OF INTEREST

PARTS, Digitalk's new Parts Assembly and Reuse Tool Set technology, looks to be a powerful, yet straightforward, tool that allows you to quickly create applications from prefabricated software components in an open, language-neutral manner. Although written in Smalltalk, PARTS components can be written in C, C++, Smalltalk/V, or other languages. PARTS also includes a built-in Smalltalk-like scripting language.

The PARTS Workbench consists of a catalog of prebuilt visual and nonvisual components and a workbench window. To create an application, simply drag parts from the catalog into the workbench and then wire them together by drawing lines between them. In one demo DDJ saw at OOPSLA '92, Digitalk representatives created a full-function text editor in literally a matter of minutes by simply "connecting" prefabricated parts.

The PARTS Workbench for OS/2 costs $1995.00. Reader service no. 20.

Digitalk Inc.

9841 Airport Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90045

310-645-1082

The DynaMind Developer neural-network software package from NeuroDynamX bundles neural-network training software with several runtime options, including linkable C routines and neural-network hardware simulation. DynaMind Developer guides programmers with little neural-network experience through the process of creating, training, and embedding neural networks.

Network architecture and training parameters are set using pop-up menus and graphical displays. Training methods supported include a proprietary algorithm for solving forecasting and sequence-recognition problems; training data can be taken from spreadsheets and databases.

Networks trained with DynaMind can be run on a stand-alone basis, embedded into C programs, or used in simulations of neural-network hardware. For embedding runtime neural networks, the NeuroLink C library includes routines to load, probe and test networks, and to link multiple networks serially or in parallel. Networks can be linked in a modular fashion to solve complex problems.

For putting networks into hardware, DynaMind Developer lets you simulate the Intel 8017ONX Electrically Trainable Analog Neural Network chip. You can prototype this chip before committing resources for hardware. Networks trained in simulation mode can later be written to the 8017NX chip using iDynaMind on the Intel Neural Network Training system. The trained 8017NX chip can run networks up to 40,000 times faster than software-only networks.

Also included is DftBuild, which creates ready-to-run neural-network filters that perform a discrete Fourier transform; the filters are embedded into applications using the NeuroLink library.

The package costs $495.00; separately, DynaMind costs $145.00. Reader service no. 21.

Iconic Query from IntelligenceWare is an iconic database-access tool that lets the user point and click at visual representations instead of using a query language. It comes with a library of icons that can be assigned to different tables. Relationships are assigned by drawing connecting lines between the icons, and SQL statements are automatically generated and shown in a separate window.

Iconic Query uses an extended entity relationship and object model on top of a SQL system. The mapping between the iconic and SQL layers is also done via point and click, and entities and relationships are represented by bitmaps, drawings, and icons. Iconic Query's open architecture merges data from Paradox, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, and others.

Iconic Query sells for $290.00. Reader service no. 22.

IntelligenceWare Inc. 5933 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90045 310-216-6177

Brigent has released BootBug, a Macintosh debugger for all code that loads before MacsBug and the operating system, such as NuBus, SCSI, ADB, Network, video drivers, primary inits, and accelerators. BootBug's command set lets you set conditional breakpoints on A-Traps and addresses, disassemble your driver's code, display and set memory, and single-step through RAM and ROM. You can watch your driver execute, one instruction at a time, and debug video and ADB drivers without interference.

The debugger in BootBug's declaration ROM is loaded into the system before any other software by plugging the BootBug NuBus card into the first slot of the system. Because BootBug is loaded before the display or ADB driver is initialized, it must send the debugging information to an external terminal through its on-board serial port.

BootBug uses the same command set as MacsBug and costs $450.00. Reader service no. 23.

Portable Basic for Sun 3 and 4 workstations running SunOS 4.1 is available from Software Engineering Associates. Compatible with GW-Basic, Portable Basic provides a migration path from PCs to Sun workstations. Programs compiled with Portable Basic run several hundred times faster than those interpreted with GW-Basic.

Portable Basic includes color graphics capabilities, the ability to print to the screen in multiple fonts, and support of variable-length strings, 32-bit integers, and single- and double-precision floating-point numbers. Program size is unlimited, and arrays are not subject to PC-architecture limitations. Long variable names and source-code lines are supported.

Portable Basic simplifies text processing by not requiring declaration of maximum string lengths, and high performance is achieved for string operations using optimization techniques that minimize memory references and generate common string operations inline.

Prices start at $600.00 for a single-user license. Reader service no. 24.

Software Engineering Associates

P.O. Box 7396

Nashua, NH 03060

603-672-1160

Pixel Press is a 32-bit RISC and video-display system from Applied Data Systems. Within its 3.1x5.1-inch dimensions, the Pixel Press module contains a 32-bit RISC processor (130-ns cycle time), 786 Kbytes of EPROM, a parallel interface, an RS-232 debug port, a voltage supervisor, and a watchdog timer. The power requirement is 700 mA at 5 volts and the video output provides 1024x768 non-interlaced resolution with 16 colors.

The module connects directly to either a single-chip processor, an external bus processor, or a standard Centronics or IBM printer port. User C or assembly language software can be placed in RISC EPROM for execution on the internal RISC processor. Internal execution allows the parallel interface to serve as a user data bus for the control of over 64 user I/O registers.

Pixel Press costs $325.00. A demo kit including a 14-inch color monitor, power supply, and prototype board costs $750.00. Source code and development tools are available. Reader service no. 25.

Applied Data Systems Inc.

409A East Preston Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

800-541-2003 or 410-576-0335

Tom Sawyer Software is shipping the Graph Layout Toolkit, a topology management tool for improving the graphics output of various applications via its automated layout services. The Graph Layout Toolkit is bundled directly into an application and helps the application clearly represent extensive and complicated data by implementing object-oriented programming techniques. The Graph Layout Toolkit can be used for flow charts, telecommunications-network maps, hypertext navigation, class hierarchies, relational databases, CASE software, project-management software, entity-relationship diagrams, function-call graphs, AI rule graphs, and PERT charts.

The Graph Layout Toolkit was written as a set of extensible class libraries with C++ and ANSI C APIs. The internal developer's release costs $499.00 for Macintosh and Windows platforms, $699.00 for UNIX. Reader service no. 26.

Tom Sawyer Software Corp.

1824B Fourth Street

Berkeley, CA 94710

510-848-0853

COMPEDITOR II is a finite-state program compiler for C and Pascal from AYECO. It allows you to quickly form event-driven finite-state finite-automaton, and decision-table programs. It forms a program's state table with up to 10,000 cells. This table allows the developer to pick and choose a program's response to any event. The output is an ASCII source file; the source includes a commented copy of the program's state table.

In simple applications, the designer enters into each state-table cell the name of a procedure to execute and the program's next state if the conditions represented by the cell occur during run time. If descriptive names are assigned to procedures, the state table documents the program's operation concisely. In complicated applications, the developer can insert source code directly into an expanded table cell or the state program itself with the COMPEDITOR's editor.

Any program can be represented as a state program: Events can be derived by external or internal conditions; a state program can be formed from a flowchart or a state-transition diagram, or by dividing it into its operational states.

COMPEDITOR retails for $300.00. Reader service no. 27.

Now available from National Design is Volante Warp 10, an ISA board that speeds Windows performance up to 50 times faster. This is possible because of the Volante's fast-forward driver optimization, which compacts and reduces transmission of bits and vectors without losing the integrity of the original image.

Volante Warp includes 1152x900 and 1024x768 and below Super-VGA resolution, with 16.7 million colors potentially available. It has a connector to tie to multimedia capture devices and a Windows instant presenter system. The price is $299.00. Reader service no. 29.

National Design Inc.

1515 Capital of Texas Highway South Fifth Floor

Austin, TX 78746

512-329-5055

SET Laboratories has announced version 4.0 of PC-METRIC for C, its software measurement and analysis package. New to this version are additional metrics, reports, and a revamped interactive query and analysis system that lets you track metrics across releases. This makes it easy to allocate code-review and testing resources and examine trends in the code as it evolves.

PC-METRIC uses software complexity metrics to identify those parts of a program's source code that are particularly complex and therefore more susceptible to errors. Most of the review and testing resources can then be allocated to those parts of the code.

PC-METRIC supports Ada, assembly language, C, C++, Cobol, dBase, Fortran, Jovial, Modula-2, Pascal, and PL/1. The price is $399.00 for a single-user license. Reader service no. 28.

SET Laboratories Inc.

P.O. Box 868

Mulino, OR 97042

503-829-7123