The DP4 C programming environment allows you to develop executable programs to access your database. The C language gives you the flexibility to manipulate data in any way you wish, but the more your program is based round the DP4 API, the more more portable and future-proofed it will be.
DP4 C is easy to learn, and baseically the same DP4 functions are available on all supported platforms, and sometimes in other languages, thus simplifying migration.
Your DP4 C program can be compiled using one of the supported compilers:
All versions are supported from 16 bit versions through to Visual Studio 6 and beyond. Itim Technology Solutions are committed to supporting new versions of this compiler as they become available.
The small, medium, big and large memory models are supported for programming on Legacy operating systems (including MS-DOS,FlexOS and OS/2)
The appropriate native compiler for each supported platform is used. Typically you will be able to use other C compilers if desired (the GNU compiler is supported on almost all platforms, even if it is not our preferred compiler), as there are common standards for object files and use of processor registers.
See An Introduction to DP4 Programming in the DP4 C/C++ Programmers reference for a more detailed introduction to DP4 programming using C or another language.