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Fitting tools into the
he new generation of fourth-generation
languages must fit nicely into the overall application development life
cycle. No longer can these tools focus on just one aspect of the life
cycle. As Sandra Taylor, an analyst with
Software Productivity Group's Analyst Services division, points out in
this month's cover story, "4GLs gear up for
full-cycle development," those I/S organizations still using
tools that focus only on one aspect of the development life cycle are
courting disaster.
Many suppliers of 4GLs are moving quickly to extend tools beyond simply
the development piece of the life cycle either through internal upgrades
or links to other point products. Taylor's story offers I/S organizations
some new categories to add to selection check lists to ensure that tools
offer enough life-cycle support.
The application life cycle depicted by Taylor is also the basis of the
1998 Editorial Calendar of stories slated to be published next year in
Application Development Trends. Our goal through the year is to
provide strategic and tactical information you will need on all stages
of the application development life cycle -- from planning and design
through development, deployment, management and maintenance. If you're
interested in seeing what's coming up through the year, the calendar is
available on our Web site, www.adtmag.com.
Project management tools are also evolving to support multiple points
in the application life cycle, notes freelance writer Colleen Frye ("When
is project management like driving in New York City?"). The new breed
of project management tools offer a single view into the various pieces
and point solutions of the life cycle, allowing changes at various points
in the process and better planning for the next project.
Meanwhile, middleware expert Max Dolgicer, director of International
Systems Group, begins a two-part series on message queuing middleware.
Part 1 describes the components and functionality
of typical message queuing systems. Next month's installment will compare
the market leading messaging queuing software, IBM's MQSeries, with upstart
MSMQ from Microsoft Corp.
Our year-end issue features a special report on Data Warehousing, including
a close examination of data mining technologies by guru Julie Hahnke,
president of the IDTech consulting firm. Hahnke examines technologies
underlying top data mining tools and tells which technology is best. West
Coast Editor Elizabeth U. Harding probes how corporations are finding
that the World Wide Web is an ideal vehicle for deploying query and analysis
tools.
Best Regards,
About the Author
Mike Bucken is former Editor-in-Chief of Application Development Trends magazine.