Hi Randall and Rob, for my own business (a privately run language school), Gambas has become a mission-critical tool. With the exception of the accounting office, we are running a Linux server with LTSP which serves not only the 50 students' computers in two labs + some working spaces but also my own terminal in the head office.
Over the years, I have written a number of highly specialised tools to manage e.g. the students' database, their marks and printing of certificates etc., a classbook to be used mainly by the teachers, a typewriting trainings program, a calendar for my own use, applications for our internal and external websites and lots of smaller apps and scripts, all in Gambas2 and 3. So Gambas is really mission-critical for my business. It's for our accounting computer that we still use an old VB5 client for the students' database, and for the students I made a quick-and-dirty typewriting app clone in VB.net. My brother-in-law still uses a VB5 database client I once programmed for them. If there was a chance to use Gambas on Windows machines, I would at last get rid of those, too ;-) Surely I've programmed in a lot of different languages and BASIC flavours that came along the way. I started on a Commodore PET (?), at least it woke my interest. The first one I owned was a ZX81, but I soon felt that it didn't serve a real use the way it was. Then followed some time with an Amiga 2000, and the first PC clones in parallel. This was the time when I started to code the first database for our school, switched to PowerBasic (a really powerful compiler BASIC), then to VB. After having used Linux as a standalone server for quite some time, I found KBasic which disappeared after a good start, then came to Gambas. I'm not like the typical pros like you all here, I don't like maths, I can't grasp the abstract examples which show it all so clear for you guys ;-) but I'm the hands-on type of guy who just wants a little problem solved. BASIC (and Gambas in particular) can serve both types of programmers, I think. Sure, I can read C and C++ code, Perl scripts, JavaScript, PHP and stuff. But they're not my kind of tools. Regards Rolf Am 27.11.2013 23:19, schrieb Randall Morgan: > Well as does happen though-time, language changes. The terms used over time > tend to take on different meanings giving the society in which they are > used. One of the reasons communications can be so difficult.... > > > On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 1:19 PM, Rob Kudla > <sourceforge-raind...@kudla.org>wrote: > >> On 11/27/2013 03:18 PM, Randall Morgan wrote: >>> When I think of mission critical, I think of things that could cost >>> someone's life if failure occurred. Things like, aircraft guidance >> systems, >>> embedded medical devices, automotive steering and breaking systems, rail >>> switching systems, etc. >> >> Those are actually a separate class, usually called "life-critical". A lot >> of proprietary software packages have EULAs that actually forbid their use >> in such applications. And while I don't know about Gambas, I've been aware >> of a frightening number of medical software packages with at least a VB >> interface, including my late partner's ICD's control software, complete >> with VBRUN600.dll (pretty sure the software in the ICD itself wasn't VB, >> but in non-implanted devices it might be -- and in any case, I'm betting it >> wasn't ADA). >> >>> You can argue that almost any software is mission >>> critical for it's mission. >> >> Nope, "mission-critical software" is a term of art that means "software >> critical to the operation of a business". For Amazon, a web server is >> mission-critical, as is whatever they use to handle fulfillment so quickly. >> For banks, there's the core system, teller interface and whatever other >> ancillary systems without which they can't open for business, written in >> languages that range from RPG to Javascript. For a recording studio, it's >> something like Protools or Ardour, especially once enough projects are in a >> given tool's format that switching would require days or weeks of work. And >> for Benoit's company, it's the software he wrote in Gambas. >> >> I once worked for a company whose most mission-critical software was a >> Lotus spreadsheet macro that they had overgrown, causing the data to >> overwrite the "code". Yes, really. They were dead in the water without it, >> sent everyone home, couldn't so much as access their customer list or open >> orders. I fixed it for them in a few days, converted it to a DBMS with a >> nice Turbo Pascal client, but it just goes to show that mission-critical >> software depends on what the business needs, not what's stable, secure or >> even sane. >> >> (No Z80 machines in my past except a Colecovision, but I had at least 5 >> 6502-based ones... still really enjoy that flavor of assembly language, >> especially with modern macro assemblers.) >> >> Rob >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT >> organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance >> affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your >> Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics >> Pro! >> http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349351&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk >> _______________________________________________ >> Gambas-user mailing list >> Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user >> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349351&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Gambas-user mailing list Gambas-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gambas-user