AS/400's Integration Provide

This is the
sixih part of a
series on IBM's
midrange com-
puter family,
the AS/400, a
pivotal part of
IBM's strategy
to provide en-
tency and con-
je vov multiple sup-
| ported. envi-
'MARTIM. Meeče
The integrated
architecture of the AS/400 is the key to
its application-enabling environment.
The major system functions are integrat-
ed as part of the machine, rather than
being implemented as layers of soft-
ware. These functions include database

management, object; addressing, security

and device-independence. The high de-

gree of integration isolates the applica-

tions developer from physical implemen-

tation details, and provides support for
the major application functions. In ef:
fect, much of the groundwork tradition:
ally associated with an application is al:
ready provided by the system.

'The high-level interface of the AS/400
provides access to the machine through
a single set of operations incorporated
into the operating system. The interface
is implemented by a single command
language. There are no separate control
languages for programmers, operators or
job control.

No Conversion Process Needed

The high:level interface isolates appli-
cations developers from machine imple-
mentations; this approach accommo-
dates changes in the machine's underly-
ing technology without any impact on
applications. In effect, applications de-
veloped on current models of the
AS/400 will be able to take advantage
of new. technologies without reguiring a
conversion process.

A single, integrated operating syste!
05/400, follows the design grade ot"
the machine and provides a simple in-
terface to its underlying functions. The

PLIGATIOM DEVELOPMENT

APPLIED INTELLIGENCE

with application programs by executing
them directly from within a program.
The AS/400 provides a high level of
integration of system features, as illus-
trated in the diagram. The necessary
functions for an integrated applications:
development environment are available
on the machine; to date they havent
been integrated at the developer level.
'The central element of any applica-
tion is its data. As shown in the dia:
gram, all database management is inte-
grated with the AS/400 architecture,
This provides efficient performance for
the information system because the op-
erations'are-performed below the ma:
chine-interface level in a combination of

The AS/400 command language provides 5

d RPG to
TRAN, Pascal, PL/I, BASIC ani
define individual application programs.
All the utilities needed to create screen

" and report definitions and to define the

database are integrated into a single
IBM product, Application Development
BITJE ty of rehensive end
'The variety of compi k
user tools available from both IBM and
third-party vendors is growing, building
on a base first established for the S/38.
These include information-retrieval syS-

V. tems and decision-support, systems, in

addition to IBM's OfficeVision product
for the AS/400. Many of the available

, products provide some basic file-mainte-

nance capability and the ability to inter-

single interface

to the operating system's facilities, It's simple to learn, emp-
loying a structure based on a "verb, object, modifier" sunta.

ni Mo
microcode and hardware. In addition, // | b
the integrity of data is guaranteed by | a Ra iia vblače
the integration of security at the object i TEM has identified CSP as the primary
The database implementation sup-  /' oa MEH
porta the relatlonal data model TE kugo Pela tie upported vithin
major components of the U PK Voj nena m

s dth-Generation

JME 19, 1989

Platform

devotion by midrange users (particu-
lari System/36 and System/38 s IBM
products, which have so far not ad:
dressed fourth-generation development
ncepts. ;
€ iThe.more advanced AS/400 installa-
tions and first-time users are adopting a
more pragmatic approach to applica-
tions development. This approach focus-
es on the use of generic a db
ekages, applications generators, end:
ječi nitne and adherence to SAA
standards. :

Generic application packages provide
a customized application. There are
more than 8,000 application packages
already available for the AS/400.

A growing number of integrated de-
velopment tools are becoming available
for the AS/400, including Synon from
Synon Ltd., Genesis V from Sofbro Ltd.,
Geode from SPS International, Lansa
from Aspect Computing Pty. Ltd. and
Metaview System Software from
Metafile Information Systems. All of
these are developed outside IBM. Synon
recently announced that IBM will mar-
ket the Synon product under the IBM

Cooperative Software Program.

Development Strategy

Future applications will be developed
independently of the target platform.
The implementation of distributed appli-
cations and cooperative-processing ap-
plications, exploiting the capabilities of
various architectures, will become in-
creasingly important. For example, the
use of a network of intelligent work-
stations attached to a host database
server will provide additional processing
power while maintnining central control
of the data. The availability of the inte-
grated relational database on the
AS/400 provides strong Support for a
data-oriented approach to design.

As a result of its integrated funetions,
the AS/400 provides a fourth-generation
platform for applications developers to-
day. We can expect to see this philoso-
phy extended beyond the hardware lev-
el with the evolution of more integrated
alla development tools that will

aspects of the appli
life cycle. Most likely, Vožonna
Computer-aided software engineering
tools, utilizing a common design reposi-
tory, will be implemented on desktop

workstations attach
networko of ed to distributed