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From: brr@abcom.ATT.COM (Rao)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: 5GLs, as defined in Jessica Keyes' article
Keywords: Uniface, 5GLs, dbms
Message-ID: <1192@abcom.ATT.COM>
Date: 26 Jun 90 23:47:59 GMT
Organization: AT&T(IMS-DPO), Aurora, Colorado
Lines: 38


	In a recent posting, I had inquired about the 
	availability of 5GLs and their usage. I received
	several inquiries on 5GLs and what they were supposed
	to be.

	I have extracted the following paragraphs from an article
	by Jessica Keyes in Database Programming and Design:
	(without their/her permission)

	...
	It (5GL) should run on UNIX, the operating system chosen 
	for most advanced systems. It should be portable to other
	operating environments; after all distributed processing
	is the name of the game. Applications run on PCs, minis,
	and workstations as well as on mainframes.
	.....
	From the programmers perspective, the 5GL should have a 
	straightforward, easy-to-use engineering workbench. This
	prodoct should have a rich data dictionary that not only stores 
	data types and field sizes but is robust enough to perform
	mathematical and logical functions. ... Our 5GL needs
	an interface that consists of something the business
	user understands: forms.


	.................
	This article also stresses the need for having the
	"conceptual schema" capability, which can be mapped 
	against the database tables or files to build an internal
	schema for the user's transaction.

	The question still remains, what other features should
	a 5GL include?



	-bindu rama rao