Panther Tool Suite is an extensible cross-platform collection of development tools targeted at development of 2-tier and n-tier client/server and component-based database-oriented applications. It works with all major databases and several major middleware systems. Applications developed with Panther can be deployed in character mode

Text user interface

TUI short for: Text User Interface or Textual User Interface , is a retronym that was coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces, to distinguish them from text-based user interfaces...

, GUI

Gui

Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...

 and WEB

WEB

WEB is a computer programming system created by Donald E. Knuth as the first implementation of what he called "literate programming": the idea that one could create software as works of literature, by embedding source code inside descriptive text, rather than the reverse , in an order that is...

 environments. The suite employs development methodology similar to rapid application development

Rapid application development

Rapid application development is a software development methodology that uses minimal planning in favor of rapid prototyping. The "planning" of software developed using RAD is interleaved with writing the software itself...

.

The toolset includes a complete integrated development environment designed to facilitate team development allowing personnel of different skill sets, from business analysts to database analysts to application programmers (both from C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

 and Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 "world") to user interface designers to participate in the software development process

Software development process

A software development process, also known as a software development life cycle , is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software process. It is often considered a subset of systems development life cycle...

.

Panther's repository-based visual development framework includes automatic inheritance across all application components and object property sheets. Where procedural programming in necessary, it can be done in C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 and JPL, a user-friendly 4GL scripting language

Scripting language

A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...

. Client forms are generally built concurrently and in the same environment with server-side components. Panther Database Interface and Transaction Manager automatically prepare business components to interact with database handling details, such as:

• automated SQL
  SQL
  SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
  
   generation using a visual metaphor, including cross-table relationships, master-detail
  Master-detail
  In computer user interface design, a master–detail interface displays a master list and the details for the currently selected item.A master area can be a form, list or tree of items, and a detail area can be a form, list or tree of items typically placed either below or next to the master area...
  
  -subdetail screens, lookups etc,
• automated result set mapping,
• data mapping between the component interface and the database,
• integration with database metadata allowing SQL queries to be written once and deployed across multiple relational databases,
• generating optimized updates,

while still allowing programmers to tailor database-oriented behavior on several levels, from Transactiom Manager model to manual SQL.

There are several editions of Panther, each one supporting different middleware:

• Panther for IBM WebSphere
  IBM WebSphere
  IBM WebSphere refers to a brand of computer software products in the genre of enterprise software known as "application and integration middleware". These software products are used by end-users to create applications and integrate applications with other applications...
  
  
• Panther, COM/MTS
  Component Object Model
  Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
  
   Edition
• Panther, Tuxedo
  Tuxedo (software)
  Tuxedo is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environments...
  
   Edition

Applications are portable between editions, databases, operating systems and deployment environments (TUI

Text user interface

TUI short for: Text User Interface or Textual User Interface , is a retronym that was coined sometime after the invention of graphical user interfaces, to distinguish them from text-based user interfaces...

, GUI

Gui

Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...

, Web

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...

) without rebuilding.

There is an open source

Open source

The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...

 version of the tool, POSSL.