Technologies

The .NET Framework and Developer Tools

The .NET framework is Microsoft's answer to the Java platform. It offers a great deal of functionality, including many open standards such as XML, SOAP and the new C# language. It does not yet have the same kind of platform portability that is found with the Java language.

The .NET Compact Framework

The .NET Compact Framework brings .NET technology to mobile devices such as phones and PDAs.

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)

Ajax is an emerging web development technique that delivers the responsiveness and functionality of desktop applications in traditional web pages. Ajax pages use XHTML, CSS, ECMAScript and DOM in conjunction with the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data asynchronously with the web server.

  • Read more about AJAX

The ANT build system

The Apache ANT build system allows predefined rules and actions to be applied in order to compile Java programs. This keeps our solutions simple to maintain and build.

.NET Active Server Pages

ASP.NET technology enables rapid development of stable and feature rich Web Applications and Services.

Blue Martini E-Commerce Platform

Blue Martini is a fully featured commercial e-commerce platform providing content management, online transaction, business intelligence and customer relationship management functionality for enterprise business to consumer (B2C) and business to business commerce (B2B) implementations.

The C++ Programming Language

This language is one of the more mature languages still in use today. A very complex language, C++ is used in production environments for integration with legacy systems and where efficiency, performance and size are the most important factors.

The C# Programming Language

C# is Microsoft's new language, designed as the language of choice for their new .NET development platform. C# is similar to Java with a few productivity improvements. As it is built on top of the .NET framework it does not yet offer the true cross-platform execution of Java.

Concurrent Versions System

CVS is a source code control system that enables project teams to keep track of all of the changes made in a directory structure. This is an indispensable tool when several different developers work on the same project.

The GNU/Linux Operating System

Often referred to as Linux this free (as in "free speech" not "free beer") operating system has been rapidly embraced by technology and business communities alike for its stability and security.

(Dynamic) Hypertext Markup Language

HTML is the markup language that is used to build web pages. DHTML introduces further layout features and enables scripting of page elements.

XML Compliant Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML)

XHTML is the XML compliant form of HTML that can be processed using XSLT.

The Java 2 Enterprise Edition Platform

The Java 2 Enterprise Edition, or J2EE, is a specification that allows high level interoperability between Java programs written within the J2EE coding standards. It also includes specifications for technologies such as Java Servlets and JSP.

The Java Programming Language and Runtime

A well established programming language with excellent object orientation. Java is the leading language currently portable between different platforms without recompiling.

The log4j logging framework for Java

The log4j frameworks allows us to control the logging output from our Java solutions. We found this technology so useful that we ported it into the C# language for use under Microsoft's .NET platform.

The log4net logging framework for the .NET platform

We currently maintain this .NET port of The Apache Foundation's log4j system.

MySQL

MySQL is a very nifty open source SQL database server. For systems that do not require enterprise database performance and features, it provides a very cost effective and high performance alternative to commercial database servers.

PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor

A commonly used scripting language which is widely used by web hosting companies. PHP resembles a hybrid of the languages C and PERL. Very useful for producing small interactive web sites, but unsuitable for large scale development due to weak encapsulation and relatively poor support for Object Oriented Programming techniques.

PERL

Practical Extraction and Reporting Language, PERL is an extremely powerful language which is ideally used in the processing of text files, although a huge amount of functionality is available through libraries available freely on the Internet.

  • Read more about PERL

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics and graphical applications in XML. Key features include shapes, text and embedded raster graphics, with many different painting styles.

  • Read more about SVG

Windows Development

Windows development has recently evolved from the complex world of C++/MFC/ATL/WTL into the more object oriented .NET framework. Traditional Windows programming skills still prove useful when maintaining existing applications and for certain low-level tasks.

Windows 2000 Server & Windows 2003 Server

Windows server operating systems offer a high level of performance and functionality in a platform that is familiar to a high proportion on corporate IT departments.

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

XML is a versatile means of representing hierarchical information in a defined structure. XML is widely used within many technologies and is especially useful for data interchange between systems.

XSL/XSLT

XSLT is a powerful way of manipulating and transforming XML data into different formats. This can be used to adapt data formats between two XML systems with different schemas, or even to transform XML into display formats such as HTML. We use XSLT extensively both internally, and within our products.