To
place your order or request additional information contact me at:
ParcPlace Systems
1550 Plymouth Street
Mountain View, CA 94043
Phone: 415-691-6734-direct line
800-822-7880
Fax: 415-691-6715
email: ci...@ParcPlace.COM
Cindy Sage
ParcPlace Systems
Corporate Sales
-------------------- Accent -----------------------
My firm (Caseware), in Costa Mesa, and soon Irvine, has developed
a language for just this purpose. The language is called Accent,
and has been used to develop a best-of-class CASE product,
called Amplify (which is a configuration management environment).
Here are some of the language features which you may need:
- object oriented features
- strong static type checking
- built-in communication (inter-process function calls)
- several other distributed processing features
- simplified definition and operation of graphical interfaces (X/Motif)
- very high-level built-in data types (e.g. tables)
- many useful built-in methods (e.g. string manipulation)
- no need to do memory management and other low level chores
- easy access to portable OS features
- object database capability provided by Amplify
- object code is machine independent
The language is bundled at no cost with our Amplify product.
If you obtain an evaluation copy of Amplify (or perhaps a free
copy since your interests are apparently research), then you
get unlimited use of Accent.
Right now, documentation on Accent is scant, but we do have
reference manual, and you should be able to get any questions
answered easily by e-mail or phone.
If you are interested, please let me know. While we don't sell
Accent as a product, I am personally interested in testing
its use in other applications, and am willing to help you out
if I can.
Amplify(R) Control from CaseWare(R), Inc.
Amplify Control is an interactive development environment which
emphasizes configuration management and tool integration. Amplify
provides both graphical and non-graphical user-interfaces which may be
modified or extended by the user. The graphical interfaces support
current standards such as Motif, Sunview, and OpenLook. Amplify also
supports a variety of configuration management methodologies via its
flexible object-oriented data modeling capabilities. Use of Amplify
is not limited to software development and is not language specific.
These are the main functional areas of Amplify:
Configuration Management:
Managed objects in Amplify are considered versions of
components. Each such component is stored and manipulated
according to its type, which may be user defined. The component
types are defined in a "development model," and form a
hierarchy in which inheritance of both data and methods
occurs. Certain component types, called "assemblies", are used
to collect others into configurations over which functions such
as software product construction may be performed.
Graphical Development Interface:
Most amplify operations, as well as a variety of development
tasks, may be performed via the GUI's. Configurations and
version histories may be traversed and manipulated using the
"point-and-click" style of operation. Both built-in and
user-defined operations may be invoked from menus which
accompany the various displayed objects.
Tool Integration Platform:
By means of a combination of development models and
extensibility of both the graphical and command-line
interfaces, users may add their own operations and integrate
other tools with Amplify.
Important features of Amplify include:
Version History View:
A graphical depiction of the derivation history of any
component in the system may be viewed and manipulated.
Parallel, successive, and merged versions may be represented.
Version histories of entire configurations may also be
manipulated. Each version has a status (e.g. working, released)
within a user-defined life-cycle.
Configuration View:
Assemblies of components, which are internally represented
as directed graphs, may be viewed and traversed using the
configuration view. This view, as well as history view,
permits invocation of various operations on the displayed
objects via mouse buttons and menus (such as editing of
source code).
Build Graph View:
Provides a means to visually define the processes, data
flow, and dependency paths involved in constructing one or more
products from a collection of input data. These graphical
representations are termed "build graphs", and the semantic
information they convey drives the automatic build process.
Automatic Build Process:
The build process, which may be invoked from the configuration
view or the build graph view, allows construction of software
products such as executables, or other development products
such as documents. The build algorithm utilizes "build graphs"
in conjunction with assembly hierarchies to determine
dependency information and updates all out-of-date products.
Build processes may be distributed to appropriate machines
for load balancing or cross-development.
Automatic Configuration Update:
The "reconfigure" algorithm employs user-defined rules to
automatically update the contents of assemblies. Thus
assemblies may be updated with the latest versions of their
constituent components, or with versions which meet other
criteria such as test or QA level, target compatibility, etc.
Software component dependencies (such as include files) may
also be automatically updated by this process.
Build Product Sharing:
Build products, such as object files, executables, and
libraries, are automatically shared among many configurations
and users.
Problem Tracking:
An advanced and customizable problem tracking and task
management system is optionally provided, which is
integrated with the rest of the CM functions.
Query and Reporting:
A sophisticated ad hoc query and reporting capability is
provided.
Security and Access Control:
These features permit enforcement of methodologies, as well as
ordinary access restrictions.
Extensible Command Language:
Amplify includes a command language interface which may be
extended by installations as well as individual users. This
language provides access to most Amplify capabilities.
Extensible Graphic Interface:
Development modelers may alter or extend the Amplify user
interfaces by changing control panels, extending type-specific
menus, and by adding their own dialog boxes. All such
extensions will work with all window systems which Amplify
supports and can be made without knowledge of the API's of
these window systems.
ACcent(TM) Programming Language:
This very high-level, procedural and partly object-oriented
language provides the means for making the various extensions
to the Amplify platform. The "methods" which belong to
user-defined data types, as well as user-interface extensions,
are all made using this language.
Amplify is currently supported on several Unix platforms, including
Sun Sparc, HP300/400 and 700/800, and others. Both the X Window
System and Sunview are supported.
CaseWare is committed to open systems and supports a variety of emerging
standards in the CASE and software systems industries.
Packages integrating Amplify with tools from other vendors are also
available. Please inquire about tools for which you need support.
For additional information please contact:
Sales Department
CaseWare, Inc.
3530 Hyland Ave. #115
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 754 0308
FAX: (714) 754 1568
email: ampl...@cwi.com
uunet!cwi.com!amplify
-------------------- Windows4GL -------------------
You might be interested in looking at Windows4GL, a product developed
by Ingres Corporation. We're in Alameda, and are best known, I guess, for
developing the relational database of the same name.
Windows4GL is a true application development 'environment', which you
said you were less interested in, but its language does have the features
you're looking for. The language is an integration of 3gl (IF-THEN-ELSE,
WHILE-DO, BEGIN-END, pointers, etc), and SQL. The object-orientation comes
in because the language comes with a library of about 50 pre-defined classes,
whose attributes can be referenced, and whose methods can be invoked, with
a very clean syntax in the 4GL.
I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it may not fit
your needs because it's architecture is interpretive by nature. Basically
you use a set of GUI-based tools to develop an application based on frames,
using the event-driven 4GL to process input and output. The application
definition, once completed, is stored in a data dictionary. At that
point, an interpretive engine is used to 'run' the application either from
the data dictionary, or from a flat file.
If you want more information, call 1-800-4INGRES (1-800-446-4737).
--------------- Object/1 ---------------
You might want to look at Object/1, a product sold by my company.
It has a C-like language in a Smalltalk-like development environment
and object-hierachy, but using it is very like a 4GL because of the
built-in database and screen design facilities.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- DEC Trellis ---------------- Digital sells a product called DEC Trellis (on RISC/ULTRIX and VAX/VMS) that ------------------- end of summary ---------------- Heping He
Jon Reid, Manager Software Development Micro Data Base Systems, Inc.
Box 6089 (Two Executive Dr.)
uunet!purdue!mdbs!jon Lafayette, IN 47903 USA
is a workstation-based object-oriented environment, based around a very
high level language definition (Trellis). It includes browser and
other tools, and libraries for X-windows, SQL, Objectivity/DB. The product
manager Jerry Smith can be reached at <sm...@pipe.enet.dec.com>
Department of Information and Computer Science
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA 91717
h...@ics.uci.edu