Newi facts for kids

Newi (pronounced "new-eye") stands for NEw World Infrastructure. It was a special way to design and build computer programs. Think of it like using building blocks to create software. Newi was famous for using something called "business objects".

A computer scientist named Oliver Sims created Newi in England. It was one of the first systems to use software building blocks in this way.

What Was Newi?

Newi was like a special box or "container" for software parts. These parts, called components, could be written in many different computer languages. This meant a component made in one language could work with a component made in another.

How Newi Components Worked

Newi supported languages like Cobol, Ada, C, C++, Rexx, and Java. It could run on different computer systems, including Windows and Unix. This made it very flexible.

Newi components were designed to be large, reusable pieces of software. Imagine a "customer" component that handles all customer information. This component could be used in many different programs.

Newi also had a way for these components to talk to each other. They sent messages using a special format, similar to how XML works today. The main goal was to make it easy for programmers to build complex applications. Newi handled many of the tricky technical details behind the scenes.

Front-End and Back-End Systems

Newi was used for both parts of a computer system:

• Front-end: This is what users see and interact with, like a website or an app's screen. Newi helped build these graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
• Back-end: This is the part that runs on servers and handles data and logic. Newi components could also manage these powerful server tasks.

This meant that the same building block idea could be used for both the visible parts of a program and the hidden parts that do the heavy lifting.

History of Newi

The idea for Newi started in 1989 with Oliver Sims. He worked for IBM at the time. He saw a need for software that could be built from separate, plug-in modules. Each module would represent a real-world business idea, like an invoice or a customer order.

Early Development and Launch

IBM UK helped fund the early development of Newi. After some successful test versions, a company called Integrated Object Systems (IOS) was formed in 1993. The first official version of Newi was released in 1994.

SSA's Involvement

In 1996, a company called SSA (System Software Associates, Inc) bought IOS. SSA saw a lot of potential in Newi. They continued to develop it, especially for back-end server systems. They also created something called "Semantic Message Gateways" (SMG). This was an early form of what we now call web services. It allowed different computer systems to communicate easily using Newi's ideas.

End of Development

Sadly, in 1998, SSA faced some business challenges. They had to make big changes, and Newi development was stopped. The team working on Newi, which included about forty people, was disbanded.

See also

• Business object
• Software component