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Post by chriscrawford on Jul 22, 2015 6:17:11 GMT -8
I am currently working on the transition from the text-only interface that was built into the old Storytron technology to the new icon-based interface. I actually built the entire icon-based interface about a year ago, but it didn't preserve the crucial LogLizard technology. The problem here is that the original Storytron technology was built as a client-server system, and therefore had many complexities necessary to make such a complex system operational. Those complexities are now making it extremely difficult to integrate the new icon-based technology into the old code. Adding to the problem is the fact that the original technology was built around Java Swing, which is great for resizable windows, but a great pain to work with, and it makes some features very difficult to implement. So currently I am studying the code, making tiny changes here and there to clean it up, trying to find ways to make it all work. So far, it looks bad.
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Post by stuartm on Jul 23, 2015 13:24:38 GMT -8
I'm sure it's painful to contemplate, but if the old client-server architecture doesn't make sense any longer, are you better off starting from scratch with the right tech approach? Could save time in the long run.
I know, I know, many a programmer has lost their way in unnecessary re-factoring.
But it really sounds like you have the worst of all possible worlds here - an old, hard-to-work-with architecture, lost tech and code and the need to implement a significant change in functionality and presentation that puts maximum stress on those pain points.
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Post by Chris Conley on Jul 23, 2015 15:34:02 GMT -8
That is the plan, yes. The problem is that system was coded by a contractor roughly a decade ago, and Chris is having trouble splitting it all apart. If you know someone well-versed in Java, we'd appreciate your sharing this message:
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Post by chriscrawford on Jul 24, 2015 7:48:04 GMT -8
StuartM, that was the approach I took a year ago; I simply tossed the old front end and built a new one. But in the process I somehow killed LogLizard, and after much thrashing around I realized that LogLizard is closely tied to the old front end. I am now thrashing around again with the code, trying to separate them, but I'm too poor a Java programmer to figure it out. I confess, having been brought up on assembly language, it's really hard for me to get into the flow of modern event-driven languages like Java. I still think in terms of program flow. Hell, I think I'd be more comfortable with a rotary-dial cellphone...
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