| Migrating from IBM Informix 4gl to Genero BDL / 4GL programming topics | |
IBM® Informix® 4GL (I4GL) applications often need additional utility C routines implemented in C-Extensions, for example to access the file system and read the content of a directory. Writing C-Extensions is an important cost in cross-platform portability and maintenance.
Genero Business Development Language (BDL) provides a set of utility libraries that include functions and classes which can probably replace some of the routines written for I4GL application. For example, BDL implements typical file management functions to search directories and files.
If portability is a concern (for example if you want to move from a UNIX™ platform to a Microsoft™ Windows™ or Mac OS-X™ platform), review your C routines and check whether there is a replacement built into the language or in one of the libraries provided.
Genero BDL even allows to use to the huge Java™ class library with the Java Interface .