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From: shang@corp.mot.com (David L. Shang)
Subject: Re: # ANNOUNCEMENT #: The Developer - A New Object-Oriented Language And IDE
Reply-To: shang@corp.mot.com
Organization: MOTOROLA 
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 16:09:51 GMT
Message-ID: <1996Jul22.160951.12351@schbbs.mot.com>
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In article <4snh5v$8mf@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com> mitsuh@ix.netcom.com (Mitsuharu  
Hadeishi) writes:
> I have two basic questions after skimming some of your articles.  How easy do 
> you think it would be to create the kind of integrated editing/compiling 
> environment for TransFrame which we have made for the Developer (this is of 
> great interest to me), and two, how fast do you think such a compiler would 
> be?
> 
> I read it and a number of other articles on TransFrame.  What development 
> environments exist for TransFrame?
> 

The environment for Transframe is MagicFrame. The environment supports
dynamic programming. No editing/compiling cycle is required in the
development phase. Classes created in the environment or melted from
the static environemnt can be re-designed dynamically through a visual
design interface. Codes are intepreted. Once the program is done, a
freezing step will make the thing developed in the environment frozen into
(compiled) the efficient and releasable executable. MagicFrame is still
under developement, and will be available and free to the public
by the end of next year.

Another important feature of the environment is domain-specific
visual programming interfaces, based on the domain-specific programming
concept in the language. Visual programming interfaces for things like
VRML models, animation authoring, real-time communication systems,
active objects, client-sever models, etc., should be created
easily from the generic visual programming framework.
Transframe is a great transformer. Programs written in Transframe may
look similar to those written in C++, VRML, Actor, IDL, OODBL, or
even the Lingo script!

The compiler for Transframe is much smaller than C++'s compiler, because
of the language's uniform concept. For example, the expression needs
just a few BNF rules, yet it has a more flexible form than C++'s. As
result, the expression handling is very simple in the compiler 
(singnicantly shorter than the equivalent part in other language's
compilers.)

The compiler should be faster than C++'s, though we have not
finished the testing yet (will be done by the end of this year.)
I just list a few fators below:

	* parameterized classes/functions are compiled just once,
	  and guaranteed error-free for the later use.
	* name overloading is replaced by a better-structured and
	  more efficient concept: multiple input interfaces
	* multiple inheritance supports interface mixins only (like
	  Java). 

David Shang
