All DatabasesMacTech Vol 07-1991
Jan 91 Letters
Volume Number: 7
Issue Number: 1
Column Tag: Letters
A "Real" Database and Benchmarks
By Kirk Chase, Editor
A “Real” Database Comes to the Macintosh
Joseph S. Terry, Jr., President
Ajalon Corporation
Oxnard, CA
Developers in the Macintosh world are at a disadvantage. Programmers on other
platforms have had a much greater choice of tools for a long time. Reading through
MacTutor’s advertisers index one finds MACYACC from Abraxas Software. This tool is
based on Yet-Another-Compiler-Compiler (YACC) from the UNIX world. YACC has
proven itself over some 15 years to be an extremely valuable tool. I welcome it’s
cousin on the Macintosh. Language Systems’ Fortran, a language where it can truly be
said, “You had to be there!”. The “ there” part was “in the beginning”. I welcome the
“Old Man” or “Old Woman” of computer languages to the Mac.
Although I don’t want to endorse any particular product, we must realize that
other platforms have a great deal to offer the Macintosh. Remember that those old guys
and gals really DID know something.
It seems that some Mac programmers think that really “neat” programming
only began in late ’81, continued through ’82 and ’83, and culminated in the release of
the world’s FIRST computer in ’84: Macintosh!
I had hoped that the product I chose to debut as a serious quasi-horizontal Mac
developer would be less controversial (and more polished) than it is. But, that is not to
be.
The Mousehole Report of November 1990 contained a memo which raised some
uncomfortable points about my new product, and I would like to set the record straight.
Whenever we are driving and I say, “Should we go straight?”, my friend Kenneth from
Oklahoma says, “Don’t go straight, go forward!”. As I go forward into the future, I
would like to say to everyone who reads MacTutor, I am very glad to be here!
My partner, Adam R. Joyner, Chairman/CEO, and I have formed a company called
Ajalon Corporation. We have become the exclusive resellers, support and developers of
db_Vista III for the Macintosh from Raima Corporation of Bellevue, Washington.
db_Vista III is a database system for C programmers composed of three main modules;
db_Vista, db_Query and db_REVISE. db_Vista is the actual database engine. This engine
is available for THINK C and MPW C currently. The source is available at a very
reasonable price. Less than $1000.00 for a complete single user system with source
included. We have plans for a HyperCard XCMD version, and similar “glue” for THINK
PASCAL, MPW Object PASCAL (read MacApp) and, yes, FORTRAN.
db_Query is a complete report and query application based on a subset of SQL.
With db_Query the user or programmer can perform arbitrarily complex queries using
the english-like SQL language and store the information obtained in it’s new format.
db_REVISE allows the developer to reorganize the database. Add, change or delete
files, fields, keys, compound keys, or sets and retain the data already in the database
without cumbersome exporting and importing. Using an advanced Revision Description
Language(RDL) data can be merged from different databases into a third hybrid, on the
fly, under program control.
In the November 1990 Mousehole “Mikev” talked about db_Vista. He said “ ... I
don’t recommend these products ...”, chilling, and further “ ... The source is just about
worthless: it is largely uncommented, undocumented, and unstructured.”
Ok. one at a time. Yes, It is hard to recommend these products given the kind of
neglect that the Macintosh version has been subjected to. The product had not been
updated in over a year before Adam joined Raima in February ’90. Adam was their sole
“Mac Guy” most recently. All the other db_Vista developers were bred in the UNIX and
DOS worlds and knew very little about the orphaned Mac product. In their defense,
Raima was justified in letting go of the Macintosh version . The UNIX and DOS database
tools markets are TEN TIMES the size of the Mac marketplace and has been their bread
and butter. Believe it. That’s THEIR focus, NOT ours. We are the Macintosh evangelist
for db_Vista, if you will, and we think you would be amazed if you knew the whole
truth. FACT: The db_Vista III development application doesn’t run well under
MultiFinder. FIX: WaitNextEvent vs. GetNextEvent. FACT: To import data an application
is sublaunched and then returns to the caller. FIX: Not necessary. It Works! It is a
decidedly UNIX/DOS way of looking at the problem, but it works!.
We will be integrating these tools into the main application and providing more
of the Macintosh “Advantage” as soon as we can, but don’t let that hold up serious
development tasks. The basic database technology is solid and has YEARS of proven
reliability in the PC and Unix world. Remember, one of db_Vista’s strengths is it’s
cross platform portability, which supports DOS, Windows, Unix and VMS
environments; an important feature in today’s heterogeneous development
environments.
Adam and I are committed 110% to making all the right changes in the product to
make it a contender for 1st place in the Mac developers heart. db_Vista is very fast. It
was bred in a world where memory is precious. Therefore it simply opens its wings and
soars on a Mac with One megabyte of memory. Try that with 4th Dimension.
Regarding technical support, yes, Raima did have problems with supporting the
product. Throughout the history of the product they never allocated the resources or
talent necessary to provide even adequate support to customers. We, on the other hand,
are committed to superior technical support. This is critical when dealing with a
product aimed at the developer community. Developers have a high degree of
intelligence and need sophisticated support. They also have deadlines and can’t afford to
waste time with wishy-washy responses. If a problem occurs we need to fix it.
Immediately.
“ ... largely uncommented, undocumented, and unstructured ...”, Yes the source
is large and not the prettiest. But, this is not a NEW database just released to the world.
The Mac version just needs some special care that an experienced Mac/UNIX/DOS
programmer can give before it will be humming. Raima didn’t understand the Mac or
the 68000, but WE DO! Also, the source code was intended for customers who wanted
to perform MAJOR changes to the basic db_Vista technology. Unfortunately, a lot of
customers had to resort to using the source to debug problems in the db_Vista product.
Now that we have the product WE will fix the problems, not the customer.
Besides, I wonder if “Mikev” has attended the developer classes that Raima holds
each and every month all over the world. The Basics class, the Advanced class, and the
Internals class. Each class is $300.00 per day. Two days for Basics, one for Advanced,
and two for the Internals. This is a serious, relatively bug free and well respected
database in the UNIX and DOS worlds. The Macintosh lags behind, but we intend to
change that.
db_Vista has zero(0) user interface tools and that’s the way we like it. Use
MacApp, THINK Class Library, AppMaker, Prototyper 3.0, HyperCard, SuperCard, or
MacWorkStation to build the user interface. We will handle the database portion for
you. db_Vista has powerful network model features that enable db_Vista to outperform
nearly every other relational database, yet the relational database features are there
for those times when it’s most appropriate.
db_Vista is a good tool. It was never brought over to the Mac with TLC. We will
give the product that care, thought, and time. If you bought it, contact us and see the
future. If you haven’t, then call us and “Let us show You”. (I love that line.)
Well, overall I couldn’t blame “Mikev”. Mac products need developers who care
about the Mac, who understand it’s complexities and appreciate it’s simplicities. Adam
and I feel that we can earn your support and your development dollars.
Joseph S. Terry, Jr.
President
Ajalon Corporation
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