Revolution as a Prototyping Tool

[Thomas McGrath III]

Dear List Members,

I wanted to share this document that I used when presenting Revolution 
to my company/client for consideration in our prototyping work. Since 
this list is growing daily, I thought there might be a few people who 
would find it useful.

Revolution as a Prototyping Tool

•	Prototyping is a process of design and development used to help model 
the specifications and requirements for a new application.
•	Once a prototype has been developed it can be quickly moved to alpha 
or sometimes even beta without dedicating significant resources and 
time.
•	The nature of the Revolution tool is that it is designed for rapid 
development of a graphic/data interface by minimizing the need to write 
complex machine level code, using instead English like syntax, coding 
shortcuts and object (graphical) libraries and outputting to any 
supported OS.
•	Using Revolution as a prototyping tool allows the developer to 
quickly assemble an elegant prototype. Revolution incorporates the use 
of genuine cross platform support without the need for device or OS 
specific code compilation, and uses industry standard coding.

Proof-of-Concept Development Challenge
Commercial realities dictate that there are several key elements to 
consider when developing a software solution for a client. These are 
even more pertinent at the prototyping stage of a project. Some of 
these elements may not be considered as essential at the prototype 
stage, but they facilitate the acceptance of the final application to 
the client.
 	 
•	Fit for Purpose
The prototype application should effectively demonstrate the client's 
needs and requirements. How does one procure the satisfaction of 
expectations without exhaustive research into the underlying issues? 
This is possible by using a software prototyping tool, which allows a 
concept to be modeled, rapidly aiding in the evaluation of a design.
•	Time restrictions
In an ideal world one would choose to slow the process down and run it 
through deliberate design and development cycles. However, available 
resources invariably dictate this process. The choice of Revolution as 
a prototyping tool allows us to make maximum use of the time at our 
disposal.
•	Financial constraints
Optimally, this type of software should provide the capability to 
envision and test such a model using local data and resources without a 
major investment in database server(s), network hardware and software, 
and the major software engineering costs.
•	Moving Target
Many clients are not entirely sure of the exact nature of the product 
they require. They may also redefine their requirements based on 
outside factors and additional functionality that we can offer. A 
prototyping tool has the functionality to address such fundamental 
alterations readily and easily.
•	Scalability
We should be able to demonstrate the scalable qualities of our proposed 
application with the prototype. Our client may not have made a final 
decision on the level of deployment at this stage. They may wish to 
retain the flexibility to investigate alternatives and additions before 
committing to a final strategy.
•	Real time alterations
Revolution allows the flexibility to make changes while prototyping 
with the client and is possible without the downtime incurred for 
recompilation.
•	Appearance
Revolution is presentable and has the look and feel of a finished 
product. While we are at the prototyping stage, we may still be selling 
the concept to our client. The appearance of our prototype can become 
very significant, without minor visual anomalies drawing attention away 
from the salient issues.
•	Maintaining the Prototype
Our choice of Revolution as a prototyping tool should allow us to keep 
track of version histories and the alterations that we make to the 
application. Ideally we should be able to document the changes we make 
together with the client requests. We may also require the facility to 
control multiple developers working on the same project. Revolution 
allows for us to rapidly develop applications in any peer-to-peer 
environment.

What Makes Revolution Ideal for Prototyping
Regardless of the application we are modeling, Revolution provides the 
tools that allow us to effectively create any prototype. Whether we 
need to create Internet, Intranet, database applications, with or 
without a SQL backend, Revolution is the answer. Applications 
prototyped in Revolution cover just about every market segment.

Developing prototypes using Revolution significantly reduces the time 
we spend creating our applications. This is due to the features and 
tool sets that are made available to us within the product. Revolution 
embraces the main principles of practical object orientation. These 
features include the message hierarchy as well as code and object 
reuse. Revolution makes it extremely quick to produce any GUI. There is 
also an extensive set of shortcuts and plugins that cover just about 
everything from simple window creation to the handling of e-mails.

Having one comprehensive tool that can be used for a multitude of needs 
eliminates the cost of having to purchase multiple applications for 
prototyping. The initial investment for Revolution is extremely 
competitive. This makes tight financial constraints inconsequential as 
the product and pricing is as good as and, if not better, than any 
prototyping tool currently available.
Revolution applications can be developed on any of the supported 
platforms including all flavors of Windows (95/98/NT/2000), Mac OS 9.x 
and above, and the major Linux distributions. Revolution applications 
can be deployed on any or all of these platforms simultaneously with 
only minimal or no code changes.

Sincerely,

Thomas J McGrath III