Platforms

Software development platforms stand for integrated development environments. As newest technologies and usabilities arrise, software development platforms extend theire coverage area and develop in new forms. Codespring team grew experience on the following types of software development platforms:

1. Windows

Description & use
Windows is the most widely used operating system for desktop and laptop computers. It provides an easy to use graphical user interface. Windows operating system has both client and server versions, all of which support networking, the difference being that the server versions are designed to be dedicated servers. The client versions of Windows may also share data over the network and can be configured to grant access to all or specific files only.

Codespring experience
For our production management software (Productis) we had chosen the Windows platform, because our clients are familiar with that. The desktop part of the application is developed using .NET Framework 3.5, with C# programming language, the user interface is designed using Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), for the services and web-services we used Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and for the database, which is although running on a Windows server machine we have chosen Microsoft SQL Server. The desktop part of the software is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, too.

2. Windows mobile

Codespring experience
Being widely supported both among pocket PCs and industrial mobile computers, Windows Mobile prooves to be a good choice for various projects. Using .NET Compact Framework 3.5 and Microsoft SQL server compact edition we managed to create highly dynamic and adaptable user interfaces for our client-server architectures and maintain offline productivity in the same time. Built on a Model-View-Controller architecture based on web services, our system is highly customizable and easy to integrate. Our software was used on HTC Diamond pocket PCs and Motorola MC3000 mobile computers with barcode reading capability. With user interfaces adapted both to Windows Mobile and Windows CE 5.0, our system proved more than enough for our clients’ mobility needs.

3. Linux

Description & use
Since several years, Linux based solutions are a viable alternative to Windows (or Mac) based solution. Not only for server purposes, but for standard desktop purposes too.

Codespring experience
Codespring’s IT department has deep knowledge of Linux distributions, and uses several Linux based servers.
As for application development, most of our programmers have the standard C/C++ libraries knowledge, which can be used under Linux. By default, every programmer can use Linux as an OS, this is not even a question. Linux based servers (mail, web, SVN, Perforce proxy, etc) and firewalls were installed and configured for some clients, and for inner purposes too. Also, Linux is used for our server virtualization, and as such, it is the base for the infrastructure and for some of the services offered to clients.

4. MacOS

Description & use
Mac OS X is the Apple’s operating system for the Macintosh computer systems. It is enjoyed because of its pleasant user interface, simplicity, robustness, lack of viruses and more. However, administering and programming of the Mac OS X is different from PC’s, and requires a special knowledge that is not very common in our area.

Codespring experience
Our team has been participating in creation of the Mac OS X version of the Archicad, accumulating experience specific to Mac OS X and as well to cross-platform development. Because the development tools and frameworks of the iPhone and Mac OS X are very similar, our iSpeedCam project is also a good reference to Objective C, Xcode, Cocoa, Core Foundation, SQLite, etc. Our system administrators have knowledge of administering / integrating Mac systems to Windows networks.

5. iPhone

Description & use
iPhone OS is the Apple’s smart-phone platform developed for iPhone and iPod Touch. It is derived from Mac OS X and uses the similar development tools: Xcode, Objective C, Core Foundation, Cocoa-Touch, etc. iPhone OS is among the most popular mobile phone operating systems, counting over 100.000 applications and billions of downloads.

Codespring experience
We have experience in the complete life-cycle of the iPhone development, such as design, development, testing and Apple Store submission. Our product, iSpeedCam is an advanced Traffic Enforcement Camera Detector System developed for the iPhone, using Location Services (GPS), Cocoa-Touch, SQLite, Media Services, OpenGL, XML and more. We also researched the Apple Store search engine optimization, pricing strategy and product support.