A 4GL is a language... it is not a tool. I think the Marketing people threw "4GL" into the Forte name 1) because it is/was a powerful buzz word and would attract customers and 2) the product uses a SQL syntax which is a 4GL language... as a matter of fact the only 4GL languages of any importance, as far as I know, are languages that speak to databases... maybe because the process of communicating with databases is proscibed enuf that a natural language approach can be successfully devised. In any case, being able to drag and drop components into applications is RAD not 4GL.
regards, evan Greg Nudelman wrote: >"IMHO" > >I always thought that 4GL were specialized processing languages, such as >Regular Expressions and SQL. At least that is what I have been taught in >the academia. Now, maybe ALL of you are, in fact, correct, as visual bean >assembly tools have been added to the 4GL list. That is entirely possible. > > >I guess the basic question is whether or not visual tools that allow you, >say hook up a bean to an existing system, use their own language. I think >that can be said to be so, as XML config files are modified by these tools, >thus visual assemblers can be said to be "speaking" in terms of XML config >files. Sounds like a reasonable 4GL assumption to me. > >As to the objection that these new tools are "not really" 4GL because they >were built using Java or C, well, everything was built using C! SQL, Java, >Perl, and reg-exp included... and C was built using Assembler... so it >really does not matter what is under the hood (it could be Cobol for all I >care, but that would be a scary prospect!). The designation such as 3GL and >4GL depends entirely on the language API that is presented to the >programmer. > >Regards, > >Greg > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Tomm Carr [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 3:04 PM >To: JDJList >Subject: [jdjlist] Re: Forte 4GL > > >Andy Bentley wrote: > >>No, I think you are getting your terms mixed up. >> >Then the top names in the industry, including Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, >Borland, etc., have been getting the terms mixed up for many years now. > >>A 4GL refers to a Fourth Generation Language. Java, C++, C are 3GL, >>Assemby 2GL, binary/octal 1 GL. >> >As you say, high level language compilers are 3GL tools that take your >source and convert it to 2GL assembly which can be converted to 1GL >machine code. IDEs are visually oriented 4GL tools that convert your >visual objects to 3GL high level source that can then be converted ... > >>4GLs that I am aware of are FOCUS, EASEL etc. Very high level >>languages that allow people to "code" in a more english like syntax >>than C for instance. >> >Anything that uses typed source code is at most a 3GL no matter how >fancy the syntax. I am not familiar with FOCUS but it rings a bell. > Isn't it just an IDE for COBOL? > >Tomm > > > > >To change your membership options, refer to: >http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm > >To change your membership options, refer to: >http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm > To change your membership options, refer to: http://www.sys-con.com/java/list.cfm
