Comdex 2001: C++ tool speeds Web applications

Software startup Rivar Technologies has launched a tool that allows developers to embed C++ code into their Web pages in order to speed up the performance of users' applications.

Most Web pages are written using HTML and handle the interaction between visitors and databases with languages such as Perl, Java or Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP). While those languages work, they rely on an additional layer of software to generate forms, process transactions or authenticate users.

Rivar's Code:Neo lets developers write C++ code alongside their HTML and then compile the program into binary objects that are executed directly by servers when a user requests information, said Rivar chief executive and co-founder Gene Savar.

The programs perform much faster than traditional Web applications because they interact directly with servers, said Savar, who claimed that the improvements would be at "least tenfold".

"You get the power of C++ in the middle of a Web page. This goes back to allowing very powerful programming for the Internet," he said.

Code:Neo has two components - a development tool and an application server - and is available now at $999 (£700) per server. Rivar said it is offering the software for free evaluation, although a message on the company's Web site on 15 November said Code:Neo was not yet available.

One developer at Comdex was impressed by the software's ability to combine HTML and C++ in a single environment, but noted that Code:Neo will be competing against products from Microsoft and others.

"A huge number of developers use Microsoft ASP," said Riley Major, a developer at Manna Freight Systems, who added that Code:Neo would also compete against Microsoft's forthcoming ASP.Net tool and Macromedia's ColdFusion Web server.

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