Bespoke Skill

All programs - applications - are written in some kind of computer code. From earlier days of Cobol, Fortran and Pascal, faster more universal code bases have evolved, of which perhaps the most widely used is C++.

The code gives instruction to a computer processor and will need to be compatible with the operating system that is controlling it. The main operating systems (platforms) for consumers are Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh, plus Palm, Psion and CE and others for PDA devices and a growing possibility for integrated mobile telephony systems. Enterprise systems may well use UNIX, DOS, VMS, MVS, VM or DOS/VSE.

A lot of the time, developers will not re-invent excellent wheels by writing their applications in source code. Whilst it may be viable and indeed worthwhile doing so for a really major project that is intended to be used by many thousands of users, it will take serious resources and much time to do so.

That's why, at Babelfix, mostly we'll use a 'base' program like Filemaker Pro - its so very much faster to develop with a shell that already has most of the base functions pre-written.

But that's not to say that it's a rule. Far from it.

We at babelFix will use whatever the best tool is to get the job done economically and on time. So if it IS the best way, we'll go ahead and get something written specially in source code. It'll depend on techie stuff like API's - for example, all Filemaker Plug-Ins are written in C++.

In principle C++ can be written with a perfectly ordinary text editor, but only by a seriously die-hard propeller-head. In practice there are third party tools that can make it easier and recompile the same instructions for several different platforms without it all needing to be rewritten for each platform. Cool.

When the time is right, BabelFix tend to favour Metrowerks' Code warrior and REAL basic, but as platforms and code bases change, doubtless so shall we...

We'll always get the very best experts to do the very best they can. And we'll have no hesitation in hiring a specialist anytime we reckon they can do it it better and faster than we can in-house. There are people out there we love working with - like Canadian genius James MacPhail - who lead world standards.