one (or maybe 2/3) sentence answer .........

if in one sentence (or maybe 2/3) you had to answer this question, how would you answer it?

why should I choose universe over unidata or unidata over universe?

would love to hear answers from rocketeers ..........

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

Doug, I don't see a reason for a choice. I've worked on both and as a programmer I did not see much difference. I did have source code on the system to see examples. If you get an opportunity to work on existing UniData you won't find many problems. If your just working from scratch transfer your BASIC code and let the compiler point out the differences.
Dale

------------------------------
Dale Kelley
I'm it!
Dale W Kelley Inc
Hohenwald TN US
------------------------------

Well, as for me, I've always been quite fond of UniData's {} function which calls an existing dictionary item as if it were a function. imho, all flavors should include this, or something like it. It's a much better alternative to the REFORMAT command. UniVerse supposedly has, or had, a CALC() function that's supposed to do the same thing, but I was never able to get it to work, and the documentation I last saw in the manual was incomplete, and the built-in help doesn't even mention it.

------------------------------
Marcus Rhodes
Owner
Rocket Forum Shared Account
------------------------------

Coming from PI/open, one of the biggest issues for us choosing between UniVerse and UniData was the support for GCI functions (e.g., written in C). UniVerse offered the same functionality as PI/open where UniData did not.

------------------------------
Henry Unger
President
Hitech Systems Inc
Encino CA US
------------------------------

if in one sentence (or maybe 2/3) you had to answer this question, how would you answer it?

why should I choose universe over unidata or unidata over universe?

would love to hear answers from rocketeers ..........

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

The one that I use is the best is the answer I suspect you would get from most people, even if that decision was made 30 years ago by people who no longer work for the company. Personally I have used both and like all children it is not fair to say which one may be your favourite.

------------------------------
Kevin Drury
Director, Technical Support Engineering
Rocket Internal - All Brands
Denver CO US
------------------------------

BUT a company is NOT going to purchase both, they will "pick" (haha I made a funny) one or the other. I am starting to use unidata (never have before) the trial version but the license is expired (even though it was just sent to me by rocket ......) but from looking at the manuals for unidata I do not really do not see a lot of differences and was wondering how a company would choose one over the other. I have not looked at prices yet but I have noticed that unidata seems to be used a lot at colleges, so I suspect that its the cheaper of the 2 ......

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

Most companies that have either of these as Kevin said made the choice 30 years ago. If a company was long ago a DEC user they'll have UniData. A CD replicator I worked for had both; they ran the business on UniVerse but the plant engineering department had a vendor provided UniData system.

------------------------------
Dale Kelley
I'm it!
Dale W Kelley Inc
Hohenwald TN US
------------------------------

Coming from PI/open, one of the biggest issues for us choosing between UniVerse and UniData was the support for GCI functions (e.g., written in C). UniVerse offered the same functionality as PI/open where UniData did not.

------------------------------
Henry Unger
President
Hitech Systems Inc
Encino CA US
------------------------------

Many Pick heritage applications have dictionaries full of A and S dictionary items. You can support these with OCONVS and ICONVS, as UniVerse did in the early days, whilst preserving the original dictionary record in a PDICT file. Supporting the Pick dictionary this way was cumbersome, but permitted Pick folk to continue using dictionaries with which they were familiar. UniVerse version 5 contained direct support for A and S dictionary items and simplified dictionary maintenance. Without support for A and S dictionary items would mean educating the segment of a development shop that maintained dictionaries in the construction of D and I dictionary records. While D and I type dictionaries seem straightforward to those of us familiar with them, historically it proved significant.

------------------------------
Mark A Baldridge
Principal Consultant
Thought Mirror
Nacogdoches, Texas United States
------------------------------

if in one sentence (or maybe 2/3) you had to answer this question, how would you answer it?

why should I choose universe over unidata or unidata over universe?

would love to hear answers from rocketeers ..........

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

Hi Doug - as I've mentioned I've used both, and many other PICK boxes, over the years. When I went from Universe to Unidata I missed what I used to be able to do in Universe that did not directly correlate in Unidata. One example was that I could open, read and write directly into alternate indexes on universe. Can't on Unidata.
Then recently, I went BACK to Universe and now miss what I could do on Unidata. One example is the debugger was nicer IMO on Unidata, things like turning on source code display while stepping through code, not available on Universe. And having these old A & S dict items cluttering up the place is really annoying!
As others have mentioned, you get used to what you are on and then would likely say that one is the best, but truly they both have pros and cons. Bottom line, if there was something specific I wanted to make sure the one I chose could do well, such as connect to C code as one person mentioned, then I would zone into those specifics to make my decision. If there's something really important to you that one does and the other doesn't then there's your answer.
In general though, both Unidata and Universe will do a good job for you. Good luck!

------------------------------
Kathleen Hambrick
Programmer at Colwell
------------------------------

great info thank you! I am trying to start looking at unidata (till they release a trail of jBase) and then IMHO jBase blows both unidata/universe out of the water ..........

one day we'll start a discussion after I get my trail version and bone back up on it but from working on it years ago (back when jim owned the company) it was awesome (being a linux guy being able to run jBase programs in linux by setting env variables floored me and since then it can ON LY have gotten better ...... anyway I degreess, sorry.

for now I am starting to see that depending on where the company came from and what they are used to seems to be the deciding factor between the systems and that programmers can (and do) adopt rather easily going from one to the other.

i am still going to talk to rocket about the price differences between the two, my gut feeling is that universe is the more expensive of the of the two systems.

again thank s to everyone who responded , I learned a lot and for that I thank you

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

if in one sentence (or maybe 2/3) you had to answer this question, how would you answer it?

why should I choose universe over unidata or unidata over universe?

would love to hear answers from rocketeers ..........

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

Well, why restrict yourself to the U2 products? If you want an Information style product, have a look at OpenQM as well. In operation, this is broadly identical to either of the U2 products, but has lots of enhancements over either product. On the other hand, if you need SQL, OpenQM does not build in the SQL engine present in the U2 products - but there are third-party ODBC drivers if you need that functionality.

Cheers,

Brian

------------------------------
Brian Speirs
Senior Analyst - Information Systems
Self Registered
Wellington NZ
------------------------------

wow I did not know about this, I am going to have to add it to my list of systems to start using:
unidata
jBase
and now openQM , I have never used it or to be honest really heard about or paid attention to, but I did a quick search and it looks interesting.

thank you (like I already did not have enough to do after work/on week-ends .....) but thank you again

dougc

------------------------------
Doug Chanco
Universe Programmer
Self Registered
graham NC US
------------------------------

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