IEF
Encyclopedia
The IEF was the first name of a full lifecycle computer-aided software engineering
(CASE) tool, which has now gone through three different owners (Texas Instruments
, Sterling Software
and CA) and several different names (IEF, Composer by IEF, Composer, COOL:Gen, Advantage Gen, AllFusion Gen and, in 2007, CA Gen).
, with input from James Martin (author)
and his consultancy firm James Martin Associates, and was based on the Information Engineering Methodology (IEM)
. The first version was launched in 1987.
IEF became popular among large government departments and public utilities. It initially supported a CICS/COBOL/DB2 target environment. However, it now supports a wider range of databases and operating systems. IEF was intended to shield the developer from the complexities of building complete multi-tier cross-platform applications.
In 1995, Texas Instruments
decided to change their marketing focus for the product. Part of this change included a new name - "Composer".
By 1996 IEF had become a popular tool, however it was criticized by some IT professionals for being too restrictive, as well as for having a high per-workstation cost. But, it is claimed that IEF reduces development time and costs by removing complexity and allowing rapid development of large scale enterprise transaction processing systems.
In 1997 Composer had another change of branding, Texas Instruments
sold the Texas Instruments Software division, including the Composer rights, to Sterling Software
. Sterling software changed the well known name "Information Engineering Facility" to "COOL:Gen". COOL was an acronym for "Common Object Oriented Language" - despite the fact that there was little object orientation
in the product.
In 2000, Sterling Software
was acquired by Computer Associates (now CA). CA has rebranded the product three times to date and the product is still used widely today. Under CA, recent releases of the tool added support for the CA-Datacom
DBMS, the Linux operating system, C# code generation and ASP.NET web clients. The current version is known as CA Gen - version 8 being released in May of 2010, with support for customised web services, and more of the toolset being based around the Eclipse framework.
There are a variety of "add-on" tools available for CA Gen, including Project Phoenix from Jumar - a collection of software tools and services focused on the modernisation and re-platforming of existing/legacy CA Gen applications to new environments Jumar, GuardIEn - a Configuration Management and Developer Productivity Suite by IET Ltd and QAT Wizard, an interview style wizard that takes advantage of the meta model in Gen, and products by Canam Software Labs for multi-plaform application reporting and XML/SOAP enabling of Gen applications.
Computer-aided software engineering
Computer-aided software engineering is the scientific application of a set of tools and methods to a software system which is meant to result in high-quality, defect-free, and maintainable software products...
(CASE) tool, which has now gone through three different owners (Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
, Sterling Software
Sterling Software
Sterling Software was an American software company founded in Dallas, Texas in 1981 by Sterling Williams and brothers Sam and Charles Wyly. The company was acquired by Computer Associates International in 2000 in a stock-for-stock transaction worth $3.3 billion.Computer Associates sold Sterling...
and CA) and several different names (IEF, Composer by IEF, Composer, COOL:Gen, Advantage Gen, AllFusion Gen and, in 2007, CA Gen).
Overview
It was initially produced by Texas InstrumentsTexas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
, with input from James Martin (author)
James Martin (author)
James Martin is a British Information Technology consultant and author, who was nominated for a Pulitzer prize for his book, The Wired Society: A Challenge for Tomorrow .- Biography :...
and his consultancy firm James Martin Associates, and was based on the Information Engineering Methodology (IEM)
Information engineering
Information engineering or information engineering methodology in software engineering is an approach to designing and developing information systems.-Overview:...
. The first version was launched in 1987.
IEF became popular among large government departments and public utilities. It initially supported a CICS/COBOL/DB2 target environment. However, it now supports a wider range of databases and operating systems. IEF was intended to shield the developer from the complexities of building complete multi-tier cross-platform applications.
In 1995, Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
decided to change their marketing focus for the product. Part of this change included a new name - "Composer".
By 1996 IEF had become a popular tool, however it was criticized by some IT professionals for being too restrictive, as well as for having a high per-workstation cost. But, it is claimed that IEF reduces development time and costs by removing complexity and allowing rapid development of large scale enterprise transaction processing systems.
In 1997 Composer had another change of branding, Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
sold the Texas Instruments Software division, including the Composer rights, to Sterling Software
Sterling Software
Sterling Software was an American software company founded in Dallas, Texas in 1981 by Sterling Williams and brothers Sam and Charles Wyly. The company was acquired by Computer Associates International in 2000 in a stock-for-stock transaction worth $3.3 billion.Computer Associates sold Sterling...
. Sterling software changed the well known name "Information Engineering Facility" to "COOL:Gen". COOL was an acronym for "Common Object Oriented Language" - despite the fact that there was little object orientation
Object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
in the product.
In 2000, Sterling Software
Sterling Software
Sterling Software was an American software company founded in Dallas, Texas in 1981 by Sterling Williams and brothers Sam and Charles Wyly. The company was acquired by Computer Associates International in 2000 in a stock-for-stock transaction worth $3.3 billion.Computer Associates sold Sterling...
was acquired by Computer Associates (now CA). CA has rebranded the product three times to date and the product is still used widely today. Under CA, recent releases of the tool added support for the CA-Datacom
DATACOM/DB
Datacom/DB is a relational database management system for the mainframes. Originally developed by Insyte Datacom, later acquired by Applied Data Research, it is now owned by CA Technologies which renamed it to CA-Datacom/DB and later to CA Datacom/DB.- External links :****...
DBMS, the Linux operating system, C# code generation and ASP.NET web clients. The current version is known as CA Gen - version 8 being released in May of 2010, with support for customised web services, and more of the toolset being based around the Eclipse framework.
There are a variety of "add-on" tools available for CA Gen, including Project Phoenix from Jumar - a collection of software tools and services focused on the modernisation and re-platforming of existing/legacy CA Gen applications to new environments Jumar, GuardIEn - a Configuration Management and Developer Productivity Suite by IET Ltd and QAT Wizard, an interview style wizard that takes advantage of the meta model in Gen, and products by Canam Software Labs for multi-plaform application reporting and XML/SOAP enabling of Gen applications.
External links
- EDGE User Group - the user group for CA Gen
- CA Gen Wiki - sponsored by the EDGE User Group
- gentalk.biz - CA Gen Blog
- Report Composer - Companion application report writer
- SOAComposer - XML, Web Services and SOA enabling tool for CA Gen