Visual Objects

Last updated

Visual Objects is an object-oriented computer programming language that is used to create computer programs that operate primarily under Windows. Although it can be used as a general-purpose programming tool, it is almost exclusively used to create database programs.

Contents

The original Visual Objects project (code-named Aspen) was started as part of Nantucket's attempts to bring the Clipper language to Windows, and move from the procedural to the object-oriented style. It also converted Clipper from a p-code system to being a true native compiler and introduced more elements of the C language (such as typed variables), while including Windows extensions (such as COM, ODBC, and later ADO). With its symbol datatype, it offers the ability to form name-based linkages, which may be used to connect menu events to object methods or form direct linkages between server columns and controls. [1]

The Windows version was finally brought to market by Computer Associates. Unfortunately it was released before it was market-ready and in almost head-to-head competition with the first release of the Borland Delphi product. The language is still in use however the last release by GrafX Software was in 2012 of version 2.8 sp4 (version number 2838). GrafX announced that after this no new versions would be released. The next incarnation of the Visual Objects language is Vulcan.NET, written by GrafX from scratch to be both Visual Objects compatible and be a true CLS compliant .NET language, taking full advantage of the .NET framework.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BASIC</span> Family of programming languages

BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1963. They wanted to enable students in non-scientific fields to use computers. At the time, nearly all computers required writing custom software, which only scientists and mathematicians tended to learn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smalltalk</span> Object-oriented programming language released first in 1972

Smalltalk is a purely object oriented programming language (OOP) that was originally created in the 1970s for educational use, specifically for constructionist learning, but later found use in business. It was created at Xerox PARC by Learning Research Group (LRG) scientists, including Alan Kay, Dan Ingalls, Adele Goldberg, Ted Kaehler, Diana Merry, and Scott Wallace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual Basic (.NET)</span> Object-oriented computer programming language

Visual Basic (VB), originally called Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on .NET, Mono, and the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visual Basic language, the last version of which was Visual Basic 6.0. Although the ".NET" portion of the name was dropped in 2005, this article uses "Visual Basic [.NET]" to refer to all Visual Basic languages released since 2002, in order to distinguish between them and the classic Visual Basic. Along with C# and F#, it is one of the three main languages targeting the .NET ecosystem. Microsoft updated its VB language strategy on 6 February 2023, stating that VB is a stable language now and Microsoft will keep maintaining it.

dBase was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming language that tied all of these components together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gambas</span> Integrated development environment

Gambas is the name of an object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language, as well as the integrated development environment that accompanies it. Designed to run on Linux and other Unix-like computer operating systems, its name is a recursive acronym for Gambas Almost Means Basic. Gambas is also the word for prawns in the Spanish, French, and Portuguese languages, from which the project's logos are derived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F Sharp (programming language)</span> Microsoft programming language

F# is a general-purpose, strongly typed, multi-paradigm programming language that encompasses functional, imperative, and object-oriented programming methods. It is most often used as a cross-platform Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) language on .NET, but can also generate JavaScript and graphics processing unit (GPU) code.

Clipper is an xBase compiler that implements a variant of the xBase computer programming language. It is used to create or extend software programs that originally operated primarily under MS-DOS. Although it is a powerful general-purpose programming language, it was primarily used to create database/business programs.

In computer programming, an application framework consists of a software framework used by software developers to implement the standard structure of application software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delphi (software)</span> General-purpose programming language and a software product

Delphi is a general-purpose programming language and a software product that uses the Delphi dialect of the Object Pascal programming language and provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for rapid application development of desktop, mobile, web, and console software, currently developed and maintained by Embarcadero Technologies.

Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as classes and methods.

Paradox is a relational database management system currently published by Corel Corporation.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is a free and open-source graphical subsystem originally developed by Microsoft for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0 in 2006. WPF uses DirectX and attempts to provide a consistent programming model for building applications. It separates the user interface from business logic, and resembles similar XML-oriented object models, such as those implemented in XUL and SVG.

Harbour is a computer programming language, primarily used to create database/business programs. It is a modernised, open source and cross-platform version of the older Clipper system, which in turn developed from the dBase database market of the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XBase++</span>

Xbase++ is an object oriented programming language which has multiple inheritance and polymorphism. It is based on the XBase language dialect and conventions. It is 100% Clipper compatible language supporting multiple inheritance, polymorphism, object oriented programming. It supports the xBase data types, including Codeblocks. With Xbase++ it is possible to generate applications for Windows NT, 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP, VISTA and Windows 7, 8, 10.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual Basic (classic)</span> Microsofts programming language based on BASIC and COM

Visual Basic (VB) before .NET, sometimes referred to as Classic Visual Basic, is a third-generation programming language, based on BASIC, and an integrated development environment (IDE), from Microsoft for Windows known for supporting rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, event-driven programming and both consumption and development of components via the Component Object Model (COM) technology.

CA-Realizer was a BASIC-language software development product originally developed by Within Technologies, but first commercially released by Computer Associates, as CA-Realizer 1.0 in 1992. Several versions were released, that provided a version of the BASIC programming language, a Rapid application development tool, including forms building and some powerful built-in components, that was comparable to, and competitive with Microsoft Visual Basic, in its early days. It offered some functionality and cross-platform capability. There were versions for 16-bit Windows 3.1, 32-bit Windows 95, and 32-bit IBM OS/2. The final version was CA-Realizer 3.0, released around 1996.

Basic4ppc is a programming language originally for Pocket PC handheld computers running Windows Mobile operating system, by Anywhere Software. Since 2014, B4x was renamed, and currently, 2023, supports multiple devices and their OS, including desktop and mobile solutions with development adaptions for these environments. The language is based on a BASIC-like syntax, taking advantage of Microsoft's .NET technology, to allow additional libraries, graphical user interface design of windows forms, rapid application development (RAD), and .NET framework compatible compilation. The language implements a unique way of adding objects to a program without being object-oriented. Its advantages are simplicity, development pace and the integration with .NET framework. A special version of the integrated development environment (IDE) allows developing straight onto the Windows Mobile device or. With the demise of Windows Mobile operating system and the devices running it Basic4PPC came to the end of its life in about 2012. For owners of Basic4PPC it remains a useful Windows-desktop BASIC compiler as it runs code directly in the Windows environment and it can compile a project to a Windows 'exe' file for use as a Windows program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual FoxPro</span> Programming language

Visual FoxPro is a programming language that was developed by Microsoft. It is a data-centric and procedural programming language with object-oriented programming (OOP) features.

References

  1. Straley, Stephen J. (1995). Straley's guide to CA-Visual objects for Clipper and xBase programmers. Reading, Mass. : Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. pp. ix pp. ISBN   0-201-40943-7.