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| The Future of 4D: Goldfinger |
| 11/10/2002 |
New Architecture
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The new version will sport a completely new architecture. This is necessary to bring native SQL compatibility and an object oriented language to 4D. Although it will be easy to update existing databases for use with Goldfinger, the new language and development environment will look significantly different than what you're used to working with. Because the new architecture is platform independent and based on 64-bit addressing, many of the limitations of the current version of 4D will dissapear.
The new architecture supports native multi-threading to support multiple processors.
Database Engine
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The database engine will support additional data types, including reals with unlimited precision and unlimited length alpha fields. Additional data types, such as currency and a new time/date type will be available. Developers will also be able to create custom data types.
Yes, you will be able to delete tables and fields. You can even do it through code.
New indexing schemes, including clusters, hash-coding, and full text, will offer improved speed when working with large data files. The engine can select which index is best for your current query.
SQL
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Goldfinger natively supports SQL. 4D developers can access the database with native SQL, use just the 4D language, or use any combination of the two.
Object Oriented Programming
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The new object oriented programing environment will make maintenance and evolution much easier. Goldfinger will offer class derivation and method overriding, data encapsulation, inheritance, and more. This object oriented paradigm extends all the way to the database level. One complete database can simply open and access another database as an object.
Built-in Compiler
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Goldfinger will internally convert your code into byte-code as you work with methods. This byte-code will execute at nearly the same speed as machine level compiled code. You can still compile your database to machine level code for increased speed and security.
Form Editor
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The new form editor also treats each form element as an object. You can create new form objects on-the-fly. With direct support for Quartz and GDI+, the form objects will be real system level objects, so they'll automatically update as the OS is updated or modified.
The new form editor will offer full support for ActiveX objects and DLLs. It also offers direct editing of both vector and bitmap graphics.
Since forms will be objects, any form can be displayed as an object within another form. And the behavior of any form object can be overridden. |
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