As I see it you would need to show your architectural choices (probably not
language specific), and why you choose this one. Then justify the various
technological choices made to create this architecture.
The Architecture
architectural piece -> technological choice
* Ultimate Storage -> Relational Database
Surely no problems there.
* GUI -> DHTML/Java/Javascript
Given the combo, you must have already had some decent experience with
this so I'm guessing this is not a problem for you to justify.
* Page Generation / Local Dedicated Server -> Rebol/Custom Scripting
You choose a local page generation scheme over a central server. Network
issues, response times, etc.
ASP would have been a nightmare on each PC...
You could have written Java to do the page generation but you might have
spent half your budgetted time on networking
instead of writing the GUI....
* Test Scoring -> Rebol/Custom Scripting
Anything probably would have done the job, but I'm guessing you would
have a specific data model for the questions and answers. I'm guessing the
model(s) would be quite simple in Rebol but would have taken a while in
other languages. Certainly Rebol would have been easier to integrate with
the Page Generation Choice. Possibly you lumped this in with the page
generation because you needed fine control over the GUI output.....
Etc.
So what about Powerbuilder? Again depends on architecture. Three/n tier:
complexity of machines and communications, administration not to mention
lots of programming, a sophisticated layered model and expense. Two tier:
Networking issues possibly, rigidity of the solution - cycle times with
compiling / distribution.
Java similar issues.
Your solution probably can run without a central machine. If you needed to
achieve that with Powerbuilder or Java, what would you haved used for your
local data store? Do you have such a local store available. If not how long
would it have taken you to build one or buy one and learn it?
With these languages it comes down to already having a framework suitable to
the task. If not, then you would need to build it. Which might have overrun
your budget.
The weak point of Rebol is the size of the developer population available to
you (probably just you :) ). So you would need to hype up how fantastic
Rebol was in the various uses you made of it in this project, why it
succeeded so well, and how those qualities could be transferred to other
projects. Rather than fighting for survival, consider how you could make a
case for extra resources devoted to using Rebol to make it a new standard
(perhaps for specific projects to keep everyone comfortable).
You may have already given thought to how you could make this system better.
For example does your local rebol script make a direct connection to the
sqlserver - requiring Sql client on the test pc or do you emit something
like an XML message containing the results that gets posted to a central
collection point for import into the sql server? [I'm not saying which is
better just generating ideas.]
Hope it helps.
Brett.
> Basically, on each test station a local REBOL page server respond to
> requests emitted by html page and generate and send new html pages.
>
> Those generated html pages are used as the GUI, and are composed of
> DHTML-Java-Javascript. Their generation is based on html templates in
which
> data are inserted. Those data are contained in a - primitive but
functional
> - REBOL OODB. Examples of data are a question and the possible multiple
> choice answers to it, or the presence and layout of a time slider ...
>
> When a test session has been executed, all tests are corrected by a REBOL
> app, reports are generated using also DHTML-Java-Javascript pages
templates
> and the answers and results are inserted into a SQL Server DB for archive
> and longitudinal studies use.
>
> In terms of volume, based on what we can estimate until now, some 8000
> persons/year should use the system, which should correspond to about
> 4,000,000 pages generated / year.
>
> Do not hesitate to ask for more details, if you need it.
>
> Thanks for answering !
>
> Regards,
>
> chr==
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brett Handley [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: dinsdag 10 april 2001 10:09
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: [REBOL] Re: Need help for justification of using REBOL as
> > dev language
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Can you remind us of the structure of your solution?
> >
> > For example, I seem to recall that you used HTML as a GUI - is this
right?
> >
> > Brett
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "CRS - Psy Sel/SPO, COUSSEMENT Christophe, CPN"
> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: "REBOL List (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2001 5:37 PM
> > Subject: [REBOL] Need help for justification of using REBOL as dev
> > language
> >
> >
> > > Hi list:
> > >
> > > As already mentioned on this list, the whole psychotechnical
assessment
> > > system of the Belgian Armed Forces is running REBOL...
> > >
> > > Well, I think personally it was the best choice I ever made as project
> > > manager: REBOL is stable, ergonomical, easy to learn and use, has lot
of
> > > possibilities for being used to access ODBC and external libs, ... and
I
> > > feel good when I use it !
> > >
> > > But the choice of REBOL was a personal choice, not an Armed Forces
> > standard:
> > > it was in first instances justified by the fact the project had to be
> > > operational in less than a few month... So I had no time for
> > prospection.
> > >
> > > Now the project is going further and the code is getting stable, I
feel
> > the
> > > time is coming some high-ranked folks will ask me to justify my
choices,
> > and
> > > try to impose some standards like Java of PowerBuilder ;-(
> > >
> > > Well here is my request: there are lots of people - and gurus - on
this
> > > list, who are coming from different developing universes - like C,
Lisp,
> > > Java ... - and have discover the power of REBOL ... Please help me
find
> > > straight and technical args I could use to justify the use of REBOL.
> > Even
> > > language comparison tables should be useful !
> > >
> > > Perhaps we could create together a new standard for the Belgian Armed
> > Forces
> > > ;-))
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > >
> > > chr==
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> > > subject, without the quotes.
> > >
> >
> > --
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