Email from alaska Part 2

[bwolfsohn]

Dear Xbase++, Visual FoxPro and Clipper developer,

As outlined in my initial email, there are certain topics which I would like to cover before the Xbase++ 2.0 product launch. Today it is all about “continuous delivery and deployment”.

Xbase++ and Continuous Delivery/Deployment
Product Portfolio changes and Prices
Xbase++ meets Visual FoxPro
Automated Updates for Xbase++
Product Activation
New Website, created with 100% Xbase++ - no more, no less!
I always have been a believer in the idea of continuous delivery (please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_delivery). In fact, continuous integration and automated testing which are both prerequisites for continuous delivery always have been a super-hot topic at Alaska Software.

This is for a simple reason: Alaska Software is only able to guarantee backward compatibility with Clipper and previous Xbase++ versions based on its continuous integration and automated testing procedures, which have been in place since the first EEP under OS/2 (1995). If we hadn’t invested into that capability, we never would have been able to add new state-of-the-art technologies to Xbase++, while at the same time guaranteeing that old code runs and behaves as it did before.

With new technology such as virtualization we have been able to further optimize our integration and validation infrastructure. We can now do the same in hours what in the past had cost us days to accomplish. Thanks to our new IBM BladeCenters with more than one hundred CPU cores and almost a Terabyte of RAM, we can now build, validate, package, deploy and verify a new version of Xbase++ in around 4 hours on a range of operating systems, starting from Windows XP over to Windows 2012/8.1 in multiple languages and different SKUs.

This means that the development team can fix it almost instantly if something is broken, because the full validation runs each night. Based on that great move forward we have been able to deliver refreshes for the last CTPs in a 3-4 weeks cycle. We are right now in the process of moving to the next stage, which will allow us to deliver updates in a 2 week cycle.

This also means that at Alaska Software, we can stop trying to be perfect. Instead of holding back features for years until we think they are ready for release, we can make incomplete features available as long as they don’t break existing behavior – which of course is now automatically verified each night in full.

With the release of Xbase++ 2.0 we are moving into this direction, with a strong commitment to continuously deliver updates. To support that radical approach, we added a color marking scheme to the 4500+ pages of Xbase++ documentation. Each feature such as a class, method, function, command or even a chapter in a programming guide now has a color attached. The color tells you, the developer:

if a feature is usable without restrictions because it has been finalized
if usage of a feature is safe but less productive because of missing documentation
if there is a risk of future behavior or interface changes
if using a feature is risky as it is still incomplete and work in progress
Based on that color marking scheme developers can decide which features they use. Sometimes it is more important to be on the market now – even with the risk of additional development costs or some bugs/restrictions.

Let’s recap: for the release of Xbase++ 2.0 all features of the product have been assigned a quality grade using a color scheme. Developers can decide if they use features or not based on that grade. Automatic updates of the development platform will be published frequently by Alaska Software – ideally, at least once per month. This all leads to a simple fact: Xbase++ developers will get new features, technologies or corrections super-fast and in a reliable way.

In my personal view, with our continuous delivery efforts we are in a good position to transform our greatest weakness – being too slow with updates/releases – into our greatest strength to the benefit of you: the Xbase++ developer which creates outstanding solutions!

With kind regards,
Steffen F. Pirsig
Chief Architect & Co-Founder
Alaska Software Inc.