Re: Comparative between DB2, Informix and Oracle

DA Morgan wrote: > Serge Rielau wrote: > >> DA Morgan wrote: >> >>> Obnoxio The Chav wrote: >>> >>>> DA Morgan said: >>>> >>>>> Obnoxio The Chav wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> FireHawkBr' said: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> Which are the alternatives to >>>>>>> the 4GL for Oracle? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> SQL*Forms. >>>>>> >>>>>> Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> You shouldn't bring up technology that is older than you are. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> So what *is* your suggested competitor to 4GL for Oracle, then? >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> You. I thought you did. I think SQL*Forms as valuable as 4GL. >>> Neither one has much of an impact in the global marketplace. >>> Oracle, though, hasn't sold SQL*Forms in far more than a decade. >> >> >> Somehow I don't think that answers OTCs or the original posters >> question. What would be the target for migrating a 4GL app to Oracle? >> >> Cheers >> Serge > > > Depends. If an internal applications I'd give a different answer from > it being an externally accessible app. It depends on security, > scalability, application server, etc. > > What you are asking is the equivalent to which database is the best. > Without including information about "for what". I wish that were true. In my experience the question about migrating from one product to another is governed by one overriding factor: Price of migration. To be exact: How much does it cost me to replace x with y? The way to keep the price down is to find the best match. So the question is really quite simple: Does the target language exist, and if not is there one that is sufficiently equivalent that a tool can automate the transfer? Because if that cannot be automated PYs of manual labor may loom over my head. No matter how green the grass on the other side after a redesign, migrations are in the vast majority of the cases about one-to-one emulations first. Often teh QA system at a customer site is not equipt to do proper regression testing as required for a redesign to begin with. So here is my answer w.r.t. 4GL for an IDS to DB2 scenario: The successor for 4GL is EGL and there is tooling to bring you from one to the other smoothly. Here is a link: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/informix/pubs/library/4gl_7_egl.html Once you are on EGL (still with IDS (!)), you are in a position to move to DB2 without having to worry about that part any more. Going to DB2 will you also won't have to worry about incompatible isolation levels which may require rewriting your app logic. Cheers Serge -- Serge Rielau DB2 SQL Compiler Development IBM Toronto Lab