Using Revolution for LARGE projects

Brad Allen BradAllen at mac.com
Sat May 31 01:42:02 EDT 2003


I can't speak to how well suite RunRev is for large projects, since 
I've only used it for small projects so far. However, I noticed that 
you're looking into developing software for a medical practice, and 
it looks like you'll be building a relational database to go along 
with your application. Are you familiar with the open source 
program/database SQL Clinic? You might find it fits some of your 
needs.

http://www.opensystems.org/sqlclinic/

I know an opthamalogist who is starting a practice, and this is the 
system he wants to use. He wants me to help him set it up. I've only 
just begun looking at it, and don't know much about the needs of a 
medical practice, so I know how well SQL Clinic will work out. Just 
thought I'd mention it to you, since you're describing a similar set 
needs for running a medical practice.


At 7:47 PM +1000 5/28/03, Igor Couto wrote:
>Subject: Using Revolution for LARGE projects
>From: Igor Couto <igor at pixelmedia.com.au>
>To: use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>Sender: use-revolution-admin at lists.runrev.com
>X-BeenThere: use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.8
>Reply-To: use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>List-Help: <mailto:use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com?subject=help>
>List-Post: <mailto:use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
>List-Subscribe: <http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution>,
>	<mailto:use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com?subject=subscribe>
>List-Id: How to use Revolution <use-revolution.lists.runrev.com>
>List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution>,
>	<mailto:use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com?subject=unsubscribe>
>List-Archive: <http://lists.runrev.com/pipermail/use-revolution/>
>X-Original-Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 19:47:08 +1000
>Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 19:47:08 +1000
>
>Dear Revolution Experts,
>
>I am considering using Revolution as a development tool in a large 
>project, but am hesitant because of the apparent lack of complex 
>applications made with Revolution - apart from Revolution itself. 
>Most applications I've been able to locate on the web that are made 
>with Revolution seem to be relatively small.
>
>I was wondering whether anyone participating in this list has used 
>Revolution to develop a LARGE, COMPLEX application. To give you an 
>idea of the size and level of complexity I am considering, here is a 
>bit of information on the software package in question:
>
>It is basically an integrated medical practice management system. 
>The program will:
>a) Store daily appointments for doctors, and display daily and weekly charts.
>b) Manage an electronic waiting list of patients by order of arrival
>c) Keep patients' clinical records (including scans of x-rays)
>d) Keep an administrative to-do list
>e) Maintain patients' accounts and financial information
>f) Provide statistical information on doctors, patients, and the clinic
>g) Issue a variety of printed reports, including invoices, receipts, 
>statements, patient history, consultation schedule, etc.
>h) Multi-user (networked)
>i) Issue alarms and notifications
>
>Because the product must be cross-platform (Macintosh and Windows), 
>I have been weighting the pros and cons of both RealBasic and 
>Revolution - as these seem to be the most feature-full and robust 
>cross-platform development environments around. While RealBasic 
>seemed appealing at first, I soon stumbled across several 
>limitations, some of which would eventually compromise both the user 
>interface, and the design of the application. Revolution seems to 
>have all the user-interface functionality we want built-in (or 
>easily customisable or programmable), however I haven't been able to 
>ascertain whether it would be:
>
>1) Sufficiently MANAGEABLE in a large project: are Revolution-based 
>projects just as easy to manage and maintain as projects developed 
>with a 'normal' object-oriented language? Are there more debugging 
>and maintenance problems in Revolution because of the lack of strong 
>data types? Is it sufficiently easy to apply object-oriented 
>concepts of application design (specifically classes and data 
>structures) in Revolution?
>
>2) Sufficiently FAST: what database should we use as the back-end? 
>Valentina? MySQL? And considering that some of the windows in our 
>applications are going to be making several simultaneous queries to 
>the server, and then updating tens of objects in the interface 
>(graphs, option menus, tables, summary fields, etc.). Do you believe 
>that a Revolution interface can be made sufficiently fast and 
>responsive - or will the user always be dealing with some lag and 
>screen refresh issues?
>
>3) Sufficiently RELIABLE: the application will be absolutely 
>mission-critical, so reliability is a major concern. How stable and 
>reliable are complex applications made with Revolution?
>
>
>Any experiences you have that might help in pointing me in the right 
>direction would be greatly appreciated!
>
>Many thanks in advance,
>--
>Igor de Oliveira Couto
>----------------------------------
>igor at pixelmedia.com.au
>----------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>use-revolution mailing list
>use-revolution at lists.runrev.com
>http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution





More information about the use-livecode mailing list