View source for IBM Informix-4GL

{{Short description|Fourth generation programming language}}
{{use American English|date=October 2022}}
{{use MDY dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox software
| released=February 15, 1986<ref name="Bender1985" />
}}
'''Informix-4GL''' is a [[fourth-generation language|4GL]] [[programming language]] developed by [[Informix Corporation|Informix]] during the mid-1980s.<ref name="Bender1985">{{cite journal
|last=Bender |first=Eric |date=December 30, 1985
|title=RDS announces SQL-based fourth-generation language: Targets application development on Unix
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKWy2rYxAQQC&pg=PA12
|journal=[[Computerworld]] |publisher=IDG Enterprise |volume=19 |page=12}}</ref><ref name="Flannery2000">{{cite book
|last=Flannery |first=Ron |title=The Informix Handbook |year=2000 |publisher=Prentice Hall PTR|isbn=978-0-13-012247-6}}</ref><ref name="Lebensorger2013">{{cite book
|first=Reinhard |last=Lebensorger |title=Effiziente Datenbankentwicklung mit INFORMIX-4GL: Design, Implementierung und Optimierung
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43nSBgAAQBAJ |date=March 9, 2013
|publisher=Springer-Verlag |language=German |isbn=978-3-322-90418-8}}</ref> At the time of its initial release in 1986, supported platforms included [[Xenix|Microsoft Xenix]] (on [[IBM Personal Computer/AT|IBM PC AT]]), [[Ultrix|DEC Ultrix]] (running on [[MicroVAX II|Microvax II]], [[VAX-11/750]], [[VAX-11/785]], [[VAX 8000#VAX 8600|VAX 8600]]), [[Altos Computer Systems#Subsequent products|Altos 2086]], [[AT&T 3B2]], AT&T 3B5, AT&T 3B20 and [[AT&T UNIX PC|AT&T Unix PC]].<ref name="Bender1985" />
==Description==
It includes embedded [[Structured Query Language|SQL]], a report writer language, a form language, and a limited set of imperative capabilities (functions, if and while statements, and supports arrays etc.).<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2564435/websphere-tools-upgraded-to-ease-java-development.html
|title=WebSphere tools upgraded to ease Java development}}</ref> The language is particularly close to a natural language and is easy to learn and use. The  Form Painter,  Screen Code Generator,  Report Code Generator (Featurizer) enabled adding custom business logic. It also had, as additional components a menu system, and a front-end [[GUI]] (graphical user interface) Generator.
The package includes two versions of compiler which either produce 1) intermediate byte code<ref>known as P-code, for Pseudo-Code, which ran interpretively</ref> for an interpreter (known as the rapid development system), or 2) [[C Programming Language]] code for compilation with a C compiler into machine-code (which executes faster, but compiles slower, and executables are bigger).  It is specifically designed to run as a client on a network, connected to an IBM Informix database engine service.   It has a mechanism for calling [[C Programming Language]] functions and conversely, to be called from executing C programs.  The [[Rapid development system|RDS]] version also features an interactive debugger for [[Dumb terminal]]s. A particular feature is the comprehensive error checking which is built into the final executable and the extremely helpful error messages produced by both compilers and executables.  It also features embedded modal statements for changing compiler and executable behaviour (e.g. causing the compiler to include memory structures matching database schema structures and elements, or to continue executing in spite of error conditions, which can be trapped later on).
==History==
The Informix-4GL project was started in 1985, with Chris Maloney as chief architect. Roy Harrington was in charge of the related [[Informix]] Turbo (later renamed Online) engine, which bypassed the "cooked" file system and instead used "raw" disk access. It was based on software developed in 1983 by '''FourGen Software Technologies''', which were based in [[Seattle]].  The bundled product was presented by Informix as ‘’’Forms’’’ and ‘’’Menu’’’ until 1996. This ‘’’Rapid Application Development’’’ product, marketed as '''[[FourGen CASE Tools]]''', could access the user’s choice of ‘’’Informix’’’ and/or IBM’s [[DB2]] databases.  Another flavor of Informix programming-tool was produced, called "NewEra", which supported [[object-oriented programming]] and a level of code-compatibility with Informix-4GL.
Informix was acquired by IBM in April 2001.<ref name=IFXaqdByIBM2001NYT>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/25/business/technology-ibm-will-acquire-database-unit-of-informix-for-1-billion.html
|title=I.B.M. Will Acquire Database Unit of Informix for $1 Billion
|author=Barnaby J. Feder  |date=April 25, 2001  |access-date=October 25, 2022}}</ref> Despite its age, Informix-4GL is still widely used to develop business applications, and a sizable market exists around it due to its popularity.<ref name=PopularCW>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2678533/4gl-tools-company-takes-on-java---net.amp.html
|title=4GL tools company takes on Java, .Net
|author=Paul Krill |date=June 13, 2003 |access-date=October 25, 2022}}</ref> With accounting being an inherently text based activity, it is often chosen for its purely text-based interface to optimize data entry efficiency. These tools are available today on major flavors of [[UNIX]] and [[Red Hat Linux]] and [[SUSE Linux]] operating systems; the FOURGEN business was later acquired in 2002, by www.gillan.com.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
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[[Category:Fourth-generation programming languages]]
[[Category:Informix|Informix-4GL]]