Questions about Sun workstations

[Mike Norman]

There has been some noises made in my department at work that next year we
might be getting some Sun workstations.  I have some questions that
hopefully some of you people out there in "net-land" can answer.

1) I've heard that the Sun-4 is supposed to comform to a binary standard.
Does this mean that code compiled on a Sun-3 can run without re-compiling
to run on a Sun-4?  Is the reverse true, can 'C' code compiled on a Sun-4
run without modification on a Sun-3?

2) What is/are the software development environments of choice to allow a
programmer to create graphical user interfaces (windows that can be moved
around, re-sized, scrolled, menus, click-able icons, etc.)? 

3) I am also interested in using C++ on the Sun.  Do any of the answers to
question 2) also work with C++?  Is there a class library that I can use
to create graphical user interfaces in C++?

Please e-mail responses, I normally do not subscribe to the newsgroups
I've put this request on (but for the next little while, I'll keep my eye
out for useful information)

Thanks in advance,

Mike Norman
Bell-Northern Research
3500 Carling Ave,
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada.
(613) 763-7717

{some big back-bone site ..}!utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-di!mike