Conference heron::euro_swas_ai

175.0. "Some futures enhancements for Epitool" by HERON::ROACH (TANSTAAFL !) Wed Jan 31 1990 13:38

Printed by: Pat Roach                                    Document Number: 010162
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                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     30-Jan-1990 07:34pm CET
                                        From:     [email protected]
                                                  "[email protected]"@DECPA@HERON@MRGATE@HUGHI@VBO
                                        Dept:      
                                        Tel No:    

TO:  ROACH@A1NSTC


Subject: prel plans, do share this with your collegues, but not externally

From:	ROLLS::PAR          "Pdr Emanuelson, Epitec AB" 28-JAN-1990 18:43:06.80
To:	KTH::"[email protected]"
CC:	TOMAS, PERTTI,PAR
Subj:	epitool 4.1 plans
 
	Hi Dino,
 
Here are plans for the 4.1 version.
 
This material is far from complete, but we think that it is better if
you get some information now so we can start a discussion on 4.1
contents. During the coming two weeks we will make plans more precise.
 
You are very welcome with comments and suggestions as soon as you can.
 
(We are also trying to get feedback on database interfaces from Pat
Roach and Buchanan at Valbonne.)
 
/Par
 
Dates:
======
 
april 1:  sent to Digital, Marlboro:
		DE first field test
		lispless DE first field test
 
may 1:   sent to Digital, Marlboro:
		DE second field test
		lispless DE second field test
		EE first field test
 
	these are the versions that are meant to be accepted.
 
may 15: products are accepted, copying tapes and final polish on
	documentation starts.
 
june 1: first shipment of 3 accepted products DE, lisplicenseless DE and EE.
 
Packaging:
==========
 
	DE and lisplicenseless DE go on the same tape and get the same
	product number, that is, no extra number has to be registered.
 
	EE goes on a separate tape and has a separate product number.
 
	Release notes will be sent with DE and EE, manuals are not
	reprinted.
 
Product contents:
=================
 
1. The following has been designed, implemented and is ready for internal
testing at Epitec
 
  * New implementetion of taxonomy operations
 
    Consistency checking is done after each operation instead of
    beeing queued, which implies more efficient editing and loading
 
  * Dev Graphics
 
    New graphical taxonomy browser.
 
	Gobe/Neted is used, same functionality as previous, textual
	version including display and operations on concepts,
	excluding display and operations on methods and instances.
 
    New graphical attribute editor
 
	very nice to use
 
    Shadowing of menu alternatives
 
	Meaningless menu alternatives are now not possible to select
	and this is shown by shadowing these alternatives. Previously
	there was an error "you have to choose an object first"
 
    Selection of local/visible in concept editor with radio buttons
 
	Previously it was done via menu and it was not visible what
	the current choice was.
 
    ExternalFunctions browser added
 
	This was the only action, that did not have a browser, now
	they all have one.
 
2. The following is in various stages of not decided to be in 4.1 /
decided but not designed / partially implemented etc.
 
  * Rdb-integration
 
	There will be an interface to vax/rdb using sql. It is
	currently beeing designed. The design is not at all ready, but
	we include some of our current thoughts to give you the
	possibility for feedback.
 
	- Creation and definition of database is not supported by
	Epitool
 
	- There will be a command in Epitool that takes you to
	Interactive SQL command loop (similar to Lisploop command). In
	this loop the developer can inspect and try various operations
	on the db, he can also define db views necessary for access from
	Epitool, and make other maintenance and interactive
	questioning of the data base.
 
	- Epitool accesses db by means of dynamic or preprocessor sql
	(or similar) or both. It is not known how interactive the
	interface can be, that is what changes lto db-accessing
	operations are allowed without recompilation and/or restart of
	Epitool session.
 
	- Epitool operations on the db:
 
	declare schema - identifies the database.
	finish - releases connection to the db
	set transaction - starts a transaction
	commit - accepts temporary changes that have been made in a transaction
		which makes changes to db permanent.
	rollback - drop changes that have been made
	declare cursor
		open, fetch, close
	insert
	update
	delete
 
	create and drop views is done via interactive sql and is not
	supported by Epitool.
 
 
	We plan two ways to access the db and we expect to implement
	at least nr I in 4.1.
 
	I. Single values.
 
		Single values are retrieved and stored in an attribute
		or a variable or used directly without storage.
		Collections of values from the db are not explicitly
		represented in Epitool.
 
	II. Structures
 
		Large chunks of related data (one or several
		relations) is brought into Epitool and reasoned about.
		Conclusions may or may not be stored back in the data
		base.
 
		How is it done:
 
		View(s) are defined that describe the desired data.
 
		A connection is established between individuals in
		Epitool and relations in the db.
 
		Information from the database is converted to Epitool
		individuals which are then used for reasoning within
		Epitool.
 
		Results are stored in the database by converting
		Epitool individuals to rows in a database table.
 
  * Dev Graphics: creation of individuals in current module/ more
    general problem
 
	There is a problem with finding a complete consistent design
	on what the default module should be for various operations in
	various windows.
 
	One specific problem is with creation of instances in the
	concpet editor.
 
	At least the creating-instances problem will be solved.
	Perhaps we also find a solution to the more general problem.
 
  * Servers
 
    PC, HP
 
	PC server has been tested by Epitec using various decwindows
	applications. Epitool has however not been tried yet. It looks
	promising and testing Epitool is the next step. Plans are to 
	provide PC server if we get it working.
 
	HP has not been tested yet since VMS 5.3 that is necessary has
	just arrived with the new lisp 3.1. Plans are to provide HP
	server if we get it working.
 
  * Application graphics
 
    add support for pop up menues on MB2
 
	There is currently no support for pop up menues in appl graphics.
 
    eliminate need for copying dwt modules in each application
 
	There is a problem that application graphics modules have to
	be copied for each application although only a fraction of
	each module is changed. The change would be that only one
	module needs updating and the rest can be used as defined.
 
  * New Equality operator(s)
 
	The equality operator = works strange when applied to
	descriptions and is not consistent with <, >. The fix would be
	to change the behavior for = on descriptions and define
	another operation == to be used as equality for operations
	like remove, substitute.
 
	Design is almost ready. Not decided whether it will be included.
 
  * Elimination of parse trees from module
 
	To be used in DE on modules that are not to be updated. The
	benefits are that the modules take less space (about half) and
	that it is impossible to see the contents of the module.
 
	Design is ready. This has been asked for by Volvo. It will be
	provided to Volvo, but it has not been decided whether it goes
	into 4.1 generally
 
  * Changes to external functions
 
	When an external function is edited, Epitool has to be exited
	and a new Epitool started instead of spawn - edit - pop -
	rerun the function. This has to be fixed in Lisp and we will
	talk to the Lisp folks about this.
 
  * Epitool-dribble
 
	Getting a transcript from a session can currently only be done
	by calling lisps DRIBBLE. The suggestion is to add it as an
	Epitool operation.
 
	It has not been decided whether this goes into 4.1.
 
  * New Concept properties: WhenCreated, WhenDeleted
 
	If a method with the name INIT is defined for a concept it
	will be invoked at the creation of new instances. There is no
	way to automatically get an invocation of a function when an
	instance is deleted.
 
	The suggestion is to add concept properties for defining
	methods/functions for this purpose. It will then be possible
	to get invokation at both creation and deletion. Moreover the
	name INIT is released from the predefined behavior, which
	suprises some users.
 
  * Documentation.
 
	Work will be initiated to convert documentation to DEC-write.
	Perhaps getting started documents will be available in
	book-reader format.
 
  * Bug fixes
 
	There are several bug fixes that will be included, the most
	wellknown is the recursion bug.
 
 
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From: "Pdr Emanuelson, Epitec AB" <[email protected]>
Subject: prel plans, do share this with your collegues, but not externally
To: [email protected], [email protected]