VisualAge is a family of computer

integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, an ...

s from

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, which supports multiple

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

s. VisualAge was first released in October 1993. It was discontinued on April 30, 2007, and its web page was removed in September 2011. VisualAge was also marketed as VisualAge Smalltalk, and in 2005, Instantiations, Inc. acquired the worldwide rights to this product. IBM has stated that XL C/C++ is the followup product to VisualAge.

Early history

VisualAge was created in the IBM development lab in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, which was established in 1984 and had responsibility for application development tools. The EZ-VU dialog manager product, a personal computer derivative of the user interface elements of the

ISPF In computing, Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) is a software product for many historic IBM mainframe operating systems and currently the z/OS and z/VM operating systems that run on IBM mainframes. It includes a Text editor, screen e ...

327x product was one of the first products in this family. The lab also had a group which was one of the early adopters of

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

technologies within IBM using an internally developed language called ClassC to develop applications with more sophisticated

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

s which were just starting to be widely available. Eventually, the availability of usable implementations of

Smalltalk Smalltalk is a purely object oriented programming language (OOP) that was originally created in the 1970s for educational use, specifically for constructionist learning, but later found use in business. It was created at Xerox PARC by Learni ...

for

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

-AT class machines allowed IBM advanced technology projects to experiment with Smalltalk. At about the same time, visual interface construction tools were coming up on the radar screens. Smalltalk research projects such as InterCons by David N. Smith of IBM, and Fabrik by a team at Apple led by

Dan Ingalls Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls Jr. (born 1944) is a pioneer of object-oriented computer programming and the principal architect, designer and implementer of five generations of Smalltalk environments. He designed the bytecoded virtual machine that m ...

were building interactive graphical applications built from composition of graphical primitives. Higher level construction of user interfaces was evidenced by other tools such as

Jean-Marie Hullot Jean-Marie Hullot (February 16, 1954 – June 17, 2019) was a French computer scientist and programmer who authored important programs for the original Macintosh, NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X platforms. These include SOS Interface for the Mac, which lat ...

's interface builder first done in

Lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

and then evolved to become the

Interface Builder Interface Builder is a software development application for Apple's macOS operating system. It is part of Xcode (formerly Project Builder), the Apple Developer developer's toolset. Interface Builder allows Cocoa and Carbon developers to crea ...

tool in

NeXTStep NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT, founded by Steve Jobs, in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its ...

and

Mac OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. Such tools allow for building user interfaces by

WYSIWYG In computing, WYSIWYG ( ), an acronym for what you see is what you get, refers to software that allows content to be edited in a form that resembles its appearance when printed or displayed as a finished product, such as a printed document, web ...

composition of UI widgets which can be "wired" to each other and to application logic written in the system's native object oriented language, or possibly with no coding at all. The original prototype which led to VisualAge was an attempt "to make something like the NeXT interface builder" within the Smalltalk/V development environment. By the time VisualAge was released as a product, much more emphasis was placed on visual construction of application logic as well as of the user interface. This emphasis was in part due to the "positioning" for "strategic" reasons of Smalltalk as a generator rather than a language within IBM's Systems Application Architecture.

VisualAge

The name "VisualAge" is the result of a contest between the members of the development team. After the initial release of VisualAge/Smalltalk the name VisualAge became a brand of its own and VisualAges were produced for several different combinations of languages and platforms. This is the eventual total of supported languages, variously available depending on the platform:

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural, and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily ...

, C, C++, EGL, Fortran,

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, Pacbase,

PL/I PL/I (Programming Language One, pronounced and sometimes written PL/1) is a procedural, imperative computer programming language initially developed by IBM. It is designed for scientific, engineering, business and system programming. It has b ...

IBM RPG RPG is a high-level programming language for business applications, introduced in 1959 for the IBM 1401. It is most well known as the primary programming language of IBM's midrange computer product line, including the IBM i operating system. ...

, and

. This is the eventual total of supported platforms, each of which support different languages:

AIX Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *Alternate index, for an IBM Virtual Storage Access Method key-sequenced data set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belg ...

OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...

, i5/OS (formerly named

OS/400 IBM i (the ''i'' standing for ''integrated'') is an operating system developed by IBM for IBM Power Systems. It was originally released in 1988 as OS/400, as the sole operating system of the IBM AS/400 line of systems. It was renamed to i5/OS in 2 ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, TPF,

z/VM z/VM is the current version in IBM's VM family of virtual machine operating systems. First released in October 2000, z/VM remains in active use and development . It is directly based on technology and concepts dating back to the 1960s, particu ...

z/OS z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture mainframes, introduced by IBM in October 2000. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn was preceded by a string of MVS versions.Starting with the earliest: ...

(formerly named OS/390,

MVS Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, is the most commonly used operating system on the System/370, System/390 and IBM Z IBM mainframe computers. IBM developed MVS, along with OS/VS1 and SVS, as a successor to OS/360. It is unr ...

), and

z/VSE VSEn (''Virtual Storage Extended'') is an operating system for IBM mainframe computers, the latest one in the DOS/360 lineage, which originated in 1965. It is less common than z/OS and is mostly used on smaller machines. DOS/VSE was introduced i ...

. In 1992, Apple and IBM cofounded

Taligent Taligent Inc. (a portmanteau of "talent" and "intelligent") was an American software company. Based on the Pink object-oriented operating system conceived by Apple in 1988, Taligent Inc. was incorporated as an Apple/IBM partnership in 1992, and ...

, based upon

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

, an operating system with a mass of sophisticated object-oriented compiler and application framework technology from Apple. Pink became CommonPoint, the partnership was dissolved, and CommonPoint was absorbed into VisualAge starting with the Compound Document Framework to handle OLE objects in VisualAge C++ 3.5 for Windows. In February 1997, the first mass release of Taligent technology came in the form of the Open Class within VisualAge C++ 4.0. This bundled SDK adaptation includes CommonPoint's frameworks for desktop (infrastructure for building unified OCX or OpenDoc components), web (called WebRunner, for making drag-and-drop compound documents for the web, and server CGIs), graphics for 2D GUI, international text for Unicode, filesystems, printing, and unit tests. ''PC Magazine'' said "Now, the best of the CommonPoint technology is being channeled into Open Class for VisualAge. ... For sheer breadth of features, the Taligent frameworks are unmatched. An all-encompassing OOP framework has always proved a difficult ideal to realize, but VisualAge's Open Class Technology Preview is by far the most credible attempt we've seen.". Most of the members of the VisualAge family were written in Smalltalk no matter which language they supported for development. The IBM implementation of Smalltalk was produced by

Object Technology International Object Technology International (OTI) was founded in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) in 1988 and acquired by IBM in 1996. OTI, in conjunction with the IBM development lab in Cary, NC, developed the VisualAge line Smalltalk and Java development tools, ...

which was acquired by IBM and run as a wholly owned subsidiary for several years before being absorbed into the overall IBM organization. VisualAge for Java is based on an extended Smalltalk

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...

which executes both Smalltalk and Java byte codes. Java natives were actually implemented in Smalltalk. VisualAge Micro Edition, which supports development of embedded Java applications and cross system development, is a reimplementation of the IDE in Java. This version of VisualAge morphed into the Eclipse Framework. Various members of the family have been replaced by products in the WebSphere Studio family of products. By 2005, Smalltalk specialist Instantiations, Inc. had assumed technical support responsibilities and been granted global rights to the IBM VisualAge Smalltalk product line and technology base. Instantiations continues to offer the “enhanced product” named VA Smalltalk (VAST Platform). The C, C++ and Fortran compiler on AIX, Linux and z/OS are renamed as XL C/C++ series.

Releases

Applications designed with VisualAge C++ may be portable between target platforms without any code changes needed if VisualAge guidelines were followed. IBM also included additional tools and libraries in instances where portability was not possible without code changes.

OS/2 and Windows

*VisualAge C++ 3.0 (

and Windows) *VisualAge C++ 3.5 (Windows 95/NT only) *C and C++ Compilers for OS/2,

and

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

Version 3.6 *VisualAge C++ Professional 4.0 (OS/2 and Windows) *VisualAge Generator Developer V3.1 for OS/2 *VisualAge Generator Server V3.1 for OS/2 *VisualAge for OS/2 1.0 (1993-10-12) *VisualAge COBOL for OS/2 1.0 (1994-03-29) *VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 1.1 *VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2 1.2 *VisualAge for COBOL for OS/2, Version 1 Release 2 *VisualAge COBOL for OS/2 2.0 *VisualAge for COBOL Version 2.1 *VisualAge COBOL 2.2 *VisualAge COBOL Enterprise 3.07 (Windows only)

OS/400

*VisualAge C++ for AS/400 V3R6 *VisualAge C++ for AS/400 V3R7 *VisualAge C++ for AS/400 V4R4

AIX

*VisualAge C++ Professional for AIX *VisualAge C++ Professional for AIX, V5.0 *VisualAge C++ Professional for AIX, V6.0

POWER Linux

*VisualAge C++ V6.0 for Linux *VisualAge C++ V6.0 for Linux refresh

POWER MacOS X

* VisualAge XL C++ V6.0 for Power MacOS X (10.2, 10.3) * VisualAge XL C++ V6.0 for Power MacOS X (10.2, 10.3) * VisualAge XL Fortran V8.1 for Power MacOS X (10.2, 10.3)

References

Citations

Bibliography

VisualAge - Smalltalk * IBM Corp., IBM, (1994). “IBM VisualAge (printed paper bound retail hardboard box)”. . IBM Corp. Part Number 14H0969 and lid Part Number 30H2314 Product Number 17H7495 Bar code: 087944096085 * IBM Corp., IBM, (Spring 1995). “Smalltalk resource catalogue”. . IBM Corp. (96 pages) Product Number G325-0813-01 Part Number 30H2238 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “Development guide”. 1st edition. (250 pages) Product Number SC34-4495-00 Part Number 14H0295 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “Programmer’s reference”. 2nd edition. IBM Corp. (458 pages) Product Number SC34-4493-01 Part Number 14H0297 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “IBM Smalltalk”. 2nd edition. IBM Corp. (172 pages) Product Number SC34-4491-01 Part Number 14H0296 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “Installation guide booklet”. 2nd edition. IBM Corp. (48 pages) Part Number 14H1071 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “Programmer’s guide to building”. 2nd edition. IBM Corp. (149 pages) Product Number SC34-4496-00 Part Number 14H1070 * IBM Corp., IBM, (October 1994). “User’s Guide and Reference”. 2nd edition. IBM Corp. (642 pages) Product Number SC34-4490-01 Part Number 14H0922; IBM VisualAge for COBOL Standard is “Year 2000 ready” and Requires: Warp Version 4.0 plus FixPak 1 or Windows NT 4.0 plus Service Pack 3 * IBM Corp., IBM, (1997). “IBM VisualAge for COBOL Standard (printed retail card box)”. Version 2.1. IBM Corp. Product Number P4301938 Bar Code: 1264301938000104 Part Number 4301978 * IBM Corp., IBM, (1997). “IBM VisualAge for COBOL Getting Started on Windows Manual”. IBM Corp. (130 pages) Product number GC26-8944-01 Bar Code: GC26-8944-01 Part No. 4301981 * IBM Corp., IBM, (September 1997). “IBM VisualAge for COBOL Getting Started on OS/2 Manual”. IBM Corp. 2nd Edition. (156 pages) Document Number GC26-9051-01 * IBM Corp., IBM, (April 1997). “Resource Catalogue for IBM COBOL Family V 1”. Release 4. (44 pages) Product Number GC26-8488-03 Part Number 4226010

External links

*
VisualAge Enterprise SuiteVisualAge C++
description from Electronic Developer Magazine for OS/2 (EDM/2)
Visual Age
description from Portland Pattern Repository
VisualAge for Java Tips and Tricks
{{Integrated development environments

VisualAge VisualAge is a family of computer integrated development environments from IBM, which supports multiple programming languages. VisualAge was first released in October 1993. It was discontinued on April 30, 2007, and its web page was removed in Se ...

Smalltalk programming language family