Inside Taligent Technology - CommonPoint Developer Series

CommonPoint Developer Series

The CommonPoint Developer Series includes the cpProfessional development environment and the cpConstructor user interface builder, which are briefly summarized here. For more detailed information, see Chapter 5, "Development tools and approaches."

cpProfessional

The cpProfessional development environment is a tightly integrated suite of customizable development tools that are optimized for rapid prototyping and development of CommonPoint applications. Programmers can use these tools to browse through the parts of the CommonPoint system that interest them and assemble programs by customizing preexisting pieces of code. All cpProfessional tools are built around an object-oriented project database that supports many of their key capabilities, including incremental compiling and linking at the granularity of individual functions.

The cpProfessional development environment provides these benefits for developers of CommonPoint software:

Easy to use and customize. All tools are tightly integrated and share a consistent user interface. They include a browsing environment that developers can customize to suit their work preferences. This environment also provides built-in links among all related information.
Accelerates the learning process. cpProfessional viewers provide multiple program views to aid developers in the visualization and comprehension of object-oriented systems. For example, subsystem views are organized according to the standard CommonPoint taxonomy, which is particularly useful for developers programming with the CommonPoint APIs for the first time.
Automates complex programming tasks. cpProfessional tools automate many complex activities that accompany conventional development environments. For example, the automated build system frees developers from having to specify module dependencies and build rules, a time-consuming and error-prone activity when performed manually.
Reduces turnaround times. The cpProfessional incremental build system greatly reduces the turnaround time required for changes by making build times truly proportional to the magnitude of changes. A simple change to a C++ function, for example, requires recompilation and linking of that function only, not the entire class or file containing the function.
Facilitates team programming. The cpProfessional source control system doesn't require team members to check modules in and out. Instead, it keeps track of dependencies related to any change at the granularity of individual functions. Conflicts are less likely because of this fine granularity; if any do occur, merge tools help the programmer merge new code with the project.

The cpProfessional development environment also lays the foundation for third-party development efforts. For more information, see the section beginning on page 136.

cpConstructor

The cpConstructor user interface builder streamlines the creation and layout of visual interface elements such as buttons, text fields, windows, dialog boxes, and menus. The appearance and other characteristics of these objects can be changed at any time without affecting the implementation of their behavior.

Working with the cpConstructor user interface builder is much like working with a drawing program. A user interface designer can copy and paste visual elements, modify them, arrange them on the screen, and perform preliminary testing. The cpConstructor user interface builder also greatly simplifies localization of CommonPoint applications.

For more information, see the section beginning on page 146.

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