Re: Client/Server Development thoughts

scott@vetpath.vet.uq.oz.au (Scott McClintock) wrote: >Hi, >We have just found out that we need to develop a package very quickly. From >past experience, we believe that it would take about 8-10 weeks to do the >job in RDS/4GL (using our own 4GL code generators!). The powers that be >want it done in about 4 weeks and with Windoze front ends! (ie telnet session >isn't good enough!). Much of the tricky processing etc can be handled with >SPL and triggers but our experience in developing Windows Client Server stuff >is fairly limited (have done masses of 4GL stuff though). We need to work >out the best way of doing it. There will be plenty of "Non-trivial" screens >to write. The following is a list of some of the possibilities. We would >appreciate any thoughts on these options: >1) NewEra Based on my experience (quite limited), don't use NewEra, it requireds quite a bit of programming (We only use it for batch processing) >2) ODBC - Visual C++ } > Visual Basic } - They already own dev tools for these 3. I built about 10 screens (not too complex) in an over-night jam session with MS-Access 2.0. We were in a similiar situation, and Access saved us. We are looking at other front ends (Powerbulder, Delphi Client/Server, and New Era 2.0) to eventually move to. Access is similiar to VB, except easier, and possibly less robust. They both use the same language (almost). >3) Powerbuilder } I have heard only good things about Powerbuilders speed, but have also heard it is not the fastest platform to develop on. >4) Magic Always a good choice. >5) Run away to a South Pacfic Island. Also a good choice. >6) Other..................... I have heard great things about Delphi Client/Server. It comes with native Informix drivers (for speed). It is an extension of (Object) Pascal, and very powerful and easy to use. It also generates EXE files, not P-code. I have heard it is better than VB. (But it is in the same catagory). It does cost $2000 however. >The DB will have some tables with upwards of 1 million rows. There will >typically be up to about 20 simultaneous users (mostly simple quick queries >though some big reports). They have a 90Mhz Pentium running SCO Unix >and SE 5.02 available to run the show. I couldn't help you with the size of you tables. Ours are quite small (for now). ...Michael Silver