Wait a minute, Faster than COBOL?!?  I assume you mean development
time, and not run-time efficiency...

>>> Noel Demos <[log in to unmask]> 05/20/98 03:58pm >>>
Then again there is Transact.  Not as fast as a "VISUAL"
language, but it has won several language shootouts in the past.
Not as expensive as COGNOS.
Easier to learn than Speedware.
Faster than COBOL.
AND it is available directly from HP.
Who could ask for anything more? (yes, it's easy to maintain, too.

Nick D.


Gavin Scott wrote:
>
> Mark suggests:
> > What about some kind of "System Building" competition to build a
> > small-scale online application from scratch using a standard set of
> > tools or whatever. Work from a standard spec with three teams..
> >
> > The HP3000 MPE/iX team
> > The UNIX team (HP9000 HP-UX)
> > The i386 team (Windows NT)
>
> The problem is that for the 3000 to win you'd have to have a way of
> judging the quality and stability of the resulting application rather
> than just its functionality.  You can probably slap together just about
> any application quicker on UNIX or NT, but you'll get something that is
> a monster to maintain.
>
> There actually is an annual programming competition that works just
> like this.  They come up with a specification for an application of
> some kind and teams have something like two days to implement it.  The
> whole thing is done for the benefit of some nonprofit organization
> who gets to use the resulting software.  The competition is usually
> won by using one of a couple of rapid application development tools
> (that don't exist on the 3000 by the way) that are designed specifically
> for this kind of development.  Some of these tools apparently make even
> something like Cognos look like assembly coding in comparison.
>
> Can't find their URL off hand.
>
> G.