Back in the early '90s, the development tools business was pretty hot. Microsoft, Borland, Symantec, and others were constantly outdoing each other to improve developer productivity. But when Windows became the de facto platform, productivity took a major hit. Suddenly you couldn't write a decent application without reading a 1,000-page copy of Petzold and mastering a plethora of details around event loops, windows handles, and dialog box styles.
It took quite a few years until Windows development tools caught up with release of products like Visual Basic, Delphi, JBuilder, Visual Cafe, and so on. But eventually, it became easy enough for mere mortals to develop GUI applications, which ushered in a whole new era of applications for just about every conceivable departmental need or vertical market requirement. It was a golden age.
[ Also on InfoWorld: Martin Heller looks into Alpha Five V10, and Test Center puts Aptana through its paces | Keep up with app dev issues and trends with InfoWorld's Fatal Exception and Strategic Developer ]
There's been a similar phenomena with Web development over the last 10 years. Most of the tools used by Web developers today are primitive compared to the client/server tools of the late '90s. While there's no shortage of open source frameworks, libraries, and tools out there, it's still harder than it should be to build a good Web-based application.
Two recently released products may ultimately provide the kind of developer experience needed to provide a breakthrough in Web-based development: Alpha Five release 10 and Aptana Studio.
Alpha Five is somewhat of a secret weapon in web development. Loads of consultants use Alpha Five to crank out applications for their clients in half or less of the time they would expect. The product has been around for many years, and the latest release provides a form of codeless AJAX development, enabling developers to create Web-based applications with rich user interface controls without having to get dive deep into arcane coding.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect businesscritical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive InfoWorld Resource Alerts
