Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Natural Language Gets AJAX Support
11/13/2007
Software AG recently unveiled Natural for AJAX, a variant of Software AG's Natural 2006 programming language. Natural 2006 is typically used at the enterprise level for transactional systems running on mainframes.
Natural for AJAX helps developers create AJAX-based rich Internet applications and user interfaces and promises faster Web application development.
Development is aided by drag-and-drop creation of complex applications and user interfaces without having to hand-code the project. Resulting applications can achieve the look and feel of Web 2.0 applications through the use of a library of more than 50 Web graphical user interface controls, according to an announcement issued by the company.
Other features include ready-made context menus, modeling and code generation, and support for service-oriented architectures. Natural for AJAX also is compatible with the open source Eclipse Java development environment and .NET development tools.
"What Natural for AJAX offers is a comparatively simple means for allowing users to fully engage with an extremely powerful transactional processing environment," stated Joe Gentry, senior vice president and chief technology officer for the Enterprise Transaction System business division of Software AG, in a press release.
AJAX is a technology designed to improve user experiences with Web applications by constantly retrieving data from the server without having to reload the entire document. Like server-side applications, AJAX does not require any plug-ins, runtime environments, or any software on the client side other than a normal browser to work.
Will Kraft is a Web designer, technical consultant, and freelance writer. His website is Pagewizard Web Design. You can contact Will at will@pagewizardwebdesign.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
