A second generation of rapid development software products has been launched by York-based Seachange Ltd. The new family of products, SeaChange 4, is targeted at software applications developers for Unix and MS-DOS systems. An integrated fourth generation language tool set, it produces interoperable software for a variety of database systems, such as Ingres, Oracle, Informix and C-ISAM. The UKP1.2m a year open systems software developer believes that Seachange 4 builds on past developments and provides the optimum balance between procedural and non-procedural languages. The product range comprises SeaGen; Sea4GL; SeaGate; SeaGate Plus; SeaQL, and SeaAccounts. SeaGen is an applications generator with its own virtual machine architecture. This architecture enables applications to be developed on one system and implemented on a different one. SeaGen generates transaction processing applications around a database system. It has an active data dictionary and gives a relational view of the database. The generator has forms, menus and report handling systems as well as its own database processing language. SeaGen can be used by developers of varying ability levels.

Experienced developers

Sea4GL is a general purpose fourth generation, modular language that extends the power of SeaGen. It is aimed at experienced software developers, working in teams to produce complex applications. Re-usable code is written in blocks, so that tasks can be divided between individuals or groups dealing with a development project. There is an error-handling mechanism and base and user-defined type systems. SeaGate is a database access system, designed to provide a common means for Sea4GL applications to communicate with database systems. Containing the underlying technology for SeaGen and Sea4GL, it incorporates SeaBase, a fully relational database management system. It is a B+ tree index sequential access method system with an active data dictionary and offers full table and type integrity. User-defined types can be used. SeaGate Plus is a gateway tool linking SeaChange 4 to Ingres, Oracle, Informix and C-ISAM databases. Structured query language gives transparent access to heterogeneous database systems and enables applications to support multiple databases simultaneously. SeaQL is a structured query and data manipulation language that complies with American National Standards Institute requirements. It enables users to insert, select, update or delete data in different databases. Structured query language scripts can be processed interactively or stored and processed in batches. Finally, SeaAccounts is a series of accounting applications available in template form. After three years and approximately UKP2m of research and development, SeaChange 4 began shipping on March 31. Price is dependant on processor size and the number of users, but a start-up price for two to three users on a box running Santa Cruz Operations Inc Unix was quoted at UKP4,500.