Eiffel: The One-Minute Summary

For the truly hurried here is a capsule overview of ISE Eiffel:

A comprehensive approach to the construction of successful software.

The goal: cheaper (spend less on development, debugging, maintenance); better (get the bugs before they get you;); faster (bring your products out before anyone else); and easier to maintain, reuse and extend.

The only approach that covers analysis, design, implementation and maintenance in a single framework.

Includes a language, a methodology, and a complete graphical development environment.

Language: widely recognized as the best and simplest implementation of object-oriented concepts. Clean, simple, readable, powerful, easy to learn.

Methodology: based on Design by Contract -- building reliable software by defining precise contracts between its various components, and making sure the software construction process enforces these contracts.

Powerful graphical environment supporting lightning-fast compilation (Melting Ice Technology) and unique facilities for analysis (CASE), documentation, exploration ("browsing"), documentation, HTML, XML and UML generation

Complete portability across major industry platforms: Windows 98/Me/XP/NT/2000, major Unix versions, Linux, even VMS. Portable graphics with native look-and-feel on each platform.

One of the very first commercial environments to be available on the .NET framework, as a result of a partnership with Microsoft.

Sophisticated mechanisms for contract monitoring, inheritance (single, multiple and repeated), exception handling, genericity.

Generation of C code for portability and efficiency; speed of executables rivals native C.

Rich set of libraries covering graphics, the Web, networking, fundamental algorithms and data structures, lexical analysis, parsing, etc.

Proven track record of successful projects, including some of the largest successful O-O projects ever built anywhere: finance, telecommunications, CAD-CAM, CASE, education etc.

The most effective solution available today for the professional software developer

For a more detailed overview see An Invitation to Eiffel.

Getting Started with Eiffel

Eiffel Home Page (Web) -- Getting started with Eiffel (local)