louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) (07/24/87)
I am looking for an applications generator to be used to develope
computer-based instruction programs which must run on both MS/DOS and
UNIX. Ideally this should be an authoring system which generates C
program modules which could also be used as a front end for a DBMS. It
would be nice if an experienced (non-programmer) user could develope
CAI modules, but the system should allow a programmer to customize an
application. One such system I have looked at briefly is JAM and
FORMAKER from JYACC. They have ads in UNIX/WORLD, and I have their
demo disk for MS/DOS. Is there anyone out there with experience using
JYACC's software?
The authoring system should really be a front end to generate C code
and call on a library of functions supplied with the package. It
should have a screen builder and should generate a data dictionary, but
also flow control facilities.
I will also be evaluating Windows for C and Windows for Data from
Vermont Creative Software, and would appreciate hearing any comments
about this package or any others that you have used.
--
Louis Schmittroth My employer has no opinions.
Computer Science
Athabasca University ...{ubc-vision, ihnp4}!alberta!auvax!louisbas+@andrew.cmu.edu (Bruce Sherwood) (07/27/87)
Concerning authoring systems for preparing materials for either UNIX or MS/DOS environments, I might mention something which does do that (but may not fit the other stated requirements). At Carnegie Mellon University we have Unix-based workstations (IBM RT PC, Sun2, Sun3, and MicroVax) running the Andrew system software developed in a join CMU-IBM project. Call Unix level 1 in a layered software environment. Level 2 is the Andrew window manager "wm", soon to be replaced by X11 from MIT. Level 3 is the Andrew "base environment", a subroutine library which among other things facilitates embedding a standard (and powerful) scrolling text editor panel within your own program. Level 4 is CMU Tutor, a programming language with the following properties: 1) Integrated environment -- text editor, graphics editor, compiler/linker/executor are all packaged together. 2) Incremental compiling, so that it looks as tho you're using an interpreter (instant revision) but it runs at the speed of a compiled language. Contrast this with C, where compiling and linking of interesting Andrew programs typically takes five minutes. 3) Direct entry of complex text (italics, centered, etc.). Such text can't go into a C program because the compiler chokes on it. 4) Graphics editor: Click in the execution window, and source code is inserted into the source window, and the source code is reexecuted to make the new display. This enormously speeds up the production of the display parts of the program. 5) Compiler errors are marked on the correct line, down to the character position, and the accompanying message is explicit rather than vague. Similarly for run-time errors. Contrast this with the vague error messages given by the C compiler, often with misidentifcation of the offending line. Or contrast with reading a dump at run time. 7) Rescaling for variable window sizes. Two lines of source code suffice to make text and graphics resize when the window is reshaped. 8) An on-line reference manual which not only gives several ways to find information but also provides sample routines to illustrate all features. Thanks to incremental compilation and universal cut-and-paste between windows, these examples can be run instantly, so the manual describes itself. 9) Programs written in CMU Tutor on Unix-based Andrew workstations can be compiled and run on MS-DOS PCs and on Apple Macintoshes. Because display and control are expressed in a generic rather than an environment-specific way, programs are remarkably environment-independent. For example, mouse-driven menus on Andrew are pop-up menus, but on the PC and Mac they are pull-down menus (we do our own menus on the PC). But in the CMU Tutor source code one just says "menu", and this generic statement then does whatever is appropriate on the various machines. Since CMU Tutor programs can be made to automatically adjust to varying window sizes, they automatically adjust to the different screen sizes on these various machines. Although the main thrust of the PC and Mac versions is to run programs written in the productive multi-window workstation environment, one can write programs directly on these machines using a batch compiler. And there is now an experimental version being debugged on the Mac which does give incremental compiling, source and execution windows, and graphics editing. CMU Tutor is a dialect of the Tutor languages, especially Tutor and MicroTutor of the PLATO Project at the University of Illinois, with enhancements stimulated by modern mouse-and-graphics oriented environments. It is a full language, not a simple "authoring" language, with most of the constructs associated with normal computer languages but with major enhancements in the area of display, sequencing, and response analysis. Although it does not generate C code as was requested in the question about authoring systems, we do intend eventually to permit linking to C routines. It is already the case that one can use a CMU Tutor front end to control other resources, by starting up other Unix processes and communicating thru files. For example, a CMU physics professor uses a CMU Tutor program to create an input file in the proper format for Spice, a big circuit-analysis program. His CMU Tutor program starts up Spice and watches for the appearance of an output file from Spice. It reads this output file, manipulates the contents with powerful string features, and graphs the results. This same professor is working on using CMU Tutor as a front end to the Cray at the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center. CMU Tutor is being used at a number of universities which have acquired Andrew and CMU Tutor. For $500 one can get a university-wide site license. If you are interested, write to Andrew Distribution, Information Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA 15213, and they'll send you licensing information. Be sure to state what kind of workstation you intend to run Andrew on. When you take out a license for the IBM-owned Andrew system software, we throw in for free CMU Tutor, which is owned by Carnegie Mellon. Bruce Sherwood Center for Design of Educational Computing Carnegie Mellon University
ram@elmgate.UUCP (Randy Martens) (08/06/87)
In article <284@auvax.UUCP> louis@auvax.UUCP (Louis Schmittroth) writes: >I am looking for an applications generator to be used to develope >computer-based instruction programs which must run on both MS/DOS and >UNIX. Ideally this should be an authoring system which generates C >program modules which could also be used as a front end for a DBMS. It ... >The authoring system should really be a front end to generate C code >and call on a library of functions supplied with the package. It >should have a screen builder and should generate a data dictionary, but >also flow control facilities. ------ There is a product Produced by Quantum Software Systems of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, called QNX. It is designed towards 80286 based PC's and makes them run like greased bats out of hell. It is the NICEST PC OpSys I have ever seen. It is full blown UNIX, full blown "C", and lots of nice features including windowing, DBMS, networking, menu builder, editor, lots of function libraries & so forth. It does real-time/multi-tasking/multi-processing very well. Part of the package is a tool called QDOS which allows you to run MSDOS inside a UNIX shell, and have the DOS applications think that they are on their very own little DOS machine, and let the QNX control them and run other tasks in paralell. It also includes the ability to create applications in the UNIX environment. and crosslink them to run as dos .EXE files. Quantum can be reached at (613)-591-0931 or (613)-726-1896. Randy Martens - Hi ! I am new to the net. Mail - Eastman Kodak, dept. 646 2-9, 901 Elmgrove Road, Rochester, NY, 14650 "Reality - what a Concept !" - R.Williams