Development Update November 2006

‘Hydra4GL’ allows you to define your own data types. Variables can then be defined based on these data types. This means that a desired data structure that does not already exist as a preset data type can be created and reused, saving the developer defining it repeatedly throughout the program.

User Defined Types (Language Extension)

These data types can be simply a new type defined from a preset data type, such as setting a type representing a date of birth to a DATE data type, or it could be an entire record as a user defined type.

Derivation / Inheritance

It is also possible to derive new sub-types from these user defined data types. For example, if a record is defined as a type containing properties of a person, such as first name and last name, it is possible to create an employee type that shares these properties but also has additional properties, such as an employee number.

Increases Productivity and Maintainability

By allowing developers to define types that can be reused throughout the program, changes need only be made in one place and therefore code is more efficient and is easier to read and maintain.