Java Programming Without Java

Bolero provides an easier way to create server components.

Rainer Mauth

Server-side software components such as Java servlets and ActiveX controls have had a warm reception in the developer community during the last 12 months. But building enterprise applications based on components can be very intricate. That's why Germany's Software AG now says "creation of server components must become easier."

Late February, Software AG announced a business-oriented development environment -- code-named Bolero -- for component-based applications. Bolero generates components for Jav a virtual machines and also supports Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) services.

According to Rüdiger Hansen, a Software AG technical s pokesperson, "Bolero helps enterprises tap into the Java world without the need to educate their programmers in complicated object-oriented languages like Java or C++." Bolero includes a programming language with a Java bytecode compiler, a repository for project data, and a series of productivity tools such as a GUI builder.

The Bolero language includes transaction monitoring, object-relational mapping, and the definition of persistent objects. Whereas other languages such as Java require the programmer to map objects to relational tables more or less by hand, Bolero shields the programmer from the nitty-gritty of the relational data structure by automatically mapping objects and tables as the objects are created.

Developers can choose the object model as a general class attribute, so classes can be either Distributed COM (DCOM) objects or JavaBeans. "No special effort is required to create a DCOM or JavaBean object from a Bolero class," Hansen says.

In the next version, Bol ero will also support CORBA's Internet Inter-ORB Protocol (IIOP). The final product will be commercially available by the end of this year.

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Product Information

Software AG

Darmstadt, Germany
Phone:    +49 6151 92 1935
E-mail:   
ebr@software-ag.de

Internet: 
http://www.softwareag.com

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Auto-Mapping at Creation

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The Bolero development environment automatically maps objects and tables as they are created.