MAGIC programming language

Daniel P. B. Smith

unread,

Dec 30, 1994, 10:37:43 PM12/30/94

to

In article <3e2fdd$k...@nic.iii.net>, Stuart Solomon <s...@stu.iii.net> wrote:
>In article <3e2d5i$6...@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com>, XFD...@prodigy.com
>says...
>>
>>Anyone ever heard of a programming language called MAGIC used by a
>>company named MEDITECH (Medical Information Technology) out of Boston?
>>The hospital where I work uses hospital information systems software
>sold
>>
>>by MEDITECH which is all written using MAGIC. As far as I can tell, its
>>an offspring of MUMPS, but not widely used by other companies in the
>>healthcare industry.
>>-
>> RUSSELL MEMPHIS,TN XFD...@prodigy.com
>>
>Russell: MAGIC is indeed an offsring of MUMPS, but several generations
>beyond it. The CEO of MEDITECH, Neil Pappalardo was one of the
>originators of the MUMPS language at MASS GENERAL in the late 60's.
>MAGIC remains a proprietary language owned by MEDITECH which is why no
>other healthcare system vendors use it. It is an extremely powerful
>language particularly well suited to the type of programming that needs
>to be done for healthcare systems. It other advantage is that it is
>very easy to write complex applications quickly, leading to high
>productivity of the programming staff.

Some of us over here in comp.lang.mumps are curious about how MAGIC
compares to M (MUMPS). Any specific details you can share with us?

(Incidentally, the current standard M (MUMPS) is, itself, also "several
generations beyond" the MUMPS prevalent at the time Meditech was formed).

--
Daniel P. B. Smith
dpbs...@world.std.com

max...@ac.dal.ca

unread,

Jan 1, 1995, 10:06:02 AM1/1/95

to

MAGIC may well be a powerful programming language, but being
proprietary it is inaccessible to all but the the most
sophisticated IS staff. The end-users in the hospital, the
people who are looking for *information* can't get a damn
thing out of the system, are are wholly dependant on overworked
(and often disinterested) IS staff to create reports for them.
We are currently going through an exercise to select a new
Hospital Information System for a a large conglomerate of
hospitals. Two of the hospitals in town already have Meditech
systems. There are some departments who still cannot get *any*
useful information out of the system after three years, because
they can't do MAGIC programming themselves, and there is no
other, user-friendly way of getting it. We have rejected this
approach, and are looking at open systems written in 4-GL
relational D/B's (Sybase or Oracle), and accesible with SQL.
All the ones we have looked at have user accesible query
interfaces in varying degrees of sophistication, but even if
they didn't, there are a number of third party vendors who
sell report writers which will access any SQL D/B.

Chris Crayton

unread,

Jan 2, 1995, 7:38:56 PM1/2/95

to

>All the ones we have looked at have user accesible query
>interfaces in varying degrees of sophistication, but even if
>they didn't, there are a number of third party vendors who
>sell report writers which will access any SQL D/B.

As a programmer, I have to say that this is the best approach, especially in
a hospital environment. SQL interfaces can be constructed on PC platforms
using Visual Basic and dBase for Windows, and interfaces are available for
just about any type of computing platform imaginable.

Look to see a plethora of new hardware environments in the next three to
five years as PowerPC, Alpha, and other new chip technologies begin to gain
widespread acceptance in the mainstream. With the widespread acceptance of
the Windows API on just about every platform imaginable, we will see many
new types of machines in the marketplace that don't have the "Intel inside"
nomiker, and are not hampered by the ISA bus architecture. About time, too.

Any institution that does not strive to leverage open, widely available
computer systems and technology will lose out in the long run. In any case,
it will be in interesting next few years!