FOCUS
Encyclopedia
FOCUS is a computer programming
language
. It is a database
query building language, regarded as a fourth-generation programming language
(4GL). produced by Information Builders
Inc. Originally developed for data handling and analysis on the IBM mainframe
, as newer systems were developed and smaller computers became more powerful, the available platforms for FOCUS were extended all the way down to personal computers and in 1997, to the World Wide Web
in the WebFOCUS product.
and AT&T
), and was also offered by the National CSS timesharing company for use on their VP/CSS operating system (a derivation of IBM's CP/CMS which is now called VM/CMS). In 1970, Cohen decided to leave Mathematica and form Information Builders, after which he recreated the product he had built at Mathematica in the form of FOCUS which was released in 1975. The syntax of FOCUS in its simplest elements is almost a direct clone of the syntax of RAMIS bearing a resemblance similar to the differences between various early dialects of SQL). At the same time, NCSS decided to work on its own product, later called NOMAD. All three products flourished during the 1970s and early 1980s, but Mathematica's time ran out in the mid-80s, and NCSS also failed, a victim of the personal computing revolution which obviated commercial timesharing (although it has since been revived in the form of ASPs and shared web servers). RAMIS was sold through to several companies, ultimately landing with Computer Associates. NOMAD suffered a similar fate. FOCUS, under Cohen's direction, continued to flourish by expanding their product. FOCUS owes its success to its genesis in RAMIS and the early use at National CSS.
Loosely competitive with SAS
, for instance, FOCUS never quite reached the same degree of mainstream adoption, perhaps because it had only basic analytical and statistical functions, lacking the wide array of specialized analytic tools which made SAS the standard in fields such as pharmaceutical clinical trials. Instead, FOCUS concentrated on extreme flexibility in data import and export as well as ad hoc end-user
reporting. Direct competitors to FOCUS included NOMAD and RAMIS which have since fallen by the wayside while FOCUS has endured.
and SAS
, but also includes report and chart display and presentation features. FOCUS assumes a default file structure, and automates the process of identifying files to the operating system
, opening the input file, reading the next record, opening the output file, writing the next record, and closing the files. This basic operation allows the user/programmer to concentrate on the details of working with the data within each record, in effect working almost entirely within an implicit program loop that runs for each record. Other procedures operate on the dataset as a whole, for instance printing or statistical analysis
, and merely require the user/programmer to identify the dataset.
Compared to general-purpose programming language
s, this structure allows the user/programmer to be less familiar with the technical details of the data and how it is stored, and relatively more familiar with the information contained in the data. This blurs the line between user and programmer, appealing to individuals whose work roles are in business or research rather than information technology
. This in turn has the double edged result of allowing rapid answers to business or research questions, even ones requiring several iteration
s to get from the initial results to a final answer; but also can contribute to the construction of a large body of poorly written and/or difficult to maintain source code
.
FOCUS features the ability for the user to construct a data description file (called a "master file description") referring to the actual data file, or even several different data description files addressing the same data file in different ways, rather than the usual practice of having the file structure hard-coded into the program. In this way, files of any structure from any source can be accessed or produced in many different ways, eliminating much of the data manipulation (for example concatenation, or parsing) usually required with other earlier programming languages to change variable formats or data structures. For instance, the same actual data file can be accessed (read or write) as each record being an 80 byte text string, or as 40 2 character numerical fields, or as 10 8-byte floating point numbers, etc., by the user simply and quickly writing the appropriate master file description as needed.
In 1997, a web-based version of FOCUS was introduced called "WebFOCUS" which built on the data access and reporting foundation of FOCUS, expanding these to a visually oriented thin-client paradigm accessible from any web browser
.
In 2005, Information Builders consultants, working with JPMorgan Chase, developed a 4GL translator that could automatically replace legacy NOMAD programs with the WebFOCUS product. ComputerWorld
honored this BI consolidation automation with a Laureate Award in 2006. Similar translation capabilities are being added to the BI translator for converting the other legacy 4GLs, such as RAMIS and FOCUS.
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
. It is a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
query building language, regarded as a fourth-generation programming language
Fourth-generation programming language
A fourth-generation programming language is a programming language or programming environment designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as the development of commercial business software. In the history of computer science, the 4GL followed the 3GL in an upward trend toward higher...
(4GL). produced by Information Builders
Information Builders
Information Builders is a privately held software company, with its headquarters in New York City. The company was founded in 1975 by Gerald D. Cohen, Peter Mittelman, and Martin B. Slagowitz. Information Builders is known for their business intelligence tools FOCUS and...
Inc. Originally developed for data handling and analysis on the IBM mainframe
IBM mainframe
IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM from 1952 to the present. During the 1960s and 1970s, the term mainframe computer was almost synonymous with IBM products due to their marketshare...
, as newer systems were developed and smaller computers became more powerful, the available platforms for FOCUS were extended all the way down to personal computers and in 1997, to the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
in the WebFOCUS product.
Relation to other 4GLs
RAMIS, the first 4GL, was the direct ancestor of FOCUS, having been principally developed by Gerald Cohen and Peter Mittleman while working at Mathematica in 1970. The product was sold by Mathematica to a number of in-house clients (including NabiscoNabisco
Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
and AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
), and was also offered by the National CSS timesharing company for use on their VP/CSS operating system (a derivation of IBM's CP/CMS which is now called VM/CMS). In 1970, Cohen decided to leave Mathematica and form Information Builders, after which he recreated the product he had built at Mathematica in the form of FOCUS which was released in 1975. The syntax of FOCUS in its simplest elements is almost a direct clone of the syntax of RAMIS bearing a resemblance similar to the differences between various early dialects of SQL). At the same time, NCSS decided to work on its own product, later called NOMAD. All three products flourished during the 1970s and early 1980s, but Mathematica's time ran out in the mid-80s, and NCSS also failed, a victim of the personal computing revolution which obviated commercial timesharing (although it has since been revived in the form of ASPs and shared web servers). RAMIS was sold through to several companies, ultimately landing with Computer Associates. NOMAD suffered a similar fate. FOCUS, under Cohen's direction, continued to flourish by expanding their product. FOCUS owes its success to its genesis in RAMIS and the early use at National CSS.
Loosely competitive with SAS
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
, for instance, FOCUS never quite reached the same degree of mainstream adoption, perhaps because it had only basic analytical and statistical functions, lacking the wide array of specialized analytic tools which made SAS the standard in fields such as pharmaceutical clinical trials. Instead, FOCUS concentrated on extreme flexibility in data import and export as well as ad hoc end-user
End-user
Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...
reporting. Direct competitors to FOCUS included NOMAD and RAMIS which have since fallen by the wayside while FOCUS has endured.
Description
Released in 1975, FOCUS resembles other data access and analysis languages such as SQLSQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
and SAS
SAS System
SAS is an integrated system of software products provided by SAS Institute Inc. that enables programmers to perform:* retrieval, management, and mining* report writing and graphics* statistical analysis...
, but also includes report and chart display and presentation features. FOCUS assumes a default file structure, and automates the process of identifying files to the operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, opening the input file, reading the next record, opening the output file, writing the next record, and closing the files. This basic operation allows the user/programmer to concentrate on the details of working with the data within each record, in effect working almost entirely within an implicit program loop that runs for each record. Other procedures operate on the dataset as a whole, for instance printing or statistical analysis
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
, and merely require the user/programmer to identify the dataset.
Compared to general-purpose programming language
General-purpose programming language
In computer software a general-purpose programming language is a programming language designed to be used for writing software in a wide variety of application domains...
s, this structure allows the user/programmer to be less familiar with the technical details of the data and how it is stored, and relatively more familiar with the information contained in the data. This blurs the line between user and programmer, appealing to individuals whose work roles are in business or research rather than information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
. This in turn has the double edged result of allowing rapid answers to business or research questions, even ones requiring several iteration
Iteration
Iteration means the act of repeating a process usually with the aim of approaching a desired goal or target or result. Each repetition of the process is also called an "iteration," and the results of one iteration are used as the starting point for the next iteration.-Mathematics:Iteration in...
s to get from the initial results to a final answer; but also can contribute to the construction of a large body of poorly written and/or difficult to maintain source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
.
FOCUS features the ability for the user to construct a data description file (called a "master file description") referring to the actual data file, or even several different data description files addressing the same data file in different ways, rather than the usual practice of having the file structure hard-coded into the program. In this way, files of any structure from any source can be accessed or produced in many different ways, eliminating much of the data manipulation (for example concatenation, or parsing) usually required with other earlier programming languages to change variable formats or data structures. For instance, the same actual data file can be accessed (read or write) as each record being an 80 byte text string, or as 40 2 character numerical fields, or as 10 8-byte floating point numbers, etc., by the user simply and quickly writing the appropriate master file description as needed.
In 1997, a web-based version of FOCUS was introduced called "WebFOCUS" which built on the data access and reporting foundation of FOCUS, expanding these to a visually oriented thin-client paradigm accessible from any web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
.
In 2005, Information Builders consultants, working with JPMorgan Chase, developed a 4GL translator that could automatically replace legacy NOMAD programs with the WebFOCUS product. ComputerWorld
Computerworld
Computerworld is an IT magazine that provides information for senior IT leaders. It is published in many countries around the world under the same or similar names. Its publisher is International Data Group. Computerworld serves the needs of IT management via print and online...
honored this BI consolidation automation with a Laureate Award in 2006. Similar translation capabilities are being added to the BI translator for converting the other legacy 4GLs, such as RAMIS and FOCUS.