Press Release

ActiveState Development Tools Ship Simultaneously with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET

Perl, Python, & XSLT Programmers get Seamless Tool Integration

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2002--ActiveState, the leader in open source programming languages, today announced the 1.2 release of Visual Perl, Visual Python and Visual XSLT for Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. Perl, Python, and XSLT programmers can now leverage the power of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and rapidly create, edit, debug and run programs with Visual Perl, Visual Python, and Visual XSLT. These releases now include full IntelliSense and source code control support.

``These plug-ins are ideal tools for programmers using powerful languages such as Perl, Python, and XSLT,'' said Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO, ActiveState. ``Programmers can now use the language that best maps to the problem at hand and can leverage the advanced features in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET IDE; such as the integrated help which makes online help of Perl and Python keywords and modules literally a single click away. As well, the graphical debugger makes drilling down into complex data structures trivially easy.''

``Visual Perl, Visual Python, and Visual XSLT fit ideally into the Visual Studio .NET model of allowing projects written in multiple languages to be developed at the same time,'' said Marie Huwe, General Manager for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft Corp. ``Microsoft is delighted to be working with ActiveState to provide a comprehensive programming solution that enables customers to use the languages that best fit their needs all within one integrated development environment.''

ActiveState's plug-ins provide a suite of development and deployment tools, including an editor, graphical debugger, dynamic help, and code completion (IntelliSense). Other key features include:

• Regular Expression debugger - a unique, visual interface for almost effortless debugging of powerful regular expressions
• XSLT debugger - takes the pain out of XSLT by making it simple to find problems in both input data and code
• XSLT automatic output preview - eliminates time-consuming steps so transformation results can be viewed immediately
• Source Code Control - industry-standard change management through SCC-compliant source code control
• XML Web services - consume XML Web services with Visual Perl

``Visual Perl is the best IDE I have seen for coding in Perl. ActiveState has greatly simplified regular expression development. What was once a time consuming process of writing then debugging a regular expression has been turned into a fast and efficient process with the Rx Toolkit,'' said John Menke, Oracle Consultant, CSC Corporation. ``Visual Perl's remote debugging feature is also great. I can write code on my development box, then deploy and continue to debug on my Oracle staging machine. I'd like to thank the Visual Perl development team for designing what has quickly become indispensable in my Perl toolkit.''

``A new feature in the 1.2 releases is support for source code control,'' said Eric Promislow, Technical Lead, ActiveState. ``Programmers can now easily track and control changes to their programs with the leading version control systems such as Perforce, CVS, and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe.''

``XSLT is a newer language, and while it has extremely powerful features for transforming XML, it offers few diagnostic capabilities to let the developer know what the transformation is doing,'' said Paul Prescod, XML Technical Advisor, ActiveState. ``The Visual XSLT debugger shows the developer exactly what the program is doing, and leverages features found throughout the Visual Studio .NET IDE, such as call stacks and variable display windows to explain why.''

Visual Perl, Visual Python, and Visual XSLT are $295 each. The upgrade is free to existing customers. Educational licenses are also available. Additional details, free evaluation copies and downloads are at ActiveState.com/VisualPerl, ActiveState.com/VisualPython and ActiveState.com/VisualXSLT.

About ActiveState:

ActiveState is the leading provider of open source based programming products and services for cross-platform development. ActiveState's key technologies are Perl, the internet's most popular programming language; Python and Tcl, user-friendly scripting languages; PHP, the dynamic web programming language; and XSLT, the XML transformation language.

     ActiveState Corp.
     Lori Pike, 604/808-6655
     Email: LoriP@ActiveState.com