class1a@dlcdev.UUCP (Tom Betz of Greyston Business Services) (03/29/89)
In article <20@wells.UUCP> Edward Wells writes: > > I am interested in finding out who else out here is a Progress user. >If you are, what Version of Progress are you using (Full, Query, Run-time) >and what revision is it? What processor(s) are you running it on? > >-- >========================================================================= >Edward E. Wells Jr., President Voice: (215)-943-6061 >{dsinc,francis,hotps,lgnp1,mdi386,pebco}!wells!edw I'm at PROGRESS right now, taking a course in the language. At home, I'm running Full on a Wyse 3216-150T... but there are folks here running it on just about everything imaginable. I'm at Rev 4.2E... from what I've seen of Version 5, I'll want to upgrade it as soon as possible. I also have Fastrack, which I'll be using mainly to build menus more quickly, and to help users to do specialized reports so I can spend less time writing them myself, after the initial learning curve is overcome. I have found the introductory course (Programming In Progress) to be a bit less stimulating than I had hoped over the first few days, but I have spent the last five years doing with UCSD Pascal what I am now doing with Progress, where there are a lot of people in this class who have a weak grasp of the most fundamental programming practices... hence a lot of time and repetition was spent in the first two days trying to bring them up to speed. We have started today (day 3) getting into more interesting things. The best thing about the course is the way it teaches the behavior of Progress defaults, and from there, the use of the switches. I suppose folks used to programming in windowing environments (of which I am not one) might not need the course, but I am finding it valuable, if for no other reason than I can concentrate on one thing for a week without the constant interruptions of my everyday work. Another thing to be aware of is that this introductory course defaults to the "buddy" system, two folks on a terminal. Several of us who wish to explore more advanced solutions to the lab problems complained and received separate terminals, so the folks here are willing to accommodate individual needs... and I am assured that for the other courses (Advanced and Fastrack) each student has an individual terminal. Progress is also installing a new lab in the next few months with more ergonomic workspaces (right now it's a terminal on a 3 X 6 table under standard flourescent office lighting, useable but not perfect) so when I come back for the advanced course in six months or so (and having looked at the text, I >will< want to come back) I hope to be working in more comfort. Folks should be aware that several VARs and developers are offering courses that are >not< authorized by Progress and do not use Progress' training materials... one of the fellows here took such a course, and didn't cover enough material to be prepared for the advanced course here. As these unauthorized courses are being offered sometimes for half of what Progress charges, caveat emptor, and remember, ya gets what ya pays for. We just took a tour of their development computer collection, and they have everything from a Burroughs running BTOS to a 16-processor Sequent in there... and their futures group is working with Macs (they have an early release running on A/UX right now, and are working on a Mac OS version) and have a NeXT on the way. It's worth a trip up here if you have a serious interest. Odds are, you'll be able to see it running on your platforms right here and make your own evaluation. If you are considering a choice among several environments, it could be a worthwhile trip. PS. Don't use R)eply to send me mail, use one of the addresses below instead. I'm outta here on the 31st. -- Tom Betz - Greyston Business Services - cmcl2!dasys1!tbetz OR hombre!lilink!tbetz.