(Original creator: lammersma)
When is the best time to plant a tree? According to a Chinese proverb it’s 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
As Uniface developers we know this is true. Most applications written in Uniface originate from 20 years ago. And they are still alive and kicking. Well, I am not sure about the kicking part, but they are certainly alive. But I want to build new applications today. I am sure we all want to.
In previous blog posts I told you about my worries. Some of you replied, or sent me an email. Thanks for that! You told me about these frameworks that existed in the mid-nineties. A good and sound framework is an essential building block :) for fast application development. It’s the foundation of applications, but why should we invent the wheel over and over again? I would rather spend my energy on programming algorithms and code business logic.
But let’s be honest, we need more. I mean more frameworks that can be used to build mobile applications or at least fully responsive web applications with DSP’s. There are hundreds or thousands of excellent Uniface developers out there. And we need a working space where we can meet and join forces. What if such a place would exist? Where we could create nice tools, examples, pieces of proc code or even a complete framework? Wouldn't that be great! Let’s join forces and start a new community and have this working space. Interested? I have a plan….
Community
I want to organize a new Uniface developers community. The goal of this community is to build, maintain and share Uniface components. And I am searching for developers to participate. A few assumptions:
- Let’s start small, with a few developers. Not more than a dozen.
- It’s an online community, so it doesn’t matter where you live, work or which timezone you’re in.
- We will communicate in English. My English is not the best, but I try. I am sure we all can.
- The community and the products are independent. So, the software we create or documents we write are owned by the community.
- Participation is on a personal basis. So you don’t represent your employer. Not even when it’s Uniface. :)
- Everything we create, we will share for free and is open source. I will write a post about open source in the near future. Because it’s not what we are used to…
- Last but not least. We will work independently and local most of the time. But a community is about teamspirit. Especially in the beginning. We don’t have to be friends, but we need to respect each other's opinion.
Rocket science
The community is going to build Uniface components. Of course I am talking about Uniface 10. We will start with some nice examples. That’s also the best to get used to the environment. All of us know how to build nice applications with Uniface. I don’t know if you have any experience with version control, creating mobile apps or Uniface 10. But I am sure community based development is new for us all. So, at certain points it’s going to be trial and error. Before we can build anything we need to setup an entire environment where we can work together. Think about the architecture inside your development department, but then completely online.
There is already a complete online environment. All that is missing, is you! Want to participate? Please send me an email (lammersma@hotmail.com).
Don’t worry about the technical stuff. It will be explained to you!