OK, Squeakers,
I'm in a situation where I can see myself being poised to suggest a language tool for an upcoming iteration of a retail product. It's a ways off, but it is, I think, inevitable. We are currently using an Access-like tool to develop the application, which has around 200 different tables and screens. It also has many variants. From a design standpoint, it cries out for object-orientation, but of course, we have bupkus as far as genuine OO tools at hand.
I'm considering suggesting Squeak (or any Smalltalk) as the platform but there are a few issues, some more easily resolvable than others. I'd like to hear some ideas on this:
-> The lure of the Access-like tools is the fact that any moron can design a table or set and then create a form or grid based on said table. Forms generally need a lot of massaging and re-formatting so they're not a huge deal, but I've seen no grids. Having built a few grids in my day I'm not keen on building more.
-> We'll have at least 4-5 people working on the same application. One of the nightmares of the current environment is that it was not designed for collaborative work. (I confess also that STers disdain for files is not one I understand. Working in an image makes some things very convenient and other things very inconvenient.) I've read a lot of caveats regarding Monticello and I'm not quite sure how well it would work. Anyone with experience here? How will Croquet factor in, given that it's all about collaboration? (I can see certain elements of Croquet being very useful for working out bugs and brainstorming, but I don't know about source control.)
-> Right now the bosses are concerned with the fact that the app doesn't look like a "normal Windows app" that people are used to. I'm aware of the problems and solutions to this in Squeak, but I also suspect this will be a non-issue shortly. MS seems to have abandoned Win32.
-> The web-based squeak stuff--not Seaside, but the plug-in--makes it appear as though any squeak application can be put on the web with a flick of a switch (I suppose especially if the data storage is handled correctly). I am somewhat concerned about interoperability between Squeak and .NET/J2EE Thoughts?
Thank you, kind folk, in advance.
===Blake===