Software Development on a Leash

• Learn how to build programs once--deploy applications forever
• Every developer wants to accelerate, reuse, and carry large portions of prior work into their next projects-this book show developers how!
• Author has 16+ years experience in commercial and military software architecture
• Subject matter is innovative but aligns with how developers think, how technology is controlled and deployed, and addresses the primary forms of volatility that threaten a software product's longevity

Author David Birmingham's products have been successfully deployed in a variety of venues, in this context highly complex desktop environments with rapid turnaround and high-intensity delivery deadlines.

This book contrasts the application-centric development approach to the architecture-centric development approach, introducing the concept of the metamorphic super-pattern. Metamorphism is the capability of a software program to dynamically adapt to changing application requirements without rebuilding the binary executable.

Birmingham invites the reader to deploy reusable structural and behavioral building blocks, along with some powerful frameworks to gain immediate traction in any setting. The book includes a high-speed multi-dimensional toolkit to organize and deploy the building blocks, essentially weaving the application together at run-time rather than being hard-wired in program code.

He ties the building blocks together with structural and behavioral metadata, allowing simple, interpreted macros to drive everything from database access, screen layouts and many aspects of software development normally embedded directly into the software program. The rapid deployment effect this creates allows developers to perform simple surgical application changes, or rapid sweeping rework / enhancement - without changing compiled software.

The frameworks discussed include the capability of deploying/changing highly complex applications and their Visual Basic screens without compiling program code; the capability of building dynamic data models that adapt to rapid change without software change; inter-application object sharing through sockets; dynamic error recovery and management, plus a powerful multi-dimensional toolkit.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Starting Point
Chapter 2: Building Blocks
Chapter 3: Best Behavior
Chapter 4: Power Tools
Chapter 5: Virtual Frameworks-Error Control
Chapter 6: Virtual Frameworks-Modeling Data Dynamically
Chapter 7: Virtual Frameworks-Screen Prototyping

Notes
Index