Systec

The most critical issues facing organisations developing software involve portability across multiple platforms and maintainability of increasingly complex code.

Focusing on each one of these issues in turn:

Multiplatform portability can be achieved in one of two ways: either the source code must be compiled to provide an executable binary for each of the supported platforms, or a framework must be chosen that enables the binary code produced by the compiler to be executed on every platform supporting that framework.

C/C++ source code portability;

•	C/C++ source code is compatible across many Unix platforms and environments, particularly when using the gnu gcc/g++ toolset.
•	With Cygwin tools, the same code can be made fully source code compatible with the Win32 environments of Windows 95, NT, 2000 and beyond.
•	Code portability is maximised because C/C++ tools are available for most embedded and DSP systems.

Java byte-code runs on the java virtual machine.

•	Java source code can be compiled to byte code and executed in this format on any architecture supporting the java virtual machine, including Unix, Win32 and Macintosh.

Development and maintenance of complex software is aided by object-oriented (OO) techniques in analysis and design.

•	The problem domain is analysed and expressed as a set of interacting objects, on which methods are called to implement the required functionality.
•	The OO methodology, espoused by Booch, Rumbaugh, Jacobson and others, allows for an iterative round-trip development cycle that carries the user specifications from use-case analysis through to detailed design.

The emphasis is on generating an elegant, extensible framework of reusable, maintainable component objects that together meet the customer's requirements. Systec Engineering can bring these capabilities to your organisation or develop software with our own team of contractors.