Heard about them a few months ago, but now they're ramping up the hypemeter
Anyone believe their estimate of 2M VB programmers? I might...
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First Integrated Development Environment
for Strategic Web Applications
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PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. - Amidst widespread praise from industry analysts, HAHT
Software, Inc. today introduced HAHTSITE, the industry's first integrated
development environment (IDE) for building and maintaining strategic Web-based
applications and large-scale Web sites.
HAHTSITE, a Premiere product at P.C. Letter's Demo 96 conference, is the
first multi-platform product to combine in a single tool a feature set that
meets the needs of Web site application developers. The integrated,
drag-and-drop platform includes a robust Microsoft Visual Basic(
syntax-compatible programming environment with a full debugger, comprehensive
site management, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) page authoring
capabilities with an integrated graphic editor, support for Java applets,
powerful Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) database access, a scaleable
application engine, and more. HAHTSITE raises the bar for Web development
tools to an unprecedented level.
"Web-based applications have tremendous advantages," said Richard Holcomb,
CEO of HAHT Software. "They offer platform independence, bi-directional
communication and convergence of text and data types - with tremendous
graphical user navigation possibilities. HAHT is dedicated to providing the
tools to make the easy creation, deployment and maintenance of Web-based
solutions an affordable reality for today's corporation."
"We've been predicting a product like this one for a long time," said Peggy
Ledvina, Vice President, Application Development Strategies of META Group, a
Stamford, Conn.-based industry research firm. "HAHT Software's HAHTSITE is an
innovative and flexible solution that marks the beginning of a new wave in
Web-based application development software."
As usage of the World Wide Web has exploded, Web developers have met with
increasing challenges resulting from inadequate and non-existent tools for
creating and maintaining robust sites. The problems they face are many:
* Lack of a rich visually oriented programming environment
* Poorly implemented database access
* Lack of support for team development
* No debugging tools
* Need for multi-vendor graphical tools for "Web-savvy" graphic creation
HAHTSITE is a single-source, multi-platform tool that effectively overcomes
these obstacles and more, for the first time bringing familiar and
professional programming standards to the World Wide Web within a visual
programming paradigm. The HAHTSITE architecture enables the creation of
mission-critical two- and three-tier client/server applications deployed on
the Web, with full support for all Web servers and all Web browsers.
Rich Programming Environment
HAHTSITE was carefully designed for use by both casual authors and
experienced programmers. The comfortable visual interface utilizes
task-oriented Wizards and Widgets for ease-of-use and rapid application
development. HAHTSITE also provides a robust environment for code development
featuring HAHTtalk, a Microsoft Visual Basic syntax-compatible language
including a full-function, interactive debugger. For more than 2 million
Visual Basic programmers, HAHTtalk provides a simple means of leveraging
existing knowledge to build and deploy serious applications on the World Wide
Web.
HAHTSITE uses a familiar "project" metaphor for managing text pages, code
objects, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), multimedia objects and Java
applets, and provides built-in, customizable interfaces for linking to popular
version and source control tools including Microsoft SourceSafe, INTERSOLV
PVCS and Atria.
Visual Environment With Drag-and-Drop Java Support
HAHTSITE's WYSIWYG authoring environment delivers a full range of features
for quick and easy page creation and site deployment. Through simple drag and
drop construction, HAHTSITE supports HTML 2.0 plus popular extensions from
Netscape and other vendors and lets users simply choose Java applets and
multimedia objects from a pull-down list to integrate them onto a page.
Intelligent templates provide easy site-wide control and global updating.
HAHTSITE also provides built-in tools for "Web-savvy" graphics creation and
editing. Features such as palette reduction and dithering, image resizing with
instantaneous feedback of image size, transparent backgrounds and
interlacing, and automatic generation of image maps, navigation bars and
thumbnails simplify the creation of fast-loading, engaging Web pages.
HAHTSITE's one button publishing feature enables dynamic URL generation and
URL fix-up with transparent site deployment with a single mouse click -
seamlessly moving necessary files via ftp to any predefined server location,
automatically changing file names and extensions to accommodate the hardware
platform of the Web server.
Scaleable Application Engine
The HAHTSITE Engine is the server portion of HAHTSITE that can be deployed on
multiple platforms and used in conjunction with any Web server. The HAHTSITE
Engine overcomes a fundamental limitation of the World Wide Web's inherent
architecture by creating and tracking "state" information for end-users who
visit a HAHTSITE Web site. The ability to create and maintain state enables
sessions, privileges and other valuable services not possible to create
efficiently using preexisting tools. The HAHTSITE Engine communicates with the
Web server to execute all HAHTSITE applications with security.
Seamless, Powerful Database Support
HAHT's founders, experts in database access, have leveraged their experience
to create the first tool that lets organizations easily leverage their
existing database investments. The HAHTSITE Engine provides full support for
any ODBC-compliant data source, enabling mainframe, relational and flat-file
queries.
The HAHTSITE environment incorporates intelligent database objects that
provide drag-and-drop incorporation and Wizard-based setup to simplify
database integration. In addition, the product will ship with a large
collection of pre-programmed query-oriented Widgets such as live reports with
data drilldown capability so users need not be experts in programming to
incorporate powerful database capabilities into their Web sites.
Platforms Support
The HAHTSITE integrated development environment currently supports Microsoft
Windows 95, Windows NT and SunSoft Solaris 2.X for Sparc. The HAHTSITE Engine
supports Hewlett Packard HP/UX, IBM AIX, Microsoft Windows NT, and SunSoft
Solaris 2.X for Sparc. Additional platforms are planned for future releases.
Pricing and Availability
A beta version of HAHTSITE will be available for general download from HAHT
Software's Web site for a 30 day evaluation in the first quarter of 1996. The
full shipping version of the HAHTSITE integrated development environment will
be released early in the second quarter of 1996 including a developer version
of the HAHTSITE Engine.
About HAHT Software
HAHT (pronounced "hot") is an acronym derived from the names of founders
Richard Holcomb, Rowland Archer, Jim Hebert and Tyler Bennett, a team of
industry veterans with more than 70 years combined experience, demonstrated
vision and leadership in the software industry. HAHT Software, Inc. is located
in Raleigh, NC. For more information about HAHT, please visit the company's
site on the WWW at http://www.haht.com, send e-mail to _hahtinfo@haht.com_ or
contact the company by phone at (800) 996-3222.