Is there a place for 4GLs anymore?

[Jon (Jarod) Hawks]

My take on RPG is that RPG I required cards that had
to be compiled for execution each run. RPG II was able
to be worked for the 5153 Workstations which were
compilable to SRT's or NEP-SRT's. Both were batch
intensive and typically a one-way input for app's.
But, they compiled. When RPG II added EXCPT processing
and better on-line processing was available and actual
data editing at the field level could happen, instead
of a second program taking a basic input file to edit.
There was no database underpinning. RPG III was a much
more highly evolved language for S/38 which support a
pseudo-rdb, that acted more like Image, with hybrid
lists on top of their indexes. Indexes upon indexes
occured until the convultion incurred a mass
entanglement because the programmers did not
understand volume processing, but rather, solved their
problem with the data. 

I guess the danger in the next generation of computer
geeks is that any 'shiny' object is attractive. So
many languages have come and gone and populated the
compute farms across the world. It would be a good
thing to cut down on languages and increase the power
of useful ones. I have great hopes that HP will
produce something unique, based on Digital and HP
technology, which really should not have gone by the
wayside the last decade, and to which most large
companies are now returning. At Pfizer, we knocked out
over 500 servers and standardized on single platforms
again. What a boon!
--- David Morrison - Corporate
<dmorrison@mcbrideelectric.com> wrote:
> Another 4GL language is Synon, now called Cool:2E. 
> For the AS/400 and ?
> 
> Bob Deskin referred to RPG as a 4GL, but I think 3GL
> is more accurate for it.
> 
> David Morrison
> McBride Electric
> 
>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	stewm@canada.com [mailto:stewm@canada.com] 
> Sent:	Wednesday, May 07, 2003 5:21 AM
> To:	powerh-l@lists.swau.edu
> Subject:	Is there a place for 4GLs anymore?
> 
> 
> 
> Bob D., your definitions of the programming language
> generations are right in with what I was tought
> years
> ago in college.  I agree with these definitions. 
> What
> would define a 5GL...anyone know?  Is anything out
> there close to a 5GL?  Will there ever be a 5GL?
> 
> 1GL is machine language
> 2GL is symbolic machine language such as assembler
> 3GL is high level procedural such as COBOL, C, C++,
> Java
> 4GL a non-procedural (what not how) language that
> provides a large reduction in physical code. Most
> are
> dictionary based.
> 
> Mark 
> 
> Consultants Club Corp.
> Quote for the Day: Live by the sword, die by the
> sword.
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