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From: brantley@cerritos.edu
Newsgroups: comp.org.decus
Subject: DECUS 4GL SIG
Message-ID: <1991Jan4.150234.5888@cerritos.edu>
Date: 4 Jan 91 23:02:34 GMT
Organization: Cerritos College, Norwalk CA
Lines: 142
For those persons interested in the growth of 4th Generation Languages at DEC
sites, you may want to check out the activity in the DECUS 4GL Special Interest
Group.
The DECUS 4GL SIG is made up of Working Groups representing the various 4GL
products running on DEC platforms. Each Working Group attempts to have
year-long contact with a vendor counterpart and the product developers. The
following 4GL's are currently active and have Working Groups: UserBase, INGRES,
Oracle, PowerHouse, 1032, SYBASE, Rally, Focus, SmartStar, Datatrieve, and
Corevision.
To give you an idea what a Working Group does at the DECUS Symposia, here is
the PowerHouse Working Group Report from the Las Vegas Symposia:
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PowerHouse Working Group Report - Las Vegas Symposia Fall 1990
By Douglas Brantley, PowerHouse Working Group Chairman
The PowerHouse Working Group presented scheduled sessions and COGNOS
developer clinics at the Las Vegas Symposia. One of the many goals
for the Las Vegas Symposia was to increase the technical content of
the clinics. This was accomplished by scheduling the clinics with
specific topics. Sessions and clinics were very well attended.
Campground VAXstation 3100
With the aid of COGNOS counterpart Robert Kinsman, Working Group
Counterpart, a VAXstation 3100 was installed in the 4GL SIG
Campground. The VAXstation was equiped with the entire VAX/VMS
PowerHouse product mix available from COGNOS. This was the first
symposia the Working Group had access to a VAX with PowerHouse
running on it in the campground.
PowerHouse Working Group News
Developer clinics were advertised via the "PowerHouse Working Group
Las Vegas News". The News was distributed at the Sunday night
reception, the 4GL Opening Session on Monday morning, the 4GL Users
Comparison Panel session, at all PowerHouse Working Group sessions
and in the 4GL SIG Campground. The News also included information
about the VAXstation 3100 installed with PowerHouse located in the
Campground, the Working Group Meeting, and the 4GL comparison
sessions. The SIG Newsletter pre-symposia article outlining Working
Group activities included a reference to the News and asked
interested parties to look for it at the Sunday night reception and
the scheduled sessions.
Scheduled Sessions
The Working Group was allocated 3.5 hours of session time plus the
1.5 hour Working Group Meeting and the scheduled 1.5 hour clinic in
the campground. The Working Group Meeting was increased to 1.5 hours
from 1 hour in New Orleans. Expanding the allocated time proved to
be wise but still not enough time to complete the prepared agenda.
The meeting wrap-up continued in the hallway and moved to the lunch
tables.
Scheduled sessions included the following presentations:
* "PowerHouse Novice", with Doug Brantley, Cerritos College;
* "PowerHouse and VMS Mailboxes", with Ron Owen, Network
Equipment Technologies;
* "PowerHouse and External Subroutines" with Mark Nichols,
Standard Wire and Cable;
* "Innovative Solutions Using PowerHouse" with Jim Long,
Golden Cheese Company.
Developer Clinics
Developer clinics in the campground lasted one to two hours
each, and totaled 8 hours. Each clinic begin with a specific topic
and included extensive interaction with working group members.
Topics included the following:
* "Challenges Of Distributed Computing" with Ron Zambonini,
Senior Vice President, Research and Development, COGNOS;
* "VMS Sections In PowerHouse", with Robert Kinsman,
PowerHouse Working Group Vendor Counterpart, COGNOS;
* "The Transaction Processing Model In PowerHouse"
with Robert Kinsman;
* "PowerHouse V6.00 New User Interface Features"
with Robert Kinsman;
* "PowerHouse And Interprocess Communications"
with Nick Nefedow, COGNOS Developer;
* "Uncommon PowerHouse" with Nick Nefedow;
* "PowerHouse Wish List Review And Status Report",
with Robert Kinsman.
PowerHouse Working Group Meeting
The Working Group meeting began with a prepared agenda. Membership
participation was requested in all phases of the symposia planning
process. Feedback was given on Las Vegas sessions and clinics. The
overall response was positive with many suggestions for even better
sessions. Nominations and elections of Working Group leadership
resulted in the following people being elected:
* Working Group Chair - Doug Brantley;
* Working Group Vice Chairs - Ron Owen and Steve Bond;
* Associate Newsletter Editor - Mark Nichols;
The Working Group Meeting Minutes will be the subject of a future
newsletter article.
Planning For The Atlanta Symposia
Extensive use was made of the phone line in the 4GL SIG Campground to
allow Working Group members to submit CFP's for Atlanta. Ten CFP's
were submitted from the Campground using the discussions and requests
for session content from the Working Group Meeting.
4GL Comparison User Panel and 4GL Problem Comparison Sessions
The Working Group participated in both cross-4GL comparison sessions.
The 4GL Problem Comparison PowerHouse solution was actually three
separate solutions. The Working Group Chair asked three Working
Group members to prepare independent solutions. Each solution was
compared during the session. The three solutions were available on
hardcopy in the campground and two solutions were available for
demomonstration on the VAXstation 3100 in the campground provided by
COGNOS.
The 4GL Problem Comparison solutions will be the on the SIG
distribution tape and will also be the subject of future newsletter
articles.
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-- Douglas Brantley
Cerritos College
11110 Alondra Blvd
Norwalk, CA 90650 213-860-2451 ext 219 InterNet: BRANTLEY@CERRITOS.EDU