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Application Development

Learning basic application development concepts can be helpful when dealing with consultants.

John Edwards on December 19th, 2006

Application programs--the software that handles tasks ranging from word processing to data organization to Web browsing--are created with the help of a wide array of programming languages and related tools. Application development is the process of building application programs.

For the typical businessperson, application development can be a confusing maze of buzzwords and acronyms. Yet getting a handle on some basic application development technologies and concepts can be very helpful when dealing with consultants who speak in a techno-tongue that can sound strange and foreign to someone who has never programmed anything more complex than a VCR.

Programming Languages and Development Tools

There are literally hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of programming languages. Yet only a relative handful are routinely used to develop business applications. Actually, today, most programs are developed with the assistance application development tools. These products, marketed by various vendors and open source communities, are designed to speed a programmer's work by automating a variety of routine tasks. They can also help reduce the number of errors introduced into a program's code. Given the size and complexity of many applications, application tools can literally shave years off of a development project.

Application Development Tools and Environments

Used to create standard business applications, desktop application development tools are among the most widely used application development tools.

One of the most popular development tools is Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, the software giant's integrated application development environment. Visual Studio 2005 helps programmers create programs, web sites, web applications and Web services that run on various platforms. Supported platforms include Microsoft Windows PCs and servers, PocketPCs, smartphones and Web browsers. Visual Studio supports Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# and Visual J#.

Delphi is another leading application development package. Created by Borland Software, Delphi 2006 supports the Delphi programming language and C++ for the 32 bit Windows platform and Delphi and C# for the Microsoft .NET platform.

Runtime Revolution's Revolution Studio, another cross-platform application development tool, delivers executables for Windows, Linux, Solaris, MacOS X and MacOS Classic systems.

On the open source front, is Eclipse, a vendor-neutral open development platform and application frameworks for building applications. Eclipse is supported by an open source community--The Eclipse Foundation. The not-for-profit corporation was formed to advance Eclipse creation, evolution, promotion and support, and to cultivate both an open source community and an ecosystem of complementary products, capabilities and services.

Web Development Tools

As more business applications move to the Web, Web-based application development tools are growing increasingly popular. Most developers recognize NetBeans as the original free Java integrated development environment. NetBeans is supported by an open-source project dedicated to providing software development products--such as the NetBeans IDE and NetBeans Platform.

ColdFusion MX 7 software from Adobe Systems is designed to make Internet application development and deployment faster and easier. Users can create applications for business reporting, printable-document generation, rich form building, full-text searching and graphing and charting. Programs can run natively on industry-standard J2EE application servers and easily extend or integrate with other Java applications. Adobe notes that more than 300,000 developers at over 10,000 companies worldwide use ColdFusion MX to build and deploy Web applications.

Database Development Tools

Database development tools are a robust part of the application development, enabling users to utilize stored business data in a variety of useful and innovative ways. Oracle Forms is a leading environment for developing database applications. Using the PL/SQL language, Oracle Forms is able to access the Oracle database and generate a default form that presents the data. The form is compiled into an executable (fmx), that's run by the forms runtime module. The form is used to view and edit data in business applications. Various GUI elements, such as buttons, menus, scrollbars, and graphics can be placed on the form.

Clarion, from SoftVelocity, is another popular database development tool. This product is compatible with several database formats including SQL, ADO, and XML. It can also output to HTML, XML, plain text and PDF, among other formats. Clarion offers templates that are used in conjunction with a code generator to produce much of the repetitive, yet time consuming, code that is typically required when producing an application.

Also of interest to database application developers is PowerBuilder, a system created by Powersoft, which was later purchased by database giant Sybase. The product includes user interface design, report creation and database content access tools.

Last Point

While we've touched on several of the leading application development technologies, it's important to remember that there are scores of other tools available, including products that are designed to expedite the creation of applications for mobile devices, telecom products, multimedia production and a variety of other platforms, often in highly specialized programming languages.

As a businessperson, it's not important to have an intimate knowledge of application development technologies. Yet a grasp of the field's fundamental concepts provides a knowledge base that can help any business professional communicate more effectively with application developers, leading to projects that meet their goals faster and at a lower cost. That's not a bad trade-off for just a little study time.

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