Newi facts for kids

Newi was a special kind of computer program design, like a blueprint for how software should be built. Its full name was NEw World Infrastructure. It was mostly known as Newi Business Objects because it helped create something called a business object. Think of a business object as a mini-program that handles one specific task, like managing customer information or processing an order. Newi was developed by a person named Oliver Sims at a company in England called Integrated Object Systems. It was one of the first systems to let software be built using these "components" or building blocks.

What Was Newi?

Newi was like a special container for software parts, similar to how apps work on your phone today. These parts were called "components." The ideas behind Newi were explained in a book by Oliver Sims called "Business Objects" in 1994. Even though the title mentioned "business objects," the book was really about how to build software using these components.

How Newi Components Worked

Newi components were very flexible. This meant they could be written in many different computer languages. At its most popular, Newi supported components written in languages like Cobol, Ada, C, C++, Rexx, and Java. It could also run on different computer systems, including Windows and Unix. There was even a test version that worked with RPG on the AS400 system.

Newi components were designed to be like large, independent pieces of software. They could even be "subtyped," meaning one component could build on another, even if they were written in different languages. For example, a component written in C could be extended by one written in Cobol. Newi made it easy for these components to talk to each other using a special method, similar to how modern systems use XML to exchange information. It also had a way to send notifications, like alerts, between components. Newi was designed to make it simple for programmers to create new applications.

Newi for Different Systems

Newi was made to work for both the parts of a program you see (like the buttons and menus on a screen, called the "front-end") and the parts that work behind the scenes (like databases and calculations, called the "back-end"). The front-end version of Newi had its own system for creating user interfaces. This meant that programmers could use the same basic way of building code for both the visible parts of a program and the hidden parts that do the main work.

History of Newi

The idea for Newi started in 1989. Oliver Sims, who was working for IBM at the time, realized there was a need for a system where real-world business ideas, like managing sales or inventory, could be turned into software pieces. These pieces could then be easily plugged into a running computer system. This way, new applications could be built by simply putting together the right software pieces. IBM UK helped fund the early development of this idea.

After some successful test versions, a company called Integrated Object Systems (IOS) was created in 1993 to develop Newi further. The first official version of Newi was released in 1994.

In early 1996, a company called SSA (System Software Associates, Inc) bought IOS. SSA saw a lot of potential in Newi. They continued to develop the software, especially its back-end capabilities. They also improved how Newi components communicated with each other. SSA even introduced an early form of "web services" based on Newi, which they called "Semantic Message Gateways."

However, in 1998, SSA faced financial difficulties and had to make big cuts. Because of this, Newi development was stopped and eventually abandoned. The team of about forty people who worked on Newi in the UK and US were no longer working on the project.

See also

• Business object
• Software component