Even a minor change in the database like a type change in a database column can destroy every datawindow (the PB ubiquitous data-access component) that refers to it. It is a language in which almost anyone can start to build usable apps in a short period of time and with little training, and the apps are built really fast, in contrast with java, that demands a period of learning until a developer can be productive, and even then, a webapp takes time to be developed.īut the payback is with maintenance, that quickly becomes a nightmare. I started my career as a PowerBuilder developer, but quickly changed to java and python, as soon as I realized PB was almost a dead language.Īlso, even if there are tools that can be used to apply programming "good practices", they are not widely known and somewhat expensive, so I've had to work even without version control (!!), left aside automated testing or continuous integration. We decided to kick the old application completely and re-write it in an up-to-date-language.
#JAVA PROGRAMMIER FUTURE CODE#
Additionally the code I'd maintain is completely undocumented and untested.ĭo you think it's possible, for someone who never even heard of PowerBuilder before, to maintain such a software?ĮDIT: okay, thanks for your answers. People here on StackOverflow say they hope, the language/IDE is dead.
I did a little C/C++ programming, a bit of VB and a bunch of other languages but in the last years I earned my money by writing Java web applications.įrom what I read, PowerBuilder looks quite antiquated to me, there are hardly any tutorials out there, no open source frameworks, awkward version control, didn't even read about any test frameworks. Now he's searching for a developer and asked me.
#JAVA PROGRAMMIER FUTURE SOFTWARE#
At the moment there are probably about 50 installations of that software out in the wild and he already knows of a bunch of potential buyers. He wants to start a business to maintain the software and develop new features. My friend really likes the software and wants to keep using it for at least ten more years, so my friend decided to buy the source code. Unfortunately the (one and only) developer is going into retirement soon.
A friend of mine uses in his company an ERP software written in PowerBuilder.
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