Hi David,

-=> On 10 Mar 97  21:35:04 David Noon said to Andrew Grillet <=-


 DN> George White has given me the telephone number for Sybase/Watcom SQL
 DN> as a 60-day demo. 

an you post it please, I need to evaluate it too.

 AG> Have you seen the number for Oracle?

YES ... I have a piece of blue paper on my desk saying
"FREE Oracle on NT CD call 0990 168 605"

If it turns out to be a robot that doesn't understand the idea of
OS/2, you might prefer the Oracle Business Centre on 01344 860 066.
 
  DN> DOS .... bleah! You will be faced with ODBC and the limitations
 DN> imposed by that interface. Can you not use OS/2 full-screen sessions
 DN> instead? Use TSHELL and just tell 'em it's DOS.
 
 AG>On a 286? I don't think so. I do have a copy of OS/2 1.3, but its not
 AG>the answer. Anyway the HDs arn't big enough. And notebooks are
 AG>expensive to upgrade.

 DN> If your client is still using 80286 hardware get paid in cash; do not
 DN> accept a cheque!
 
I know that! You become experienced as a consultant. But the girls are quite
fond of their machines. My Mum loves her 286 - it even has an EGA screen!

 AG>a trigger, and so validation and contingent operations are handled by
 AG>bits of code that tend to get re-written many times, all slightly 
 AG>differing.

 DN> You don't need triggers to address that problem, but trigger routines
 DN> do offer a straightforward solution.

A well defined, clearly understood system of modularity is needed though.
Nested windows in dBase are painful.
 
 DN> As I said, avoid cheques! I'd rather they paid me than Intel and B Gates.
 
 AG>I am quite happy to go with an OS/2 server and use totally different
 AG>client system - but I really want the same client code to run in
 AG>all environments if possible.

 DN> Same source, but not same object code.

Correct.

 DN> In that case, MicroFocus COBOL would be the technical choice, in spite
 DN> of the fact that COBOL is a despicable language in which to program.
 DN> COBOL even includes screen management statements that should provide
 DN> you with the same interface on all platforms.

 DN> There is a 16-bit MF COBOL compiler that supports 80286 machines (OS
 DN> 1.x and/or DOS) as well as 32-bit compilers for OS/2, NT, etc.
 
Now there's a blast from the past. I last used MF COBOL in about '86, on
an Amstrad. It worked! (I am not a great COBOL programmer though.)

Andrew


... OS/2 users have 'Extended Attributes'
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]