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From: kevin@cmi.com (Kevin Hegg)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Oracle for the Mac
Message-ID: <4331@etsu.CMI.COM>
Date: 10 Sep 90 12:43:07 GMT
Sender: news@etsu.CMI.COM
Organization: EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence
Lines: 45
References:<49079@seismo.CSS.GOV> <28@genco.uucp>

>From: rad@genco.uucp (Bob Daniel)
>light years ahead of any 4GL I have ever worked with.  There is a 4D front
>end to Oracle but there is no need to use Oracle unless tieing into 
>another platform using Oracle.
>
>4th Dimension is by far the most user friendly and developer friendly 
>and is much more powerful than Oracle.  If there is something better, I
>definitely want to know about it.

There is something better.  It is called 3rd generation languages (C, 
Pascal, etc.).  I don't dispute that Oracle has problems, but 4th 
Dimension is inadequate for any serious project.  Sure, if you want a 
simple record keeping database the 4D is OK, but if you try to develop a 
serious application 4D is a crippled product.  I could write a 
dissertation on the problems with 4D, but here is a quick synopsis:

 1) The cost is out of site.  Everytime you want to do something you end up
    buying another tool.  I understand this is status quo in the DBMS world
    but 4D doesn't have as much capabilities as these other DBMSs.
 2) The forced development environment sucks. 4D says that everyone must
    develop and format their code according to their standards or too bad.
    For a 100-200 line program it is adequate, but if you try to develop a
    10,000 or 50,000 line program then 4D's development environment fails.
 3) There are significant incompatibilities between the way programs run
    under the development environment and the runtime environment. I know,
    ACIUS has fixed many of these, but they still exist and are mostly 
    undocumented to the general public. If you want to pay more money, then
    you can get developer information. Sorry, but I expect that when I buy
    a development system that I am entitled to that information for no 
    further charge.
 4) 4D can handle a small number of objects on the screen OK, but if
    you want to develop a serious application you will probably need more 
    than a small number of objects. 4D falls flat on its face when trying 
    to handle a moderate amount of objects at once.
 5) 4D's programming language is unacceptable.  Once again, ACIUS ignores the
    standards the rest of the world has mandated and forces you to learn a new
    programming language. I am not against learning new programming
    languages, if I can get added benefit.  However, 4D's prog. language is
    weak and is a step backwards.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop for now.  Anyway, this is my opinion.

Kevin Hegg, EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence
2001 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
Phone:   (313) 995-0900  Internet: kevin@cmi.com    Applelink: D5990