| One software integration technique is the data translator method. While a lot of merits associated with this method have been found, a significant problem is how to implement the data translators. This problem results from the fact that the software to be integrated are heterogeneous: different data storage formats, different working environments, and so on. Currently, implementation usually are a mixture of UNIX shell scripts, Awk, C programs, etc. If a single language system can support all the requirements of implementation, the cost (in time) of developing a data translator will be greatly reduced.;In this dissertation, two novel integration tools have been introduced. The first of these tools is a query language on STEP files named EXPRESS Query Language (Eql). STEP files have received worldwide attention as a data integration media. The second language is a script language called Tnr (Templates and Rules). This language inherits some merits from Awk, such as data analysis functions. It also provides a complete set of facilities supporting access to the popular data storage: text files, relation databases, STEP files, networks, etc. |
