| Prev | Next | Start of Chapter | End of Chapter | Contents | Glossary | Index | Comments | (3 out of 4)

G2 Environment

 G2 is a intelligent real-time system (IRTS) for developing and deploying mission-critical, client/server applications. To describe the environment in layman's terms, G2 allows you to create "objects" that:

A G2 application can be distributed over a wide network of clients, using its own graphical user interface (GUI) or using some other GUI-building standard such as CORBA, ActiveX/COM, or Java/RMI.

The G2 environment consists of four major areas:

G2 Application Server

 The G2 application server, also called the G2 core, provides the full range of features needed to develop and deploy intelligent real-time applications. The G2 core bridges the gap between a traditional application server and an intelligent application, as this diagram shows:


The G2 application server provides these features, using these implementation techniques:

Features and Implementation of G2 Application Server
Feature Implementation
Object-oriented programming
Objects, classes, methods, inheritance, multiple inheritance, encapsulation, polymorphism
Rule-based reasoning
Event detection, data-driven processing, forward and backward chaining, scanning, generic reasoning over classes, reasoning with uncertainty
Time management
Continuous processing, time-stamping, historical data, update intervals, expiration time, wait states, temporal reasoning, built-in temporal functions
Networked distribution
Client/server architecture, integrated network tools
Connectivity
Bridges to numerous databases, devices, data historians, networking protocols and standards such as TCP/IP, HTTP, CORBA, ActiveX/COM, and Java/RMI, middleware, and low-level APIs to the C and Java programming language
Graphics and animation
Icons, schematics, animation, class libraries, dynamic end user displays
Natural language-like procedural statements
Syntax-guided text editor, local declarations, begin-end statements, case statements, if-then-else statements, looping, recursion, repeat statements, return values, nested procedure statements, error handling
Single-threaded, multi-threaded, and parallel processing
Standard procedural processing, subthreads, allow other processing statements, do in parallel statements
Fully integrated user interface tools
Menus, dialogs, spreadsheets, localization, icon libraries, user modes, item configurations, and restrictions
Simulation
Periodic signals, formulas, functions, models
Flexible development environment
Modular, configurable, rapid prototyping, component reuse, and continuous improvement capabilities

G2 Telewindows Client

G2 clients can access the G2 application server in a completely seamless manner through a Telewindows client application, which is a G2 process that allows remote users on the network to access the server application. The Telewindows client simply logs in to the G2 server from another machine. The client can view or manipulate the application as if he or she were sitting in front of the server's terminal. The G2 application developer determines how much access the Telewindows client has to the application. The application developer can cause messages to appear only on particular client terminals.

This diagram shows the seamless integration of Telewindows clients to the G2 application server, where each client might see a different view of the application:


G2 Utilities

G2 utilities are optional components of the G2 application server that allow you to perform specific functions. Most applications use some of the G2 utilities. This diagram shows the layered architecture of the G2 utilities and the purpose of each:


This table gives the complete name for each utility abbreviation:

Abbreviation Module Name
GFR
G2 Foundation Resources
GUIDE/UIL
G2 User Interface Development Environment/User Interface Library
GMS
G2 Menu System
GDD
G2 Dynamic Displays
GDI
G2 Development Interface
GXL
G2 XL Spreadsheet
GOLD
G2 OnLine Documentation

G2 Bridge Products

G2 integrates many different software technologies together in one package, not only intelligent system technologies for which G2 is well-known but more conventional technologies - object technology, knowledge-base technology, data interfaces, graphical user interfaces, and application server support.

Through the G2 Gateway and a wide range of off-the-shelf bridge products, G2 and the applications built on it get data from a wide variety of data sources - databases, control systems, and various real-time data sources.

Applications built on G2 are portable and interoperate across many computer platforms, including workstations from Digital Equipment, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Sun Microsystems, as well as PCs by many different manufacturers running under Windows. Among the operating systems G2 supports are Unix, VMS, and Windows NT.

| Prev | Next | Start of Chapter | End of Chapter | Contents | Glossary | Index | Comments | (3 out of 4)

Copyright © 1997 Gensym Corporation, Inc.