View source for PROIV

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'''PROIV''' (pronounced "'''pro-four'''"), also known as 'Pro-IV',<ref>{{Cite web | title=What is PRO-IV «  Omega Consultancy & Software | url=https://www.omega-cs.nl/what-is-pro-iv/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227151152/https://www.omega-cs.nl/what-is-pro-iv/ | access-date=2025-04-06 | archive-date=2021-02-27}}</ref> is  a [[Low-code development platforms|low code development platform]] owned by Zellis Holdings,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://proiv.com/about/|title=About|date=September 27, 2016|website=PROIV}}</ref> a British [[Human resources|HR]] services company.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zellis.com/about-us/|title=About us &#124; The Zellis story}}</ref>

PROIV was originally developed as a [[fourth-generation programming language]] (4GLs). PROIV and other 4GL are aiming to simplify and reduce efforts to create and develop computer programs compared to [[third-generation programming language]]s (3GLs) such as [[Cobol]] and [[Fortran]].{{sfn|Harsant|1989|p=5}}

PROIV's usual application domain is database-centric business applications.{{cn|date=September 2021}}

PROIV programs consist of [[Declarative programming language|declarative]]/non-procedural specifications that control the overall structure of the program and database access and that have an implicit sequence of execution (which PROIV programmers refer to as the timing cycle). Procedural subroutines can be added by the programmer; these are written in a [[Third-generation programming language|3GL]]-like language, which PROIV calls "Logic".

== History ==
PROIV was developed by [[Sushil K. Garg]], working in [[Hawaii]] in 1976 on a [[General Automation]] System. In the early 1980s, it was licensed to [[McDonnell Information Systems]] (MDIS).

MDIS converted PROIV to run on their [[Pick operating system|Pick]]-based systems, and this spin-off was known as ALL ([[Application Language Liberator]]).

PROIV was ported to several different platforms by separate teams. Garg brought these ports together as one company, Pro Computer Sciences (PCS), headquartered in Laguna Hills, California.  PCS was subsequently acquired by MDIS in 1988.

During the second half of the 1980s, a PROIV team entered the 4GL Grand Prix contests in1987, 1988, and 1990 and the product finished second on each occasion.

In 2000, [[McDonnell Information Systems]] changed its name to [[Northgate Information Solutions]].

== Implementation ==
PROIV runs [[Operating system|OS]]-independent application code in an OS-specific [[virtual machine]], allowing a user application to run unaltered on different computing platforms.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.proiv.com/V9_Help/desktop/windowsclient/interactions_with_the_proiv_virtual_machine.htm |title=Interactions with the PROIV Virtual Machine |website=proiv.com}}</ref>  {{As of|August 2021}}, Zellis claims support for PROIV on [[Microsoft Windows]] (workstation and  server), [[Red Hat Linux]], [[IBM AIX]], and [[Oracle Solaris]]; with [[Oracle Database|Oracle]], [[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL Server]], [[PostgreSQL]], and IBM C-ISAM as the database backend.{{Sfn|Zellis|2021|p=12}}{{efn|Only very specific combinations of operating system and database versions are supported}}{{efn|A different and wider range of operating systems were claimed to be supported by earlier PROIV versions, for example IBM mainframe operating systems in 1986.{{sfn|Garg|1986}}}}

The PROIV-supplied "[[GUI]] client", which renders the rich-client UI for applications written in PROIV, is based around [[ActiveX]] technology and works only on Windows client platforms.  Consequently, the programmers' development environments supplied with more-recent PROIV releases also work only on a Windows client platform.<ref>{{cite web |title=PROIV Virtual Machine and the Windows Front End (PROIV Client) |url=https://support.proiv.com/V9_Help/desktop/windowsclient/proiv_virtual_machine_and_the_windows_front_end_proivclient.htm |website=proiv.com}}</ref>

== Major applications ==
*In the United Kingdom it was used in the [[London congestion charge]] system.<ref name="Nicky1">{{cite press release |url=http://www.propeople.co.uk/Shownews.asp?id=28 |date=24 August 2004|title=Pro People to help alleviate congestion |accessdate=2007-09-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305050334/http://www.propeople.co.uk/Shownews.asp?id=28 |archive-date=2007-03-05 }}</ref>

== References ==

===Notes===
{{Notelist}}

===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite magazine|last1=Garg|first1=Sushi|date=10 November 1986|title=When we advertised in Computerworld, we got hard-core numbers, qualified business prospects, and serious business opportunities
      |magazine=Computerworld|page=122|volume=20|issue=45
      |url=https://archive.org/details/computerworld2045unse}}
* {{Cite web|author=Glovia|date=2021|title=External Interface Facility
      |url=https://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/CN/it/products/externalinterfacefacility.pdf|access-date=29 September 2021|website=Fujitu.com}}
* {{Cite conference|last1=Harsant|first1=John|date=31 October 1989|title=The construction of Computer Systems and the use of Fourth Generation Languages
      |conference=Staple Inn Actuarial Society|url=https://www.actuaries.org.uk/system/files/documents/pdf/computer1.pdf}}
* {{cite news|last1=Hurst|first1=Rebecca|date=8 July 1987|title=Users debate 4GL virtues
      |newspaper=Computerworld Focus|page=49-50|url=https://archive.org/details/computerworld2127unse/page/n186/mode/1up|volume=21|issue=27A|publisher=IDG Communications}}
* {{cite book|editor=ICE(GB)|date=1988|title=Proceedings - Institution of Civil Engineers: Design and construction. Part 1.
      |volume=84|location=United Kingdom|publisher=Institution of Civil Engineers|page=168}}
* {{cite web|author=Zellis|date=September 2021|title=PROIV Version 9.71 Release Notes 
      |url=https://support.proiv.com/d.xsp?id=014758 |website=proiv.com|access-date=1 October 2021}}

==External links==
*[https://proiv.com/ PROIV website]
*[http://www.proivrc.com/ ProIV Resource Centre] (unaffiliated with Zellis Holdings)

[[Category: Fourth-generation programming languages]]