Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!deimos.cis.ksu.edu!mccall!tp From: tp@mccall.com Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: 5GLs, as defined in Jessica Keyes' article Message-ID: <3006.268b14c6@mccall.com> Date: 29 Jun 90 08:43:49 GMT References: <1192@abcom.ATT.COM> <37595@sequent.UUCP> <51i4mzv@unify.uucp> Organization: The McCall Pattern Co., Manhattan, KS, USA Lines: 44 In article <51i4mzv@unify.uucp>, dgh@unify.uucp (David Harrington) writes: > In article <37595@sequent.UUCP> normb@sequent.UUCP (Norm Browne) writes: >>A 4GL is a programming/development environment of a higher abstraction >>level than is typical of 3GLs. A 4GL is not a general purpose computing >>language. A 4GL is available only from one vendor though it may be >>available on many hardware platforms and support more than its own DBMS. >>4GLs are typically database specific; which is not necessarily bad, but >>is all computing database oriented? > > A 4GL is definitely a development environment of a higher abstraction level > than a 3GL because it consists of 2 major elements: an applications generator, > or forms builder, AND a language which (to a certain extent) abstracts data > so that the application can concentrate on the problem at hand, rather than OS > and file system overhead. Intro: I'm not a DB professional. I started reading this group because we are about to order our first DBMS product and I will be using such a product for the first time (VAX Rdb/VMS if anyone cares). This is a DB novice talking. Is it just me, or does anyone thing that the term 4GL has been hihacked by the DBMS industry? While 4GL's are more abstract in some ways than 3GL's, they are also more specific in others. Generations 1, 2, and 3 describe the evolution of the way computers are instructed to perform tasks. Generation 4, when it occurs, should be yet another step forward in the way we program computers, not just a refinement of the current method. I think some marketting types decided that they'd make their system sound more advanced by calling it a 4GL. I have trouble ascribing the term to a programming system that is not as fully general as the previous generation. If the current 4GL's lead to such a thing, great, but does anyone really think the current 4GL's are suitable for writing a CAD system, or IC layout program, or a program that produces topographic (contour) maps from survey data? (I'm not saying you couldn't do it, but you could do it in COBOL too, though I doubt anyone would think that was suitable either). I tend to agree in part with the poster who said that the current work on OOPS is cause to start talking about 5GL, but I would tend to think that this may actually be leading to a real 4GL. (But of course that term is taken! :-). -- Terry Poot The McCall Pattern Company (uucp: ...!rutgers!ksuvax1!mccall!tp) 615 McCall Road (800)255-2762, in KS (913)776-4041 Manhattan, KS 66502, USA