waserman@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Tony Wasserman%MIS) (05/20/84)
The newest release of the User Software Engineering distribution from
the Section on Medical Information Science at UC San Francisco is now
available. The distribution includes:
1) Troll/USE relational DBMS -- a compact, fully-relational DBMS
with an algebraic interface. Troll/USE supports the following
domain types: integer, float, boolean, fixed and variable
length strings, and enumerated types (scalars). Relation
level operations are select, project, join, and product;
tuple level operations include foreach and cursor management.
Internal storage structure is prefix B-trees. Troll/USE is
quite efficient and compares favorably in performance with
some of the expensive DBMS's (Release 1.2 is about 30% faster
than is Release 1.1)
2) RAPID/USE application development system -- RAPID/USE is used
both as a means for designing and prototyping user interfaces
to alphanumeric displays AND as a way to link the user interface
to programmed actions. RAPID/USE uses a state-transition based
model of user-program interaction as a basis for system
construction. The actions may be programmed with the data
manipulation language of Troll/USE or in C, Fortran 77, or
Pascal. (You can even combine them all in a single system!)
(Release 1.2 provides direct linkage between RAPID/USE and
Troll/USE without use of an intermediate programming language,
as was required in Release 1.1)
3) TBE -- Troll/USE relation browser and editor -- TBE is a
replacement and upgrade for Focus/USE. The name was changed
to avoid confusion with the product of Information Builders,
Inc., which is totally unrelated.
TBE is a low keystroke tool for editing and retrieving
data from a single relation. A major enhancement in TBE
over the previous version is the ability to display relational
data in tabular format. One can also define one's own
commands.
4) Troll/USE library -- a set of routines callable from C and a
similar set of routines callable from Fortran 77 for linking
arbitrary C and FORTRAN 77 programs to the Troll/USE RDBMS.
5) Test jobs and examples
6) Experimental software, not officially part of the USE
distribution, but useful nonetheless. This includes a
version control/configuration management system (IDE) that
stores project information in Troll/USE relations, a
graphic transition diagram editor developed to run on the
Sun Workstation, TIDE, an interactive relation editor
written with RAPID/USE for designing and modifying Troll/USE
relations, etc.
The distribution includes sources, objects (PDP-11 V7 Release 2.9,
VAX 4.1 and 4.2 bsd), and documentation. Documentation includes
reference manuals, tutorials, manual pages, etc., both phototypeset
hardcopy and online versions. Distribution medium is 9-track tar
format tape, 1600 bpi. Handling fee is $300 for everything for a
single machine; $100 for each additional machine. The software
cannot be relicensed under the standard agreement.
As usual, you must sign a license agreement with the University of
California, but your attorneys will find this one less tedious than
the one from Berkeley. In particular, no proof of source license
is required, since this is all application software.
The software is officially unsupported and comes without warranty or
maintenance agreement. We cannot answer lengthy queries or
questionnaires, nor provide extensive free consulting. However,
the price is right...and commercial support is available for those
who need and want it.
To obtain a distribution packet with license agreement, etc., send
E-mail to {ucbvax,ucivax,ucsfcgl}!ucsfmis!waserman or walters.
By USPS,
Prof. Anthony I. Wasserman (or Ms. Tina Walters)
User Software Engineering Distribution
Medical Information Science
Room A-16
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
You may also call for a distribution packet: (415) 666-2951.
I will be at Usenix and will have packets and information there, too.