RCPT: Re: Forte productivity metrics

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Date: 13 Dec 96 9:07
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Forte productivity metrics
Was read at 20:10, 22 Mar 96.

Similar Messages

Forte Estimating Metrics

In his book Object-Oriented Software Metrics (Prentice Hall, 1994), Mark
Lorenz in proposes an approach for estimating OO projects. Lorenz recommends
the average amount of effort spent on a single class is the best indictor of
the amount of work required on a new project. He suggests Smalltalk developers
average 5-10 person-days per class, and C++ developers average 25-35
person-days per class.
Has anyone a view on average effort to build Forte classes?
Note, the metrics quoted above relate to Design and Implementation. They
assume Analysis has been completed, and do not include the time for project
management, systems testing, and other support personnel. They assume a ratio
of 1:6 OO experts to novices. Higher ratios should result in greater
productivity (lower average efforts per class). The guidelines also assume no
library of reusable components.
Lorenz is an ex-head of IBM's Object Technology Center and a respected OO
consultant and author. His method is based on the results of 8-16 Smalltalk and
C++ projects (not all statistics are available from all projects). Projects
ranged in size from 60 to 700+ project-specific classes. Project durations
ranged from 6 months to 2.5 years, with teams of 2 to 35 developers.
Thanks for any help
gjb.

Ron,
Many thanks for your input, and I agree with your comments.
In this case, I do have a function point count which I am using for my primary
estimate. However, a prudent estimator will use multiple techniques for
comparison and reconciliation. The Class based approach, despite it's
weaknesses, appears to be a quick and simple technique to get a rough number.
As it's turned out, the function point estimate and the class based estimate
have come within 10% of each other.
Regards
gjb
ronald.ten-hove @ acm.org
07/06/97 03:32 am
To: Greg Barber
cc: forte-users @ Sagesoln.com @ Internet
Subject: Re: Forte Estimating Metrics
Greg,
In my experience, the class-count metric is a poor one for time estimation,
for four reasons:
1. The actual time/class is very domain- and implementation-
sensitive. Industry averages are fairly unhelpful, unless
you happen to employ average practices and work in domains
of "average" complexity (whatever that means!)
2. It does not account for the overall size of the project; the
larger the project, the lower overall productivity is.
3. It requires that a fairly detailed design be done already, which
represents a fair amount of the total effort; as an estimation
tool, it is only useful in the latter stages of a project.
4. Lorenz's research is based on a very small sample; 18 projects are
hardly enough to have statistical validity.
(I almost included a fifth point, but it is hardly worthy: class-counting
can be spoofed. Awareness of the use of class-count as a metric can give
developers a motive to either artificially increase or decrease the class
count, depending on other motivating factors.)
I would recommend function point analysis as a more general purpose tool
for project management. Using a good statement of the requirements, FPA
generates a measure of the size of the application in terms of function
points. This is independent of the implementation; it measures the
behaviours of the application, rather than the particulars of design
or implementation, such as class count or lines-of-code. Note that
expected productivity varies as a function of the overall size of a project.
FPA has been used as part of the study of literally thousands of
software projects, so the conclusions drawn from FPA studies done
by Capers Jones at Software Productivity Research have some
statistical credibility.
Looking at the general productivity numbers gathered by SPR
(http://www.spr.com), there are some productivity measures that
cover many languages, including Forte. In terms of lines-of-code
per function point, Forte is 3 times more productive than C++.
In terms of overall productivity (function points / man month), there
are too many variable factors to make a simple statement of relative
productivity levels between C++ and Forte meaningful. This has a lot
to do with the Forte object model and run-time system, which, in certain
problem domains, provides a lot of function points (or equivalent)
"for free." In other words, if you can use Forte's plumbing package,
you're automatically more productive. Providing the equivalent in
C++ would be a daunting task (I should know -- I've done it!)
The best method of determining your productivity is to measure it. There
are many factors that affect the overall productivity of your software
organisation; the programming language choice is just one. Using metrics
drawn on industry averages concerning just ONE variable in the product
development process is not terribly useful in project management.
If you are looking for an extremely rough number that is more defensible
that the good old "gut feel" technique, then class counting is probably
the least intrusive on the development process.
-Ron
At 08:02 AM 6/5/97 +1000, you wrote:
In his book Object-Oriented Software Metrics (Prentice Hall, 1994), Mark
Lorenz in proposes an approach for estimating OO projects. Lorenzrecommends
the average amount of effort spent on a single class is the best indictor of
the amount of work required on a new project. He suggests Smalltalkdevelopers
average 5-10 person-days per class, and C++ developers average 25-35
person-days per class.
Has anyone a view on average effort to build Forte classes?
Note, the metrics quoted above relate to Design and Implementation. They
assume Analysis has been completed, and do not include the time for project
management, systems testing, and other support personnel. They assume aratio
of 1:6 OO experts to novices. Higher ratios should result in greater
productivity (lower average efforts per class). The guidelines also assumeno
library of reusable components.
Lorenz is an ex-head of IBM's Object Technology Center and a respected OO
consultant and author. His method is based on the results of 8-16Smalltalk and
C++ projects (not all statistics are available from all projects). Projects
ranged in size from 60 to 700+ project-specific classes. Project durations
ranged from 6 months to 2.5 years, with teams of 2 to 35 developers.
Thanks for any help
gjb.

Re: Forte Estimating Metrics

Greg,
In my experience, the class-count metric is a poor one for time estimation,
for four reasons:
1. The actual time/class is very domain- and implementation-
sensitive. Industry averages are fairly unhelpful, unless
you happen to employ average practices and work in domains
of "average" complexity (whatever that means!)
2. It does not account for the overall size of the project; the
larger the project, the lower overall productivity is.
3. It requires that a fairly detailed design be done already, which
represents a fair amount of the total effort; as an estimation
tool, it is only useful in the latter stages of a project.
4. Lorenz's research is based on a very small sample; 18 projects are
hardly enough to have statistical validity.
(I almost included a fifth point, but it is hardly worthy: class-counting
can be spoofed. Awareness of the use of class-count as a metric can give
developers a motive to either artificially increase or decrease the class
count, depending on other motivating factors.)
I would recommend function point analysis as a more general purpose tool
for project management. Using a good statement of the requirements, FPA
generates a measure of the size of the application in terms of function
points. This is independent of the implementation; it measures the
behaviours of the application, rather than the particulars of design
or implementation, such as class count or lines-of-code. Note that
expected productivity varies as a function of the overall size of a project.
FPA has been used as part of the study of literally thousands of
software projects, so the conclusions drawn from FPA studies done
by Capers Jones at Software Productivity Research have some
statistical credibility.
Looking at the general productivity numbers gathered by SPR
(http://www.spr.com), there are some productivity measures that
cover many languages, including Forte. In terms of lines-of-code
per function point, Forte is 3 times more productive than C++.
In terms of overall productivity (function points / man month), there
are too many variable factors to make a simple statement of relative
productivity levels between C++ and Forte meaningful. This has a lot
to do with the Forte object model and run-time system, which, in certain
problem domains, provides a lot of function points (or equivalent)
"for free." In other words, if you can use Forte's plumbing package,
you're automatically more productive. Providing the equivalent in
C++ would be a daunting task (I should know -- I've done it!)
The best method of determining your productivity is to measure it. There
are many factors that affect the overall productivity of your software
organisation; the programming language choice is just one. Using metrics
drawn on industry averages concerning just ONE variable in the product
development process is not terribly useful in project management.
If you are looking for an extremely rough number that is more defensible
that the good old "gut feel" technique, then class counting is probably
the least intrusive on the development process.
-Ron
At 08:02 AM 6/5/97 +1000, you wrote:
In his book Object-Oriented Software Metrics (Prentice Hall, 1994), Mark
Lorenz in proposes an approach for estimating OO projects. Lorenzrecommends
the average amount of effort spent on a single class is the best indictor of
the amount of work required on a new project. He suggests Smalltalkdevelopers
average 5-10 person-days per class, and C++ developers average 25-35
person-days per class.
Has anyone a view on average effort to build Forte classes?
Note, the metrics quoted above relate to Design and Implementation. They
assume Analysis has been completed, and do not include the time for project
management, systems testing, and other support personnel. They assume aratio
of 1:6 OO experts to novices. Higher ratios should result in greater
productivity (lower average efforts per class). The guidelines also assumeno
library of reusable components.
Lorenz is an ex-head of IBM's Object Technology Center and a respected OO
consultant and author. His method is based on the results of 8-16Smalltalk and
C++ projects (not all statistics are available from all projects). Projects
ranged in size from 60 to 700+ project-specific classes. Project durations
ranged from 6 months to 2.5 years, with teams of 2 to 35 developers.
Thanks for any help
gjb.

Greg,
In my experience, the class-count metric is a poor one for time estimation,
for four reasons:
1. The actual time/class is very domain- and implementation-
sensitive. Industry averages are fairly unhelpful, unless
you happen to employ average practices and work in domains
of "average" complexity (whatever that means!)
2. It does not account for the overall size of the project; the
larger the project, the lower overall productivity is.
3. It requires that a fairly detailed design be done already, which
represents a fair amount of the total effort; as an estimation
tool, it is only useful in the latter stages of a project.
4. Lorenz's research is based on a very small sample; 18 projects are
hardly enough to have statistical validity.
(I almost included a fifth point, but it is hardly worthy: class-counting
can be spoofed. Awareness of the use of class-count as a metric can give
developers a motive to either artificially increase or decrease the class
count, depending on other motivating factors.)
I would recommend function point analysis as a more general purpose tool
for project management. Using a good statement of the requirements, FPA
generates a measure of the size of the application in terms of function
points. This is independent of the implementation; it measures the
behaviours of the application, rather than the particulars of design
or implementation, such as class count or lines-of-code. Note that
expected productivity varies as a function of the overall size of a project.
FPA has been used as part of the study of literally thousands of
software projects, so the conclusions drawn from FPA studies done
by Capers Jones at Software Productivity Research have some
statistical credibility.
Looking at the general productivity numbers gathered by SPR
(http://www.spr.com), there are some productivity measures that
cover many languages, including Forte. In terms of lines-of-code
per function point, Forte is 3 times more productive than C++.
In terms of overall productivity (function points / man month), there
are too many variable factors to make a simple statement of relative
productivity levels between C++ and Forte meaningful. This has a lot
to do with the Forte object model and run-time system, which, in certain
problem domains, provides a lot of function points (or equivalent)
"for free." In other words, if you can use Forte's plumbing package,
you're automatically more productive. Providing the equivalent in
C++ would be a daunting task (I should know -- I've done it!)
The best method of determining your productivity is to measure it. There
are many factors that affect the overall productivity of your software
organisation; the programming language choice is just one. Using metrics
drawn on industry averages concerning just ONE variable in the product
development process is not terribly useful in project management.
If you are looking for an extremely rough number that is more defensible
that the good old "gut feel" technique, then class counting is probably
the least intrusive on the development process.
-Ron
At 08:02 AM 6/5/97 +1000, you wrote:
In his book Object-Oriented Software Metrics (Prentice Hall, 1994), Mark
Lorenz in proposes an approach for estimating OO projects. Lorenzrecommends
the average amount of effort spent on a single class is the best indictor of
the amount of work required on a new project. He suggests Smalltalkdevelopers
average 5-10 person-days per class, and C++ developers average 25-35
person-days per class.
Has anyone a view on average effort to build Forte classes?
Note, the metrics quoted above relate to Design and Implementation. They
assume Analysis has been completed, and do not include the time for project
management, systems testing, and other support personnel. They assume aratio
of 1:6 OO experts to novices. Higher ratios should result in greater
productivity (lower average efforts per class). The guidelines also assumeno
library of reusable components.
Lorenz is an ex-head of IBM's Object Technology Center and a respected OO
consultant and author. His method is based on the results of 8-16Smalltalk and
C++ projects (not all statistics are available from all projects). Projects
ranged in size from 60 to 700+ project-specific classes. Project durations
ranged from 6 months to 2.5 years, with teams of 2 to 35 developers.
Thanks for any help
gjb.

Message Read Confirmation

Your message with subject, Re: Forte productivity metrics, and dated 13 Dec 96 9:07 was read by Len Leber at Fri, 13 Dec 1996 18:35:01 PST.
==============================================
Len Leber
ATG Solutions, Incorporated
[email protected]

Hi Souvlaki
If you are using Panther Mail you can use a plugin called MailPriority, which sadly doesn't work in Mail 2.0.
There are some work-arounds that get close to offering what Outlook has, including an all-or-nothing terminal hack.
You can read about them here.

Using third party tool to initiate a Forte batchprogram

Hello Forte Users,
Our company has acquired a software product called Maestro. It's a
production scheduling facility that manages tasks for batch mode execution.
We would like to know if anyone out there has had any experience using this
product with Forte. One recommendation that we discussed was to have
Maestro start a script on Escript to communicate to an agent that would
start the batch process at a specified time. Has anyone done something
similar or can offer any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean Mercier
To unsubscribe, email '[email protected]' with
'unsubscribe forte-users' as the body of the message.
Searchable thread archive <URL:http://pinehurst.sageit.com/listarchive/>

Jean,
We use Maestro for all our scheduling scripts. To start\stop the
environment and start\stop applications. We create a shell script that uses
escript to start/stop applications. Maestro just calls the shell scripts
and monitor it for completion. I think you have to write the shell script
in a standard way to return an error if it does not finish properly. Here
is an example:
#!/bin/csh
source /appls/forte/fortedef.csh
$FORTE_ROOT/install/bin/start_nodemgr -fm "(x:300000)" -e TR2ProdEnv
ps -fu forte | grep -v grep|grep nodemgr>/appls/forte/production/scripts/KBB
set KBB=/appls/forte/production/scripts/KBB
if (-z $KBB) then
exit 1
else
exit 0
endif
Hope this helps.
ka
Kamran Amin
Forte Technical Leader, Core Systems
(203)-459-7362 or 8-204-7362 - Trumbull
[email protected]
From: Jean Mercier[SMTP:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, April 12, 1999 10:36 AM
To: Forte-Users (E-mail)
Subject: Using third party tool to initiate a Forte batch program
Hello Forte Users,
Our company has acquired a software product called Maestro. It's a
production scheduling facility that manages tasks for batch mode
execution.
We would like to know if anyone out there has had any experience using
this
product with Forte. One recommendation that we discussed was to have
Maestro start a script on Escript to communicate to an agent that would
start the batch process at a specified time. Has anyone done something
similar or can offer any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean Mercier
To unsubscribe, email '[email protected]' with
'unsubscribe forte-users' as the body of the message.
Searchable thread archive <URL:http://pinehurst.sageit.com/listarchive/>
To unsubscribe, email '[email protected]' with
'unsubscribe forte-users' as the body of the message.
Searchable thread archive <URL:http://pinehurst.sageit.com/listarchive/>

Re: (forte-users) install

Andrea,
You cannot do it without shutting down and reinstalling.
Partial builds are only for building what changed instead
of rebuilding all the partitions. This is controlled by Forte
which detremines which partition changed and what to build
because of that change. Thats about it.
The only way you can dynamically load something is through
libraries. I am not sure if you have to shut down and reinstall in
this case too.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Nirmal
PSI Data Systems Ltd.
-----Original Message-----
From: andrea harper <[email protected]>
To: Forte-Users <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, November 08, 1999 4:34 PM
Subject: (forte-users) install
I am attempting to integrate some new code into a FORTE production
application and I would like to do it without shutting the applicationdown.
I have heard that this can be done by making a partial build. I was
wondering if anyone could comment on the steps I should take to installthis
partial build on the application without shutting it down.
Thanks.
Reserve your name now at http://www.email.com
For the archives, go to: http://lists.sageit.com/forte-users and use
the login: forte and the password: archive. To unsubscribe, send in a new
email the word: 'Unsubscribe' to: [email protected]

If you want this kind of flexibility, you can, but it has to be part
of your design right from the start. You should design your
application not as a single, large application, but rather as a
collection of several small components, that can be installed,
de-installed and re-installed independantly. They should inter-
act with each other not through reference partitions, but through
the NameSevice (ObjectLocationMgr).
This way, you can dynamically add and remove pieces of
functionality, without the need to shut the whole system down.
Pascal Rottier
STP - MSS Support & Coordination Group
Philip Morris Europe
e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +49 (0)89-72472530
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Origin IT-services
Desktop Business Solutions Rotterdam
e-mail: [email protected]
Phone: +31 (0)10-2428100
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
/* All generalizations are false! */
-----Original Message-----
From: andrea harper [SMTP:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, November 08, 1999 7:29 PM
To: Forte-Users
Subject: (forte-users) install
I am attempting to integrate some new code into a FORTE production
application and I would like to do it without shutting the application
down.
I have heard that this can be done by making a partial build. I was
wondering if anyone could comment on the steps I should take to install
this
partial build on the application without shutting it down.
Thanks.
Reserve your name now at http://www.email.com
For the archives, go to: http://lists.sageit.com/forte-users and use
the login: forte and the password: archive. To unsubscribe, send in a new
email the word: 'Unsubscribe' to: [email protected]

Installing Forte Software

Sorry, slightly off topic, but not that much!
I am about to install Forte 6.1 and I am faced with the normal procedure.
Deinstall old Workshop software and install new version, since the packages
use the same name and even the workrounds (see FAQ) does not give much hope!
Why can't SUN have different package names in the updates. I do not see any
major problems with that I installing/patching would be so easy!!!
e.g.
SPROcpl5
SPROcpl6
SPROcpl7
etc....
Install in /opt/SUNspro6 or /opt/SUNspro7....
It would make life much easier
Come on SUN it make sence....unless you think differently?
Andrew Watkins

Which Forte application are you trying to install? Forte C?
Do you have libXm.so.4 in /usr/dt/lib by any chance?
Most likely, you do not have the correct version of Motif installed for the Forte product which you are trying to use. You probably need Motif 2.1 and higher. You can check which version you have by issuing the following command:
pkginfo -l SUNWmfrun
If you do not have Motif 2.1 installed, remove the version you have and install
Motif 2.1 from a Solaris 2.7 CDROM.
-Moazam

Online Help to Accompany a Forte application

Folks
Does anyone know of a good on-line help editor that works well with
Forte products? It needs to be a Windows NT compatible software.
Does anybody have experience with WinHelp?
Thanks ... Nigel
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Hi Nigel,
I've recently had some experience with a product called Robohelp, and
integrated it cleanly into a Forte development. The product itself
generates your "Standard" standalone type help files (I believe it is
also fairly simple to convert these help documents to Web based HTML
help). The author of the web pages also found the product fairly easy
to use, producing professional, easy to use detailed help pages.
From an integration perspective it worked well for context sensitivehelp along with your typical menu help scenario. The only small (and
I mean small) qualm I have here is the context sensitive references
are numeric, and when entered into Forte are not easily recognisable
as their help topic counter part (On the upside you can generate a
report which displays the help topic number and topic description).
Hope this is of some "help" !
Regards,
Kevin.
==
Kevin Love <[email protected]>
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Management Consulting Services
Direct : 61 3 8603-2278
Mobile : 61 3 0418-341-048
http://www.pwcglobal.com
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Regarding Forte Upgrade to L

Hello Everybody,
I did some digging around and found that Forte recommends using same
revision in
order to avoid problems. A good reading on this subject was found in
ID # 310
Subject: Forte Product Mix
Category: Product/Platform alerts.
Tech Note: 11803.
Thanks for everybody's help.
Sanjeev.

Answer is NO. It will cost you $129.00.
-Bmer
Mac Owners Support Group
Join Us @ MacOSG.com
iTunes: MacOSG Podcast
 An Apple User Group 

Follow up on an old thread about memory utilization

This thread was active a few months ago, unfortunately its taken me until now
for me to have enough spare time to craft a response.
From: SMTP%"[email protected]" 3-SEP-1996 16:52:00.72
To: [email protected]
CC:
Subj: Re: memory utilization
As a general rule, I would agree that memory utilzation problems tend to be
developer-induced. I believe that is generally true for most development
environments. However, this developer was having a little trouble finding
out how NOT to induce them. After scouring the documentation for any
references to object destructors, or clearing memory, or garbage collection,
or freeing objects, or anything else we could think of, all we found was how
to clear the rows from an Array object. We did find some reference to
setting the object to NIL, but no indication that this was necessary for the
memory to be freed.
I believe the documentation, and probably some Tech-Notes, address the issue of
freeing memory.
Automatic memory management frees a memory object when no references to the
memory
object exist. Since references are the reason that a memory object lives,
removing
the references is the only way that memory objects can be freed. This is why the
manuals and Tech-Notes talk about setting references to NIL (I.E. freeing memory
in an automatic system is done by NILing references and not by calling freeing
routines.) This is not an absolute requirement (as you have probably noticed
that
most things are freed even without setting references to NIL) but it accelerates
the freeing of 'dead' objects and reduces the memory utilization because it
tends
to carry around less 'dead' objects.
It is my understanding that in this environment, the development tool
(Forte') claims to handle memory utilization and garbage collection for you.
If that is the case, then it is my opinion that it shoud be nearly
impossible for the developer to create memory-leakage problems without going
outside the tool and allocating the memory directly. If that is not the
case, then we should have destructor methods available to us so that we can
handle them correctly. I know when I am finished with an object, and I
would have no problem calling a "destroy" or "cleanup" method. In fact, I
would prefer that to just wondering if Forte' will take care of it for me.
It is actually quite easy to create memory leaks. Here are some examples:
Have a heap attribute in a service object. Keep inserting things into
the heap and never take them out (I.E. forgot to take them out). Since
service objects are always live, everything in the heap is also live.
Have an exception handler that catches exceptions and doesn't do
anything
with the error manager stack (I.E. it doesn't call task.ErrMgr.Clear).
If the handler is activated repeatedly in the same task, the stack of
exceptions will grow until you run out of memory or the task terminates
(task termination empties the error manager stack.)
It seems to me that this is a weakness in the tool that should be addressed.
Does anyone else have any opinions on this subject?
Actually, the implementation of the advanced features supported by the Forte
product
results in some complications in areas that can be hard to explain. Memory
management
happens to be one of the areas most effected. A precise explanation to a
non-deterministic process is not possible, but the following attempts to
explain the
source of the non-determinism.
o The ability to call from compiled C++ to interpreted TOOL and back
to compiled C++.
This single ability causes most of the strange effects mentioned in
this thread.
For C++ code the location of all variables local to a method is not
know
(I.E. C++ compilers can't tell you at run-time what is a variable
and what
isn't.) We use the pessimistic assumption that anything that looks
like a
reference to a memory object is a reference to a memory object. For
interpreted
TOOL code the interpreter has exact knowledge of what is a reference
and what
isn't. But the TOOL interpreter is itself a C++ method. This means
that any
any memory objects referenced by the interpreter during the
execution of TOOL
code could be stored in local variables in the interpreter. The TOOL
interpreter
runs until the TOOL code returns or the TOOL code calls into C++.
This means
that many levels of nested TOOL code can be the source of values
assigned to
local variables in the TOOL interpreter.
This is the complicated reason that answers the question: Why doesn't a
variable that is created and only used in a TOOL method that has
returned
get freed? It is likely that the variable is referenced by local
variables
in the TOOL interpreter method. This is also why setting the
variable to NIL
before returning doesn't seem to help. If the variable in question is a
Array than invoke Clear() on the Array seems to help, because even
though the
Array is still live the objects referenced by the Array have less
references.
The other common occurrence of this effect is in a TextData that
contains a
large string. In this case, invoking SetAllocatedSize(0) can be used
to NIL
the reference to the memory object that actually holds the sequence of
characters. Compositions of Arrays and TextData's (I.E. a Array of
TextData's
that all have large TextDatas.) can lead to even more problems.
When the TOOL code is turned into a compiled partition this effect
is not
noticed because the TOOL interpreter doesn't come into play and
things execute
the way most people expect. This is one area that we try to improve
upon, but it is complicated by the 15 different platforms, and thus
C++ compilers,
that we support. Changes that work on some machines behave
differently on other
machines. At this point in time, it occasionally still requires that
a TOOL
programmer actively address problems. Obviously we try to reduce
this need over
time.
o Automatic memory management for C++ with support for multi-processor
threads.
Supporting automatic memory management for C++ is something that is
not a very
common feature. It requires a coding standard that defines what is
acceptable and
what isn't. Additionally, supporting multi-processor threads adds
its own set of
complications. Luckily TOOL users are insulated from this because
the TOOL to C++
code generator knows the coding standard. In the end you are
impacted by the C++
compiler and possibly the differences that occur between different
compilers and/or
different processors (I.E. Intel X86 versus Alpha.) We have seen
applications that
had memory utilization differences of up to 2:1.
There are two primary sources of differences.
The first source is how compilers deal with dead assignments. The
typical TOOL
fragment that is being memory manager friendly might perform the
following:
temp : SomeObject = new;
... // Use someObject
temp = NIL;
return;
When this is translated to C++ it looks very similar in that temp
will be assigned the
value NULL. Most compilers are smart enough to notice that 'temp' is
never used again
because the method is going to return immediately. So they skip
setting 'temp' to NULL.
In this case it should be harmless that the statement was ignored
(see next example for a different variation.) In more
complicated examples that involve loops (especially long
lived event loops) a missed NIL assignment can lead to leaking the
memory object whose
reference didn't get set to NIL (incidentally this is the type of
problem that causes
the TOOL interpreter to leak references.)
The second source is a complicated interaction caused by history of
method invocations.
Consider the following:
Method A() invokes method B() which invokes method C().
Method C() allocates a temporary TextData, invokes
SetAllocatedSize(1000000)
does some more work and then returns.
Method B() returns.
Method A() now invokes method D().
Method D() allocates something that cause the memory manager to look
for memory objects to free.
Now, even though we have returned out of method C() we have starting
invoking
methods. This causes us to use re-use portions of the C++ stack used to
maintain the history of method invocation and space for local variables.
There is some probability that the reference to the 'temporary' TextData
will now be visible to the memory manager because it was not overwritten
by the invocation of D() or anything invoked by method D().
This example answers questions of the form: Why does setting a local
variable to
NIL and returning and then invoking task.Part.Os.RecoverMemory not
cause the
object referenced by the local variable to be freed?
In most cases these effects cause memory utilization to be slightly
higher
than expected (in well behaved cases it's less than 5%.) This is a small
price to pay for the advantages of automatic memory management.
An object-oriented programming style supported by automatic memory
management makes it
easy to extended existing objects or sets of objects by composition.
For example:
Method A() calls method B() to get the next record from the
database. Method B()
is used because we always get records, objects, of a certain
type from
method B() so that we can reuse code.
Method A() enters each row into a hash table so that it can
implement a cache
of the last N records seen.
Method A() returns the record to its caller.
With manual memory management there would have to be some interface
that allows
Method A() and/or the caller of A() to free the record. This
requires
that the programmer have a lot more knowledge about the
various projects
and classes that make up the application. If freeing doesn'
happen you
have a memory leak, if you free something while its still
being used the
results are unpredictable and most often fatal.
With automatic memory management, method A() can 'free' its
reference by removing
the reference from the hash table. The caller can 'free' its
reference by
either setting the reference to NIL or getting another
record and referring
to the new record instead of the old record.
Unfortunately, this convenience and power doesn't come for free. Consider
the following,
which comes from the Forte' run-time system:
A Window-class object is a very complex beast. It is composed of two
primary parts:
the UserWindow object which contains the variables declared by the
user, and the
Window object which contains the object representation of the window
created in
the window workshop. The UserWindow and the Window reference each
other. The Window
references the Menu and each Widget placed on the Window directly. A
compound Window
object, like a Panel, can also have objects place in itself. These
are typically
called the children. Each of the children also has to know the
identity of it's
Mom so they refer to there parent object. It should be reasonably
obvious that
starting from any object that make up the window any other object
can be found.
This means that if the memory manager finds a reference to any
object in the Window
it can also find all other objects in the window. Now if a reference
to any object
in the Window can be found on the program stack, all objects in the
window can
also be found. Since there are so many objects and the work involved
in displaying
a window can be very complicated (I.E. the automatic geometry
management that
layouts the window when it is first opened or resized.) there are
potentially many
different reference that would cause the same problem. This leads to
a higher than
normal probability that a reference exists that can cause the whole
set of Window
objects to not be freed.
We solved this problem in the following fashion:
Added a new Method called RecycleMemory() on UserWindow.
Documented that when a window is not going to be used again
that it is
preferably that RecycleMemory() is invoked instead
of Close().
The RecycleMemory() method basically sets all references
from parent to
child to NIL and sets all references from child to
parent to NIL.
Thus all objects are isolated from other objects
that make up
the window.
Changed a few methods on UserWindow, like Open(), to check
if the caller
is trying to open a recycled window and throw an
exception.
This was feasible because the code to traverse the parent/child
relationship
ready existed and was being used at close time to perform other
bookkeeping
operations on each of the Widgets.
To summarize:
Automatic memory management is less error prone and more productive but
doesn't come totally for free.
There are things that the programmer can do that assists the memory
manager:
o Set object reference to NIL when known to be correct (this
is the
way the memory is deallocated in an automatic system.)
o Use methods like Clear() on Array and SetAllocatedSize()
on TextData to
that allow these objects to set their internal
references to NIL
when known to be correct.
o Use the RecycleMemory() method on windows, especially very
complicated
windows.
o Build similar type of methods into your own objects when
needed.
o If you build highly connected structures that are very
large in the
number of object involved think that how it might be
broken
apart gracefully (it defeats some of the purpose of
automatic
management to go to great lengths to deal with the
problem.)
o Since program stacks are the source of the 'noise'
references, try
and do things with less tasks (this was one of the
reasons that
we implemented event handlers so that a single task
can control
many different windows.)
Even after doing all this its easy to still have a problem.
Internally we have
access to special tools that can help point at the problem so that
it can be
solved. We are attempting to give users UNSUPPORTED access to these
tools for
Release 3. This should allow users to more easily diagnose problems.
It also
tends to enlighten one about how things are structured and/or point out
inconsistencies that are the source of known/unknown bugs.
Derek
Derek Frankforth [email protected]
Forte Software Inc. [email protected]
1800 Harrison St. +510.869.3407
Oakland CA, 94612

I beleive he means to reformat it like a floppy disk.
Go into My Computer, Locate the drive letter associated with your iPod(normally says iPod in it, and shows under removable storage).
Right click on it and choose format - make sure to not have the "quick format" option checked. Then let it format.
If that doesnt work, There are steps somewhere in the 5th gen forum( dont have the link off hand) to try to use the usbstor.sys to update the USB drivers for the Nano/5th gen.

Partitioning Question - range partition?

Hello all
we have an issue with the amount of data we have in a particular schema that we are using to store production metrics. I have looked at a few options and are now trying to design a solution using partitioning. At a very high level we have data in 7 tables that need to utilise partitioning:
JOBS
FILES
MAILPIECES
MAILPIECE_DETAILS
TNT_DATA
BAGFILES
POSTAL_BAGS
Ideally I would like to use a RANGE partition as I can fairly easily use a date as the range - my issue here though is that only the FILES table has a DATE column on it.
So my question is, for the other tables, is it best practice to use the same 'sort of' partitions - in which case I would need to add a DATE column to each subsequent table and populate it correctly (based on the date in the FILES table - as the FILES table is acting as the PARENT table for all the other tables). Or, should each table be treated individually and partitioned using whatever method is appropriate for that table?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Paul

Hi,
if you are running 11g and all other tables are indeed children to FILES then consider reference partitioning.

Currency Conversion using third party tool

Hi,
I am trying to access BW from a third party tool and so far been quite successfull accessing BW Infocubes and Bex Queries by using OLAP BAPIs. However my customer wants to use currency conversion as it is available in BEX in the third party tool as well. I need some thoughts in this direction from experts who have worked on Business Objects and BW integration.
I believe Business Objects has a similar interface with BW using OLAP BAPIs. Is there a currency conversion functionality available in Business Objects for BW? Would really appreciate if somebody, who has tried out this feature, can share some of his/her experience.
Thanks,
Anurag.

Jean,
We use Maestro for all our scheduling scripts. To start\stop the
environment and start\stop applications. We create a shell script that uses
escript to start/stop applications. Maestro just calls the shell scripts
and monitor it for completion. I think you have to write the shell script
in a standard way to return an error if it does not finish properly. Here
is an example:
#!/bin/csh
source /appls/forte/fortedef.csh
$FORTE_ROOT/install/bin/start_nodemgr -fm "(x:300000)" -e TR2ProdEnv
ps -fu forte | grep -v grep|grep nodemgr>/appls/forte/production/scripts/KBB
set KBB=/appls/forte/production/scripts/KBB
if (-z $KBB) then
exit 1
else
exit 0
endif
Hope this helps.
ka
Kamran Amin
Forte Technical Leader, Core Systems
(203)-459-7362 or 8-204-7362 - Trumbull
[email protected]
From: Jean Mercier[SMTP:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, April 12, 1999 10:36 AM
To: Forte-Users (E-mail)
Subject: Using third party tool to initiate a Forte batch program
Hello Forte Users,
Our company has acquired a software product called Maestro. It's a
production scheduling facility that manages tasks for batch mode
execution.
We would like to know if anyone out there has had any experience using
this
product with Forte. One recommendation that we discussed was to have
Maestro start a script on Escript to communicate to an agent that would
start the batch process at a specified time. Has anyone done something
similar or can offer any suggestions ?
Thanks in advance,
Jean Mercier
To unsubscribe, email '[email protected]' with
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FORTELINKORA for NT?

G'day All
On VMS I use FORTE_ROOT:[install.scripts]fortelinkora.com to relink forte to
a new oracle installation. How do I do this on NT without having to
reinstall the entire Forte product? I can't seem to find any file(name) in
the Forte directories that fit's the bill.
Forte v30G2 on a DELL NT4 Server using Oracle 7.3.abc2xyz
TIA,
Dirk Haben
Forté System Administrator
SEALCORP
Level 38, Central Park
152 St George's Terrace
Perth WA 6000
Voice: +61-8-9265-5758

You can expect iFS for NT to be downloadable from OTN within the next week.
Thanks for your patience,
Tim

PAS QUERY: parent-child in to different columns from single dimension

Hello,
We are looking for the syntax to execute a PAS (Pilot Application Server) query with the following characteristics:
1)     Products dimension is hierarchically arranged by Product Type (parent) and the Product itself (child). There are other ancestors but we wonu2019t necessarily use them.
2)     We want to obtain a report through PAS scripting which allows us to display product hierarchy names in two different columns, i.e.: Column1 (Product Type) Column2 (Product) , but since they are part of the same hierarchy (dimension), we are not able to present the results as shown in the example below:
Example:
Product_Type     Product        Metric
Core              ProductX        MetricN
Core              ProductY        MetricN
New              ProductW        MetricN
New              ProductZ        MetricN
Any clues on how to attain this?
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
You can make use of CrossJoin function in MDX, I give a sample MDX based on the AdventureWorks database:
select {[Measures].[Reseller Sales Amount]} on 0,
crossjoin({[Sales Territory].[Sales Territory Group].[Sales Territory Group].members},{[Sales Territory].[Sales Territory Country].[Sales Territory Country].members}) on 1
from [Adventure Works]
After execut the MDX you will get the result like this:
Reseller Sales Amount
Europe
France
$4,607,537.94
Europe
Germany
$1,983,988.04
Europe
United Kingdom
$4,279,008.83
NA
NA
(null)
North America
Canada
$14,377,925.60
North America
United States
$53,607,801.21
Pacific
Australia
$1,594,335.38
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

HTML Editors and Greek Language

Hi all,
When using the HTML Editor the value that is stored in the database
is
&Delta &epsilon &nu &upsilon &pi ά&rho &chi &epsilon &iota&alpha &pi ό&theta &epsilon &mu &alpha (Deleted ; in the end of each character so that I can show you what I mean).
instead of Δεν υπάρχει απόθεμα
This doesn't happen when I use text item or text area.
Can I do something about it?
APEX version 3.1.0.00.32
Thanks in advance

Peggy,
FrontPage 97 / 98 have both worked really well for us, however we
discovered a slight hitch with 98 where the Editor would gobble up
<?FORTE ..> tags inside the SELECT OPTION tag, but you can work around
that one, apart from this FP98 is a great HTML editor. I also thought
HotMetal was a good fit.These observations come out of evaluating about
5-6 leading HTML editors.
Some recommended steps in the process:
1) Create a prototype by laying out all the HTML using an Editor. Figure
out all the navigation within your web. More recent features seen in
HTML editors such as JavaScript generation and DHTML / CSS support are
really difficult to work out on your own, let the advanced Editors do as
much dirty work for you as poss.
2) Once the prototype is finalized, for all the pages requiring any
dynamic content generation, figure out all the Tag Handlers you will
need. Change the HTML Content by inserting the FORTE tags as required,
code the corresponding Handlers.
3) Figure out the relation between page requests and the security
requirements for your pages, design the Session properties and data
tracing across requests using the Session object.
4) Do refer to all the Tech Notes on the Forte web site for known
issues.
As for the Java applets frontend, we have used Java - IIOP - Forte since
early beta through every Forte release (3.0.X) and it works fine with
WebEnterprise and release 30f2.
- Sameer
From: Peggy Lynn Adrian <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 15:19:58 -0500
Subject: WebEnterprise - HTML Editors and Java
I'd like to know any opinions on HTML editors and their use with
WebEnterprise. Have any of you done
evaluations to determine the best editor to use with the Forte
product? Also,
do you have experience using
a Java applet as the front-end to a Forte service object? In this
instance,
are you able to do so with Forte 30f2 and
WebSDK?
Thanks,
Peggy Adrian
Eli Lilly and Company

RCPT: Re: Forte productivity metrics

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