Allegro CL 8.0 with AllegroCache Now Available

Here's the deal:

• Allegro CL 8.0 addresses computationally hard problems.

Here's the confusion:

• Most computing problems are hard, but 80% of the money is being spend on computations that are inherently easy. An accounting system is inherently easy. Scaling it for enterprise use at WallMart is not easy. Oracle, IBM, SAP are good at scaling -- they have good tools for scaling.

Because of the heard mentality among VCs, CEOs, etc., most companies try to use the tools that scale easy problems to solve hard computationally problems.

[Gemstone and DB40 also have offerings which address (some of) the types of problems addressed by Allegro CL.]

For a conceptual overview of these issues, Franz has an excellent, if visually uninspiring, presentation. In all honesty, its the best summary of these issues I've encountered in 15 years of dealing with OODBs.

OK. The fact is some hard problems need to scale as well.

Allegro CL won't address every concievably problem, but it is designed to play well with others. This design has been honed over many years, many releases. [The 8.0 version number is an honest version number.] 8.0 includes important SOAP updates and their relational database integration is excellent.

Coders should check out their 24 minute demonstation.

I had the good luck to be exposed to some world class FORTH programmers at the beginning of my career. They placed a lot of emphasis on the notion that simple problems should be easy and hard problems should be possible.

Advanced Java and LAMP tools, such as Eclipse, Ruby on Rails, and OODBs like DB40, make solutions to a wide range of simple problems simple. They should be exploited because of their wide distribtion and adoption until they start to show their limitations. When they do, Allegro CL 8.0 may well provide a good next step. Because of the excellent SOAP and RDB support, advanced solutions can be part of enterprise work and a sudden, disruptive transition is not required.