mwang@watmath.UUCP (mwang) (02/26/85)
_D_E_P_A_R_T_M_E_N_T _O_F _C_O_M_P_U_T_E_R _S_C_I_E_N_C_E _U_N_I_V_E_R_S_I_T_Y _O_F _W_A_T_E_R_L_O_O _C_O_M_P_U_T_E_R _S_C_I_E_N_C_E _C_O_L_L_O_Q_U_I_U_M -- WWeeddnneessddaayy,, MMaarrcchh 66,, 11998855.. PPrrooff.. DD..DD.. MMccCCrraacckkeenn ooff CCiittyy CCoolllleeggee ooff NNeeww YYoorrkk wwiillll ssppeeaakk oonn ````TThhee IImmppaacctt ooff FFoouurrtthh GGeenneerraattiioonn LLaanngguuaaggeess oonn CCoommppuutteerr SScciieennccee EEdduuccaattiioonn''''.. TTIIMMEE:: 3:30 PM RROOOOMM:: MC 5158 AABBSSTTRRAACCTT Fourth Generation Languages (4GLs) are rapidly moving toward a dominant position in the development of com- mercial data processing applications. Systems like NOMAD, RAMIS, FOCUS and a multitude of others are in- creasingly accepted both as tools for the experts and as a way for DP-naive users to get simple jobs done with only a few days training. Some major organiza- tions do essentially no new applications in 3GLs like Cobol and PL/1; some organizations have literally thousands of end-users who can set up small jobs them- selves, or at least write report requests to get infor- mation from existing databases. What does this say about computer science education? Most computer science graduates do not go into commer- cial data processing application development. But this revolution should not be ignored. The computer science curriculum may need only fine tuning at this stage, but the major changes under way in commercial applications development surely will have an impact sooner or later.