Frank Hayes
10/07/96
With corporate users demanding better Internet development tools, Oracle Corp. plans to offer the ability to generate Java from its Developer 2000 visual development kit but not quite yet.
Java won't make it into the next version of Developer 2000, despite Oracle's previous promises.
Oracle originally promised support for Java, Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s Internet development language, by the end of this year. But that feature isn't in the beta version of Developer 2000 2.0, which went to testers last month. The company expects Java support to be added to an interim release of Developer 2000 sometime next year though it is one of the most eagerly awaited features of the forthcoming release, users said.
Being able to generate a Java application that will communicate with a Developer 2000 server will truly allow us to have a three-tier architecture, which, to date, has been a little bit lacking in Developer 2000," said one Developer 2000 user at a large retailer, who asked to remain anonymous.
But the new version, which runs on Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, Mac OS, OS/2 and Unix, already adds wizards to guide developers through the process of building database connections. It also has libraries of reusable Developer 2000 objects to which corporate developers can add their own code.
"Object libraries make managing software easier. You don't have to know the original source file a routine is in you can just include the library," said Michael Brando, an engineering manager at Perkin-Elmer Corp. in San Jose, Calif., who is testing Developer 2000.
Share and share alike
The tool set also improves support for development teams via a Project Builder module that lets developers share sets of application and screen logic and define and enforce development standards. The new version also improves the ability to partition applications so parts of the application run on different machines.
Developer 2000's ability to run the same application on Windows-based PCs, Macintoshes and Unix workstations remains important to many shops, Brando said. Sybase, Inc., which shipped the Windows version of PowerBuilder 5.0 earlier this summer, is still testing its Macintosh and Unix versions of the visual tool set. The Macintosh version of PowerBuilder 4.0 arrived nearly a year after the Windows version.
But developers are waiting for better Internet support something that Oracle and its rivals among the visual development environments have been struggling to get out the door.
"When that's done, it should really help us with our Internet development work," Brando said.
"There's a lot that can be done with what we have," said Paul Mundell, decision-support specialist at Warner Bros., Inc.in Burbank, Calif. "But you're always balancing what it's possible to do with what you'd like to do. The tools just aren'tthere yet."
© Copyright 1996 by Computerworld, Inc. All rights reserved. @Computerworld is a service mark of International Data Group, Inc.