The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

February 1997

Visual Studio 97 (Con’t from page 1)

The new platform and tools technologies enable three key

scenarios:

Extend client/server . Evolving two-tier client/server to multitier

architectures centralizes business rules, abstracting them out

of clients and back-end databases. This provides businesses

with the flexibility to more easily support a variety of clients,

from browsers to powerful workstations, and the ability to deploy

new business processes as quickly as competitive conditions

demand.

Activate the Web . Building Web applications with Active

Server Pages (ASP), a feature of Microsoft Internet Information

Server 3.0, and server-side databases enables businesses to

reduce the number of HTML pages they need to maintain a

presence on the Web. Web applications also make it practical

to present users with personalized, dynamic content, while

simplifying site management.

Integrate the Internet . The combination of multitier architec-

tures, which provide a secure business process layer, and the

broad accessibility of the Internet makes it practical to imple-

ment Web interfaces to existing client/server or legacy sys-

tems. This creates a new opportunity for businesses to forge

direct connections with customers, suppliers and partners more

efficiently than ever before.

Building solutions for these scenarios requires multiple tools.

Today, more than 50 percent of professional developers use

multiple programming languages, and among some developer

segments the number is significantly higher. For example,

Microsoft research shows that over 60 percent of developers

using Visual C++ also use Visual Basic, and over 90 percent of

developers employing Java(TM) use other programming lan-

guages as well.

Visual Studio 97 Addresses Key Developer Needs

Visual Studio 97 addresses requirements of developers who

integrate Internet technologies and client/server solutions.

These requirements include the following:

* ComDrehensive supppj~t. Breadth of tools and languages,

training and support infrastructure, anci a iarge supply Of com-

mercially available reusable components

* Scalability . Building solutions that require high-performance

executables with access to enterpnse ciata, robust transaction

support, and support for team-based development

* Open standards. Technology broadly adopted by customers

Including vendor-ariven standards sucn as Java, or stanaaras

managed by formal industry bodies such as the World Wide

Web Consortium’s HTML

Visual Studio Offers Leading Development Tools

Microsoft Visual Studio 97 will include Microsoft’s best-of-breed

Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Visual FoxPro tools, as well ai..

the new Visual J++ and Visual lnterDev development systems

fcr building dynamic Web applications.

* Microsoft Visual Basic, the world’s most popular rapid applica-

tion development (RAD) system for creating Windows(R)

operating system-based applications

* Microsoft Visual C++, the award-winning C and C++ develop-

ment system used to build many of the worlds best-selling

Windows-based applications

* Microsoft Visual J++, a Java programming system for creating

cross-platform Java Applets and applications, and integrating

Java with ActiveX(TM) technologies

* Microsoft Visual FoxPro, the award-winning relational data-

base management system with a data-centric, object-oriented

language

* Microsoft Visual lnterDev, the recently announced integrated

development system for building and managing data-driven Web

applications that generate HTML accessible from any browser

on any platform

* Microsoft Developer Network Library, the complete source of

product documentation and information

System Requirements and Availability

Microsoft Visual Studio 97 is scheduled to be available at the

end of the first quarter of 1997. Visual Studio 97 requires a

personal computer with a 486/66 MHz or higher processor and

the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or Windows NT(R)

Workstation operating system version 4.0 or later. Sixteen MB

of RAM is required for Windows 95; 24 MB is required for

Windows NT Workstation. A CD-ROM drive and Microsoft

mouse or compatible pointing device are required. Disk space

requirements vary depending on the number of the tools a

developer wants to install. For more information, visit the Visual

Studio Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/vstudio/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software

for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of

products and services for business and personal use, each

designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoy-

able for people to take advantage of the full power of personal

computing every day.

NOTE: Microsoft, Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Visual C++,

Visual J++, Visual FoxPro, Visual lnterDev, Windows, ActiveX

and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks

of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc.

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