IBM Informix 4GL and Genero BDL products

IBM® Informix® 4GL (I4GL) and Genero Business Development Language (BDL) are distinct development tools. The purpose of Genero BDL is to be as compatible as possible with I4GL, and it is very close. The success of Genero BDL depends on the ability to compile and run legacy 4gl code with minimum code changes. For text-mode applications, the migration steps are often reduced to recompile-and-run.

Genero BDL extends the I4GL language with advanced features, such as a Graphical User Interface and SQL access to non-Informix databases. This leads to some differences that you have to deal with, but these incompatibilities are minor compared to the added value.

In some rare cases, the Genero BDL team decided to take a different path to implement an I4GL feature, because we considered that the IBM Informix 4gl solution was not adaptable. For example, the dynamic arrays in I4GL and Genero BDL have different semantics.

This guide will help you identify the differences and find solutions to make the migration from IBM Informix 4gl easier.