RunRev vs RealBasic

[Chipp Walters]

Hi Michael,

Hope you don't mind me chiming in here. Like Richard, Ken and others, I 
make a living programming in RR. I write apps for myself, and for 
others. I've previous experience in VB, but not RB.

I think a good way to evaluate the potential 'power' of a program, is to 
look at some apps which have been developed with it. To that end, you 
may wish to visit our site:

www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/RunRevCaseStudies/Hemingway.htm

where you'll find some info on Hemingway, our Content Management System. 
Others can probably point you to some other apps as well. We also have 
developed for Altuit a version control system, _MagicCarpet_ along with 
a professional button rendering system: ButtonGadget

www.altuit.com/webs/altuit2/MagicCarpetCover/default.htm
www.buttongadget.com

along with a few quickies including an HTML editor called HTMLgadget and 
small image manipulation program called ImageGadget (you probaly are 
getting the 'gadget' theme here;-)

Currently I'm working for a client and doing a complete rewrite of their 
stalled RB development project. We're scheduled to complete the whole 
product in under 2 months. Though I don't know the RB developer, I do 
know the client is very happy with the many additional features I can 
add quickly using our own proprietary self-updating plugin architecture 
based on RunRev.

Of course, just because a developer in RR can accomplish something a RB 
developer cannot, doesn't necessarily say anything about the 2 
platforms, perhaps only about the developer.

Our company develops some very large scale Enterprise apps (including 
one for Homeland Security) and we usually use RR as tier-1 in a 3-tier 
architecture. I've yet to run across anything I can't build that I've 
wanted to. I imagine both Ken and Richard probably feel the same. And if 
I did need a new feature, the functionality is only an external away 
(see altBrowser on our RunRev site).

Even then, I've only used 2 externals since 2001 when I started 
programming in RR: altBrowser (Safari and IE plugin), and revZipper (zip 
plugin for PC- you can shell it on the mac).

Unless you're somewhat familiar with HyperCard or Xtalk languages, IMO, 
the learning curve can be somewhat steep for traditional developers-- in 
fact, I think it can be steeper for traditional developers than for newbies.

My business partner is an accomplished C programmer. He marvels at xTalk 
simplicity but admits it's confusing to read:

wait while it is not empty with messages
:-)

The good thing is this list is monitored continually and if you are 
articulate in your posting style, your answers are typically only a few 
minutes away.

best of luck,

Chipp Walters, Altuit, Inc.
www.chipp.com