"Just because object-oriented development appears to have failed, we shouldn`t discard the concept," says Martyn Joyce, Managing Director of Bateleur Walker Financial Solutions. "The idea that code should be re-usable under certain conditions remains as valid as the invention of the wheel. The trend now is towards component software. Just as computers can be built up from components with standard interfaces, so the interface between software components can also be standardised.
"For example, two new standards - Ole and OpenDoc - have been designed to help programmers develop software components that can work together. Many analysts believe that component software is the natural extension of object-oriented programming and that it will become the standard programming paradigm for years to come."
Joyce believes that having rules such as those associated with object-oriented programming is sound, provided the rules are not inflexible and can be broken when it is appropriate to do so - rather like the rules of grammar in languages.
"When a company is making a software purchase, it should ensure that the software it`s buying has a reasonable chance of interfacing with the software it already has, or in the future plans to have. If it has any doubts about this, help is available without having to abrogate responsibility totally to so-called `systems integrators`. They`ve had their day! And the other danger to avoid is that which surrounds proprietary software which often doesn`t interface with anything but its own kind - the typical ERP solution.
"Invariably, this is component-locked company-wide, when ideally what most companies require is for their software to be component-linked. With the latter, and the Walker suite of financial solutions is typical, there is freedom to interface, because the necessary links have been provided.
Paul Lord, the Senior Vice President of Walker, recognises that this fundamental is what`s important. At a recent press conference, someone threw him a curved ball that was spinning with all kinds of jargon, some so new he hadn`t heard it before. He fielded the question in this way: `I can assure you, sir, that Walker is fully buzz-word enabled!`
"Whatever name it`s given, component-based application development is here. How companies exploit it in pursuit of their business goals is really what matters."
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