Greetings
Can someone with a better memory than me refresh mine?
What was the name of the ChUI product that PSC used to have that was a program generator back in V4 maybe V5. It actually generated programs based on parameters and was sold as a query type tool.
I'm not talking about Results but an entirely different product, far more complicated than Results. I remember teaching courses based on it but I'm damned if I can remember the name.
Thanks
N/
FastTrack
FastTrack
Spot on Thomas. Obviously your time in the 70's was spent more productively than mine :)
Thanks.
N/
FWIW, the only part of FastTrack we found useful was the frame designer, which was merely a minor convenience.
Yes, FastTrack to me was just a first draft prototype - like the first attempt of automating building cars even before the Ford T1. Today, we have fully automated car-plants - and systems that can create a fully functional CRUD application for dozens of tables in minutes...
FastTrack triggered some ideas and inspired me (among many others, I think) to write a program generator, which could generate the CRUD programs, including menus, links to related tables, referential integrity and so on. That got me the job at PSC in 93! :)
Today, the latest version of my system includes a generator that creates a complete CRUD WebSpeed application - the UI similar to RollBase, with links to referred records in other tables, and lists for children tables (like order-lines of an order...). Every program can be customized, without loosing the ability to regenerate, which needs to be done when a new field gets added to the DB, a new process defined, or the UI changed (yes, the generator generates all HTML5/JS pages, too - which can be customized as well, of course).
I like to spend as little time as possible programming, so I have the maximum time available to spend with the users figuring out what they really need, and implementing the logic that can not be automated.
As life goes on - during the development process and afterwards - new insights are being found, new features are needed. I prefer the computer modify the standard programs, rather than me - it makes less mistakes. I'll do the custom aspects, it does the standard stuff...
Thank you Nigel and Thomas for reminding me of FastTrack! I just realized now, how something simple like FastTrack can have such a great impact. Even though it was not really useable by itself, it was the first step to something great...