LANSA (development environment)

LANSA is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building desktop, web, and mobile software applications that can be deployed to Cloud, Windows, Linux, and IBM server platforms. The main feature of the LANSA environment is the 'RDML / RDMLX' language–which is classified as a 4GL (4th generation language).[1] RDML closely follows the syntax of IBM CL or Control Language. CL is the "scripting language" equivalent of the OS/400 operating system. In recent years RDML has been extended to become RDMLX. This new version of the language has extra features, commands, types, and functions that are used in component development. RDML, on Microsoft Windows, integrates with ActiveX.

In its first release in 1987, the product was called lambda[citation needed]. At that time, solutions developed with RDML could be deployed to IBM S/38 and from 1988 onwards to the IBM AS/400 (iSeries, Systems, now IBM). The LANSA's RDML Program was related to (Rapid Development and Maintenance Language). This development language allows you to create a High-Level Application Definition or abstraction of your business application. This definition is independent of the operating platform.  Defining logic with a 4GL makes your programs independent of the 3GL layer.  A 4GL will eventually generate some type of 3GL code, which is compiled and executed, but you never need to modify the generated 3GL. It should not matter which 3GL is used. A High-Level Application Definition should allow you to generate or regenerate the same applications in different languages to make your applications portable.

Since 1992 LANSA has been deployed to multiple server platforms, including IBM, Windows, Linux, OS/2, and Unix.

  1. ^ Bettin, Joern (2001). "Practical Use of Generative Techniques in Software Development" (PDF). OOPSLA Workshop on Generative Programming.