sac@well.UUCP (Steve Cisler) (05/09/87)
4th Dimension --codenamed Silver Surfer by Steve Cisler 5/8/87 This is the first contact I have had with 4th Dimension, the full featured database management system from Acius (ACE-E-US), Inc. 20300 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014 (408) 252-4444. Expected delivery date: early June 1987. My own experience with databases is moderate, but I am not a programmer, and I am not Adam Green. This is not meant to be a critical evaluation of what Guy Kawasaki and Scott Knaster (the honchos at Acius) consider to be the most powerful dbms for any PC. Acius is located in the building complex adjacent to Apple Sales offices. I walked in to a large space with a few chairs near the door, temporary help answering the phone, and a beautiful Dbase Mac jacket from Ashton Tate, hanging on the seat back. This must be the right place... Acius has received a lot of publicity, but it is a small company with only 4 people working for it. The product, coupled with Guy Kawasaki's departure from Apple, has attracted most of the attention. A different version of 4th D. is a best seller in Europe. A number of exciting applications have been developed there and in American beta test sites. The demo I saw ran on a Mac II, so I can't comment on the way it would look on a 512ke, plus, or SE. Measurements: Minimum equipment-512ke plus ext. drive (not recommended without hard drive) Size of program: ~700K. No. of files in a database: 99 Fields per file: 511 Subfiles per file 511 Fields per subfile 511 Nested subfile levels 5 Complete database: 4 Gb Bytes per record 4 Gb Records per file: 16 million Total indexes: 32,767 Total links: unlimited Layouts per database: 32,767 Size of layout: ~12' x 12' (blueprints?!) Description (from the 2.25 inch thick manual): "4D is o a multiple-file relational database program designed to take full advantage of the Macintosh family of Apple computers. It includes a thorough control of the computer's human interface and networking capabilities. o a complete application development system. With 4D you can quickly create database applications that are in most ways indistinguishable from programs you would otherwise have to create using more traditional programming languages such as Pascal or C. o a powerful and flexible program for those 'power users'who are advanced in their understanding of databases and programming. You have a high-level programming language, extensive file import and export capabilities, communications capabilities, and access to externally programmed procedures. <This means you can use C or Pascal code and move it into 4D using a tool much like Font/DA mover.> o a way to create custom applications for your clients, your company, and for yourself." Layouts: There is a MacDraw-like editor that allows you to layout any kind of display you wish, integrating MacPaint, Pict, and Postscript files. You have full control over menus, dialog boxes and other resources. My only complaint is that the window diplaying all the files only shows very small type. There is no way, other than Stepping Out, to have a larger point size displayed. It does support any size Mac screen though. Impressions: I watched Scott set up a sample file, and it was quite apparent that it could be done very quickly, except for the huge number of choices you could make, if you did not use the default values. There are a number of features to speed up data entry, ensure consistent entries, and protect the data. There are whole hierarchies to give or deny access to different levels of users. Yes, it is multi-user. If one person is modifying a record, another can't do the same--only read it. I asked if it could be accessed remotely, and Scott replied that there were provisions for 4D to talk to the serial port, so it is theoretically possible. One file I saw contained information about movies and it was linked to a file about Academy Awards. If you called up info on a film, it would check to see if any awards were given to that title and include that info in the display. It was not a large file, but it gave a good idea of how an application might work. I asked about file size, and Apple built up a 1 million record file just to see that it worked. An unusual application that has already been done is the creation of a Mac-like front-end for a SQL database on a Vax using 4th Dimension. I also saw a small calculator that had been built to include in a custom application. There is an easy to use charting features built in that allows you to choose objects and have them scaled instead of a bar graph. For a chart of chicken sales, the chicken design would increase or shrink with the value of the field. Full development package will be $695 with a runtime version for about $60. It looks like there will be good support from the company, on some networks (CompuServe was mentioned in one article), and from Apple, considering their phyical proximity and the fact that the two principals did not leave Apple as so many entrepreneurs leave a parent firm. I was very impressed, but I know it will take a time commitment to get the most out of all the tools. I plan to take some training and try to develop a few modest applications for the library community.