Software Development 92 - Santa Clara Convention Center - Feb 1992

        I attended several seminars at the show as well as the expo.  The
following are  exceprts that I thought may interest PC users.  If you are
interested in any seminar or  product I may have literature.



EXPO:

Microsoft

        Microsoft has claimed that it has sold over 9 million WINDOWS 3.0
copies.  96  million copies of MS-DOS. (compared to 6.5 million for Macintosh,
1 million for PC Unix and 1.2 million for OS/2 -- data from IDC and Software
Publishing Assoc., Oct 91 and Nov 91)
 
	C/C++ 7.0 - MS introduced their new C/C++ compiler.  It includes the SDK
for  WINDOWS 3.1 and a class browser.  The Programmer's Workbench is still DOS
based but this  doesn't seem to pose a problem because of the advances made to
the WINDOWS DOS-box in  WINDOWS 3.1.  The Class Browser is different than
Borland's Turbo C; it is text-based and  a bit more extensive.  I picked up data
comparing the two compilers from both companies.   Generally, they both seem to
have made strides in the areas that they were lacking.  I  would not choose the
compiler on it's compilation speed, EXE size/speed as they are pretty  dead even
(according to published data - both companies acknowledge this after you get 
past the advertisments).  Availability 4-6 weeks. $495 or $139 upgrade to ANY
MS-DOS C  compiler.  Product includes WINDOWS 3.1 SDK.
  
        WINDOWS 3.1 - New features: OLE 1.0, Multimedia API and PEN API
included, Mouse  input can be sent to MS-DOS app, different font sizes available
in windowed MS-DOS apps,   hi-res VGA MS-DOS apps run in a window, persistent
network connections, better error  checking, truetype, drag/drop from
FileManager to ProgramManager, better FileManager, etc... SDK to be available
after 3.1 ships.

	WIN32 & NT - I attended several MS seminars on WIN32 and NT.  For those
unfamiliar:   WIN32 is the 32-bit version of WINDOWS.  NT (New Technology) is
basically the DOS  replacement (although there is no CLI).  MS claims both WIN32
and NT will be  cross-platform independent.  So far only 2 processors are
supported (Intel-x86 and  MIPS-RISC), but both MS and DEC have announced the
possibility of DEC's Alpha-RISC being  supported.  WIN32 is fully 32-bit code,
supports true multitasking (pre-emptive,  multi-threaded, asynchronous message
queue), supports structured exception handling,  security, builtin Network API,
and the usual improvements to WIN16 that you would expect.   BTW, MS says that
WIN32 will also work on top of DOS 6.0
NT/WIN32 to be available late 92 (better count on early 93 -- although both are
in beta).   SDK for WIN32 to be available summer 92. 

Borland
        Announced Borland C++ for OS/2.  Also the usual claims that their
products are  better than MS's.   Availability:  ???

Digitalk
        No new announcements.  They will ship their Smalltalk implementation for
WINDOWS  3.1 when WINDOWS 3.1 ships.  It will support OLE.  For those unfamiliar
with the Digitalk  line:

        Product                 Platform
        -------------------------------------------------
        Smalltalk /V Win 1.1:   Windows 3.0
        Smalltalk /V PM 1.3     OS/2 1.3
        Smalltalk /V 286        DOS with extended memory manager for 286
        Smalltalk /V DOS        MS-DOS
        Smalltalk /V Mac        Macintosh

Smalltalk /V PM 2.0 in beta for OS/2 2.0.  Smalltalk /V Win 1.2 in beta for
Windows 3.1. I've seen both on both platforms.  They are ready to ship.

Watcom
        WATCOM C - didn't visit both.  They made an annoucement but I didn't
attend.

Zinc 
        Zinc C - didn't visit booth.

There were several C++ products for sale for various platforms by various
vendors.   Unfortunately the class compatibility issue has still not been
addressed.  I visited  most booths.  Some vendors and their products:

Vendor          Product
----------------------------------------------------------------
Blaise          WIN++   A C++ class library for WINDOWS using Borland C++ 
                (also announced future library to support MS C/C++ 7.0)
ImageSoft       IconoClass - A browser and development environment for C++
                development for Windows, PM and Motif.
                Glockenspiel - C++ compiler
                CommonBase - SQL and ISAM C++ libraries
Premia          Codewright - WINDOWS programming editor.  Not specifically for
		C++ but does have C++-type editing available.  We've used this
		editor and probably the best WINDOWS editor so far.


SEMINARS:

        I attended the following seminars. I have notes to these seminars if you
would  like to borrow and photocopy:
        
                Enhancements and New Capabilities in Windows 3.1
                Windows NT Overview        
                Dynamic Data Exchange for WINDOWS
                Introduction to Object Linking and Embedding (I have extensive 
                    documentation and examples provided by MS)
                Real World Smalltalk
                Class Libraries and Standardization
                Developing Multimedia Applications for Windows
                The Object Windows Interface to C++
                Programming MultiMedia Extensions
                Getting Ready for Windows-32
                Methodology for Humans
                Extending Windows with Custom Controls
                Visual Programming with Borland's Applications Frameworks
        
- brad -