Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Any experiences with C-language screen generators?
Message-ID: <618455781.21957@telly.on.ca>
Date: 7 Aug 89 01:16:19 GMT
References: <4290@void.UUCP> <919@lakesys.UUCP> <2011@infmx.UUCP>
Organization: Telly Online, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 49

In article <2011@infmx.UUCP> dror@infmx.UUCP (Dror Matalon) writes:

>In article <4290@void.UUCP> cam@void.UUCP (Cam Fox) writes:

>>A 4 line menu compiled from Informix 4GL generated code was >400K.
>>This was over a year ago but I have not heard that there had been
>>any changes.

>Informix 4gl doesn't generate big modules 
>either: I just compiled a 200 lines program and got a 30K object module.
>The same program though when linked with the libraries, produced a 300K 
>executable.

Well, in the two environments I worked with (tahoe and 386, both SysV),
the Informix 4GL executables were never less than 800K for relatively
simple applications. And I've seen the C source generated by 4GL. It's not
something you'd want to mess with very much. I didn't see any documentation
packed with the 4GL on how to interpret the C generated by it.

>The original poster though was asking about linking C programs to 4gls.

Well, I was the original poster, and I asked for nothing like that. I
wanted a tool or tools that would generate C code entry screens and reports
that I could use with the file-handler library of my choice (which in this
case happens to be db_Vista).

4GLs like Informix and Empress (the two I've used) appear to generate
humungous binaries because they seem to want to include functions which
may not be needed (if there is another explanation, please tell me).
If I can accomplish all the data-checking I need in code that compiles to
150K, how else can I explain that a 4GL takes 900K for the same thing?

I don't need someone to re-write curses or printf for me (they may not be
optimal, but they WORK). I just want something that will reduce my screen
and report writing time, *given that I want the result in readable C*.

4GLs may be great in some circumstances, but try to use them for a
network-model schema, or to interface to a CD-ROM, or to replace getty,
and see how far you get. They're also very pricey.

BTW: Thanks to all of you who replied by mail to my original request. In
addition to C-scape, a couple of you mentioned Vermont's Windows for Data
and a package called Pro-C. Both appear good. I had seen Charm at a Unix
show and was not impressed, partially by its price and partially by its
insistance on using its own file handler.
-- 
  Evan Leibovitch, SA, Telly Online, located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!attcan!telly!evan / Director & editor, /usr/group/cdn
 3 most stressful jobs in Canada: Policeman, fireman, choirboy in Newfoundland