Software AG is shipping Version 6 of its Natural 4GL
development environment, enabling Windows developers to access
Natural programs running on a Unix or mainframe
system.
The company calls this feature Single-Point-of-Development.
Using this function, programs developed in Windows can be modified
directly on the server platform. This addresses versioning and
synchronising issues stemming from the need to save code separately
on multiple platforms.
Version 6, for Windows, Unix, and Linux platforms, also enables
access to XML documents stored in the company's Tamino XML Server
without the need for an XML-specific query language. For example,
Natural DML (Data Manipulation Language) statements can be used to
access Tamino.
Both the Single-Point-of-Development and XML document access
capabilities are designed to boost the speed and convenience of
using Natural in an "open systems environment".
Version 6, which is being announced at the XML Conference &
Exposition 2003 event in Philadelphia, also supports XSL to enable
easier design of websites and HTML pages, the company said.
Paul Krill writes for InfoWorld
