************************************* * * * DB/C Newsletter * * April 1994 * * * ************************************* Editor's Notes I have some big news to report. The X3J15 committee has voted to change the name DATABUS to PL/B. This was done because Datapoint Corporation changed its position with regard to its trademark of the name DATABUS. As noted in the original charter of X3J15, Datapoint stated they would relinquish their trademark for the name DATABUS when it was accepted as an ANSI Standard. At the last X3J15 meeting, the Datapoint representative stated that the company would not relinquish their trademark when the DATABUS Standard was accepted by ANSI. Most committee members were very unhappy with this. Negotiations between Gary Raymond, the X3J15 chairman, and officers of Datapoint failed to resolve the issue. Therefore, the committee voted, by letter ballot, to change the name of the Standard (and the language) to PL/B. The vote specified that if Datapoint does not change its position by April 4, the name would be officially changed to PL/B. As of this writing, Datapoint had not altered its position, so it seems that on April 4, PL/B will become the official name of our language. From the conversations I've had, the consensus is that PL/B stands for Programming Language for Business. This is a good name in the sense that it is descriptive of the intent and use of the language. I hope that it doesn't get mixed up with PL/1. The name issue has not slowed down the Standardization process yet. The X3J15 committee expects the Standard to be accepted by ANSI some time in the next 60 days. This schedule could be disrupted if somebody like IBM doesn't like the PL/B name. We will keep you informed. The International DATABUS User's Group hasn't changed its name yet. And it still plans to meet in Houston April 23-26. Subject, Wills & Company will be attending and exhibiting. I hope to see you there. The focus of this month's Newsletter is the Internet. We have spent the last two months installing the software to take advantage of our leased line access to the Internet. It has been quite a learning experience. Much of the Internet software is public domain and is stored at various sites around the world. Some of the software is excellent, most of the software is acceptable, but some of the Internet software is miserable. We have finally gotten the main pieces working, so we invite you to start using it. This is the first DB/C Newsletter that will be distributed via e-mail. The current mailing list for the newsletter has only two subscribers (both in Europe), but I expect e-mail to become the primary means for distribution in the near future. To subscribe, please send an e-mail message to dbc@swc.com asking to be added to the DB/C mailing list. We expect to replace the existing BBS with Internet access sometime this year. Don't worry though, we will give you at least two month's warning before actually shutting it down. don.wills@swc.com DB/C and the Internet The Internet is a collection of networks that are interconnected. This seems obvious from its name, but in reality, it is more complex than that. Some networks are only electronic mail (e-mail) connected, while others are fully Internet connected. You need to understand what type of network you are going to use to communicate with Subject, Wills & Company. The most important feature of the Internet is electronic mail (e-mail). You don't actually have to be connected to the Internet to be able to exchange mail on the Internet. For example, if you use America Online or CompuServe, you can send and receive Internet mail through a gateway. In a general sense, you are connected with the Internet when you exchange mail via the Internet. When you are directly connected to the Internet, you can do lots of things other than just exchange mail. FTP is one of these. The acronym FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is a client/server protocol that lets a client store or retrieve files from an FTP server. An FTP server is a special task running on a computer that is fully connected with the Internet. Here is an example of using the ftp command to get this Newsletter (the lines starting with -- are comment lines): -- The client enters the following UNIX or MS-DOS command line to start ftp: ftp ftp.swc.com -- The server (whose name is ftp.swc.com) responds with: 220 atlas FTP server (NetWare v3.12) ready. Remote User Name: -- The client enters the general purpose user name "anonymous" like this: anonymous -- The server then asks for a password like this: Remote Password: -- The client should then enter his Internet address (this is an example): jsmith@ibm.com -- The server then prompts for commands with this prompt: ftp> -- Newsletters are stored in a directory named "news", so the client changes -- the current directory with the cd command, like this: cd news -- The server prompts again: ftp> -- The client retrieves the "mar94.txt" file into the current directory -- on his local machine like this: get mar94.txt -- The ftp server sends the file and then prompts again: ftp> -- The client finishes with the quit command like this: quit This simple example doesn't show many other features of ftp, but it should give you an idea of how simple it is to use. Statistics show that 40% of the Internet traffic is file transfers being done with ftp. The DB/C ftp server name is "ftp.swc.com". This server allows for both public and private access. Public access is accomplished by using the "anonymous" user name, as in the example above. Private access is available only to DB/C customers. Contact Judi at dbc@swc.com or by telephone to get your user name and password. The ftp default directory contains one file named "readme" and three directories named "news", "misc" and "user". The "readme" file contains help information for new users. The "news" directory contains the DB/C Newsletters. The "misc" directory contains miscellaneous information. The "user" directory contains the private directories, and is therefore not accessible by anonymous users. Anonymous users can only get files, they can not put files onto the server. Non-anonymous users can get and put files in their own private directory, but can only get files from the other public directories. As described in the Editor's Notes, the DB/C Newsletter will be distributed via e-mail to all people on the DB/C mailing list. In addition, important notices (like new product announcements) will also be e-mailed to people on the DB/C mailing list. We hope to make e-mail the primary support method. To communicate with the DB/C support staff, just send mail to dbc@swc.com. FAX and telephone support will always be available, but e-mail has some very real advantages, particularly when compared with FAX. E-mail is more immediate than FAX. FAXes are received at the front desk of Subject, Wills & Company where they wait before being copied for filing purposes. After being copied, they are forwarded to the appropriate person. This can take a few hours. E-mail sent to dbc@swc.com will not sit on the front desk before it is forwarded. Another advantage of e-mail is that code examples which are on paper in a FAX are machine accessible in an e-mail message. This makes examples easy for DB/C support personnel to deal with. Telephone will always be the most immediate support method, but we hope that e-mail will approach telephone's speed and that e-mail will be cheaper and more convenient than the telephone. One of the really nice features of e-mail is the ability to attach files to the message. Unfortunately, America Online and CompuServe do not currently allow file attachments for messages sent through their respective Internet gateways. Both have promised this feature in the future though. Delphi is a small competitor to America Online and Compuserve that allows full Internet access including ftp and e-mail with attachments. In addition to Delphi, you can gain full access to the Internet through local access providers. Local access providers are usually UNIX BBSs that have their own leased line to the Internet. Most metropolitan areas have one or more of these. They are sometimes hard to find, but more are starting to advertise in local newspapers. Access outside of the United States is becoming easier to find these days also. If you have a problem finding Internet access, call DB/C tech support and we'll try to help. One thing that is really great about the Internet is that we can probably find you access by just snooping around on the Internet. E-mail and ftp are just the two most basic tools of the Internet. Some other Internet features are: Usenet newsgroups Telnet Automated remailing lists Information browsers like WWW, Gopher, Mosaic and Lynx Information sources, both current (like weather) and libraries Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Games, MUDs and MOOs (find out for yourself) If you have a full SLIP or PPP access to the Internet, you can use an information browser like Mosaic. Mosaic allows for hypertext access to files, images, audio and video. Subject, Wills & Company is experimenting with a WWW server to provide Mosaic access to DB/C and other SWC files. If you would like to try it out, load the following URL: http://www.swc.com/ If you didn't understand a word of what this paragraph said, don't worry - this is advanced user stuff that won't be necessary to access all of the DB/C information. To find out more about it, go to the bookstore and buy one or more Internet books. Telnet is another aspect of the Internet that may be useful in helping to provide DB/C support. Telnet is remote login. It is used almost exclusively with UNIX, so it won't help with PC support. It will allow a DB/C support person to actually run your application on your machine. This can be very helpful in resolving problems. Like GUIs, the Internet is an aspect of computers that you can not afford to ignore. It will become the primary conduit for data flow around the world. Just like the four-lane highway altered the landscape of cities around the world, the Internet will alter the landscape of computers and communications. DB/C Class Schedule The next DB/C class is scheduled for May 2nd through 5th. The class is held in the Oak Brook, Illinois office of Subject, Wills & Company. For more information, contact Judi Tamkevic at (708) 572-0240 or at dbc@swc.com