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Shopping for a Fourth Generation Language
Source: Datamation Published: Nov 1986
Application developers are always searching for better higher level software that will improve the development of software. It has always been that way in the computer business, and we don’t see anything on the horizon to change this principle of the computing. After assembler languages came the compiler languages of the 70’s, like COBOL and FORTRAN. And, after these a whole host of languages that came to be known as 4GL appeared. This early article by George Schussel was an evaluation and guide to the field of 4GL’s.
The article starts off by stating:
Fourth generation languages are like a good set of tools-when you need them they come in handy. Today’s 4GL software provides significantly different solutions for improving productivity compared with third generation COBOL and FORTRAN. The semantic and syntactical differences among 4GLs are also far greater than the differences between FORTRAN and COBOL. And although 4GLs are similar in some ways most interface to one or more database management systems, provide query facilities and report writers, and support screen painting and some kind of procedural language-proprietary versions vary greatly in the types of applications and environments they are best suited for.
