As a main project in 5th semester of CS degree I am doing a research on technologies for realizing real-time server2client communication in a multi-user environment. The deciding factors are:
1. Performance
2. Scalability
3. Ease of implementation
4. Portability
5. Architectural flexibility
6. Community support
7. Licensing fees
Now, I could build a chat application with each technology, which I analyze, and get it over with. The problem is that I don't think that such an app would even remotely reach the boundaries of what a certain technology can do.
So my question is: what kind of prototype application could I build to make a good test for Performance and Scalability?
If it's any help, the technologies which I am going to test are: SignalR, Pusher, Pubnub, LightStreamer.
Thank you in advance!
Not a "popular" answer, although:
My experience shows me that each and every case is special.
There is not prototype application for that, except for generic tools like ab (generic to some degree, uh).
For each test you simply have to get the right "ingredients".
Related
I'm currently using UFT One for web automation (mostly screen scraping, form submissions, file uploads, SF Lightning manipulation, etc.) but there is potential for more extensive automation/testing in the future. Our current license is up for renewal shortly and I want to be sure that it makes sense to stick with UFT One over UFT Developer.
Can anyone speak to the major differences between UFT Developer and UFT One?
What do you mean for "but there is potential for more extensive automation/testing in the future"?
I’m asking, because to answer you, depends in what your team are aiming for to test.
For example:
We use UFT ONE and Mobile Center, I’m making script's for emulators, browsers, Androids and IOS, pushing queries from the database etc etc...
UFT ONE have a lot to explore, and can do almost every functionality test, and also other kind of test.
Other thing to have in consideration is, look at your team and the skills they have. If you have low programming skills UFT ONE whit the VBscript have a lower curve to learn, since VBscript are easier to understand and get the logic.
If you go at UFT DEV, you can have a huge learning curve. Or you can have programmers that are testing something whit the wrong perspective.
So in the end you have to adjust at your needs, but think well about some questions.
Best luck.
Regards
UFT Developer (previously known as LeanFT) is more developer oriented, you can write your tests in more developer friendly languages (JavaScript, Java, .NET).
UFT One (previously known as UFT) is more "tester friendly", it uses VBScript for the test's code but it has a much richer feature set and is more established in the testing community.
UFT Developer is used for parallel execution .you can integrate with TestNG .you can use eclipse and all .it has separate recording option.
I don't fully understand the complete development cycle and transition from general purpose boards to microcontroller-based serious industrial hardware.
Right now I use RPi or similar general purpose boards and follow this development process:
design hardware with SoC (RPi) in mind.
order/buy hardware
connect main board and peripherals
install OS (almost always Linux)
install libraries, applications, toolchain
create corresponding software with a previously installed toolchain
when the solution is working correctly, move hardware to an appropriate case.
deploy
It may include additional steps but the way I see it, everything is already designed, assembled and test before I even start my development. I only need to choose connect devices, connect wires and create a software. Software is mostly free.
The downside is that such solution lacks quality. I doubt hardware is able to withstand harsh industrial environment. It is also not small enough.
Now I am trying to dive into STM32/Quark/[any microcontroller] world. What I understood so far is:
buy a development board
create software
test
What confuses me is the part when you switch from dev. board to... What?
I mean dev. boards are not designed to be used in a final product, do they?
I guess a need a custom solution.
Do I need to design a custom electronic circuit, produce it by means of an external manufacturer and install my microcontroller and additional ICs there?
I see various presentation's of modern small-size CPUs and I what to know how to develop a device with them.
I want to get an understanding of a full development cycle of an IoT low-power device, but don't know to how to ask correctly.
This isn't really an answer, I don't have enough reputation to simply add a comment, unfortunately. The fact is, answering your question is not simple, there is lot to it. Even after four years of college in Electronic Engineering Technology it was hardly a scratch on what the "real world" is. One learns so much more in the workplace and it never stops.
Anyway, an couple comments.
Microcontrollers are not all equal thus they are not all equally suitable for every task. The development boards and the evaluation boards that are created for microcontrollers are also not all equal and may have focus on applicability to a certain market segment, i.e medical, automotive, consumer IoT, etc..
Long before you start buying a development or evaluation board you have to decide on what is the most appropriate microcontroller. And even, is a microcontroller actually the best choice? ASIC or FPGA? What kind of support chips are needed? How will they interface? Many chip manufactures provide reference designs that can be used a starting point but there are always multiple iterations to actually develop a product. And there is testing, so much testing that we have a "test engineers."
You list development steps is lacking greatly, first and foremost the actual specifications have to be determined for whatever product is being developed and from these specifications appropriate hardware is selected for evaluation. Cost is always a driving factor and so fitting the right device to the product and not going overkill is very important. A lot of time is spent evaluating possible products from their datasheets to determine what products seem to be the right fit. Then there are all the other factors such as the experience with the device/brand/IDE etc. All of that adds to cost of development plus much more.
You mention software(firmware) is free. No, software and firmware are never free. Someone has to develop it and that takes time and time is money. Someone has to debug it. Debugging takes time. Debugging hardware is expensive. Don't forget the cost of the IDE, commercial IDEs are not cheap and some are much more expensive than others and can greatly effect the cost to develop. Compare the cost of buying an IDE to develop for a Maxim Integrated MAXQ MCU to any of the multitude of AVR or ARM IDE choices. Last I checked there were only two companies making an IDE for the MAXQ MCUs. What resources are available to assist in your design you can use with minimal or no licensing fees? This is the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot to it, software/firmware is not "free."
So fast forward a year, you finished a design and it seems to pass all internal testing. What countries are you marketing in? Do you need UL, CE or other certifications? I hope you designed your board to take into account EMI mitigation. Testing that in-house isn't cheap, certification testing isn't either, and failing is even more costly.
These are a very, very, few things that seem to be often ignored by hobbyists and makers thinking they can up with the next best thing and make a killing in some emerging market.
I suggest you do a search on Amazon for "engineering development process", "lean manufacturing", "design for manufacturability", "design for internet of things", "engineering economics" and plan on spending some money to buy some books and time to read up on what the design process is from the various points of view that have to be considered.
Now maybe you mean to develop and deploy for your own use and cost, manufacturability, marketability and the rest are not so important to you. I still suggest you do some Amazon research and pick up some well recommended reading/learning material there that is pertinent to you actual goals. You may want to avoid textbooks, as they generally are more useful when accompanied with class lectures - plus they tend cost much more than the books written for the non-student.
Don't exclude the option of hiring the design and development of an idea out to a firm that specializes in it. It is expensive but is it more expensive than one-up in-house design and development? Probably not. How fast do you actually need your device? Will you lost if someone beats you to market? So many things to consider I could spend hours on this just pointing out things that may, or may not, even be relevant to you depending on what you actual goal is.
TL;DR There is a great deal to the design and development of a product be it marketed to consumers (such as IoT) or to industry. Specifications come first. The exact develop process is going to be influenced by the specifications. Your question cannot be easily answered and certainly not without knowing much more about your end goal. Amazon is a good source of books for really general questions like this.
Im currently working on an iphone app project. The app is based on a simple chat function between 2 or more people who have registered to the app. Iv outsourced the project. The developers working on the project would like to use Smartfox servers for the Client and Server side communication. They said its easier to manage and setup and is more efficient.
However Im not sure what the disadvantages are of using the Smartfox framework and whether I should just ask them to develop/code the client and server communication rather than using this framework.
Please let me have your suggestions on this issue.
Thank you
The usual response is: it depends on your budget, your time and needs.
If you just want to make a chat without advanced features, you may make it yourself. I tell "may" because if already made solutions exist why reinvented the wheel?! (except for the price).
However if you envisage to have a lot of users, some cool features or other you should consider a third solution (like Smartfoxserver, Electroserver, or other). They provide robust solutions with a good documentation. Moreover they offered a tons of features, new one appear regularly, there are updated, etc. Below a small non-exhaustive list of pros and cons of using Smartfox rather than a homemade solution, in my opinion:
Advantages compared with a homemade solution:
Gain time
Robust solution
Performance
Multi-platform
Scalability (in time and concurrent users)
Deployment
Network engine fully functional (TCP/UDP, HTTP Tunneling, etc.)
Low learning curve
Low maintenance costs
Tons of features (in your case Buddy Lists, Moderation, Filters, etc.)
etc.
Disadvantages:
Price (for > 100 CCU) (it takes a long time to develop a homemade solution though + maintenance cost)
Many features that you will not use
I hope it'll help you in your reflection.
Good day,
Our school, a small high school in semi-rural New Zealand, is currently looking into online homework solutions. Being one of the IT guys, I have been asked to look into some of the options. We have checked around and there are no robust solutions that cover what we are looking for. So, we are considering development of our own system, either on our own or in collaboration with some other schools.
Before I put significant time into any one option, I would thought I should ask for some expert advice.
Please keep in mind that one of our major obstacles is that around 20% of our students are on dial-up because broadband is not available in their area.
We are also not limited to the technologies listed, they just are the ones that we have been looking into up to this point.
With that in mind, here goes.
1. Is there a way to pre-determine the bandwidth needed for these technologies?
2. If bandwidth continued to be too limiting, could the final solution stand alone so we could distribute it to students on CD or USB stick?
3. What are some pros/cons of each for use with databases, specifically mysql or postgresql? (After all we do need to keep track of lots of data)
4. What are some pros/cons of each for of these RIA development?
I appreciate everyone for sharing their time and expertise on the matter.
Cheers,
Ben
1) If you write full-AJAX application, such as in GWT, the bandwitch will be:
a) the size of application java script, images, etc., you may consider that everything is loaded when user logs in (cache for images may seems to be big, but it's easily overloaded)
b) the size of communication - in GWT it depends only from you! no magic full-frame reloading, sending is only what YOU are wanting to send
2) I do not catch your point, stand alone applications can be distributed such way, applications that use databases generally can't
3) postgresql has high compatibility with Oracle - same transaction+select for update behaviour, pgPLSQL is highly inspired by PL/SQL (easy to rewrite stored procedures).
I personally suggest MySQL for a school project for its simplicity. PostgreSQL is powerful but a bit complicate to configure and the visual tool for optimizing queries not good.
Without considering the bandwidth, I definitely suggest ZK since, again, it is much easier to learn, to develop and to maintain (also much more powerful). The bandwidth consumption and latency of GWT really depends how much effort you want to invest, and how skillful your people are familiar with distributed computing, while the network bandwidth is basically the states of UI (not data), which is reasonably small. In short, you could have the best network bandwidth and latency if you optimize it at the best with GWT, while ZK is less to worry but, if you want to improve, you have to use jQuery (i.e, in JavaScript).
Thanks lechlukasz, I appreciate your comments and insight.
I will clarify my point about stand alone applications. We have a number of students, as high as 20%, who do not have access to broadband due to their geographic location. We are considering, as part of the design, how we may be able to distribute a stand alone version.
For instance, if we were to abstract all the database calls using a separate class in GWT, we could recompile a stand alone version that didn't make the database calls. The database would likely only be for tracking results and reporting.
In reality, we would likely implement the front end product first with references to empty methods for storing the results in a database and implement those methods at a later time.
For the record, we have started to code up some test cases using GWT/SmartGWT and are pleased with the results. Although we cannot comment on the other technologies considered because we didn't try them to the same extent, we are pleased with the results to this point of the project.
Cheers,
Ben
Is there anyone who has used or looked into using Jitterbit as well as BizTalk? If so, what are some pros and cons of each, and which one did you go with as your final solution?
Specifically, I'm looking for SAP integration, but any input would be appreciated.
Like Rob I have not heard about JitterBit until reading your question (thanks!), I have, however, been working with BizTalk, almost exclusively, for the past 9 years; for that reason I wasn't sure I should be responding, but as Rob did, and nobody else has, I figured it's worth a couple of cents....
From the little reading I've done it seems to me that JitterBit, apart from being an open source, which has it's pros and cons, is trying to lower the entry barrier by offering a relative simple solution with the promise of rapid development and drag-n-drop approach "with no custom code".
I'll take their promise at face value, as I know nothing about it, although I have my doubts, so let's assume developing with JitterBit is really easy, there's one thing I can clearly state - developing with BizTalk isn't.
But, and that's a bit but in my view, developing with BizTalk is somewhat difficult not because Microsoft did a bad job at it, on the contrary - developing with BizTalk is somewhat difficult because Microsoft wanted to create a tool that could realistically allow enterprises to solve their BPM and integration needs well, and, in my experience, these problems are almost never simple, so Microsoft had built a server that has many capabilities, is very strong and very flexible, at the cost of complexity.
So, while any experienced technical sales guy can give you a demo of an integration scenario that is very simple, and is developed in a few minutes using a lot of drag and drop and configuration, even in BizTalk, but is this a realistic enterprise-level solution? was it a realistic scenario that was demonstrated? from my experience the answer is almost exclusively no; the problems tend to be complex, and their require a more robust solution.
So, I guess the bottom line would be - if you're looking for a one off solution, and open source is something you guys work with - JitterBit is definitely worth looking at, seeing if it's capable of helping out and has, indeed, a short learning curve (it would be important to look at maintenance, monitoring, trouble shooting, instance management etc)
If, however, you believe, as is often the case, that your solution would grow to become a BPM/integration platform in your organisation, and you need something more robust - I would put my money on BizTalk being a better candidate.
I've done a fair bit of integration with SAP, starting with the old SAP DCOM connector. More recently I've been involved in the selection of an integration platform to serve in an Enterprise Service Bus pattern.
We did web service samples to connect to SAP on a number of platforms, including BizTalk, Mule, Netweaver, Webmethods and Tibco. Webmethods won out based on licensing and capability, though BizTalk and Netweaver both had very high marks.
Jitterbit was not part of the evaluation - in fact I had to look it up to be sure I understood your question.
If your goal is just to be able to call an RFC, the .NET SAP connector works well.
If your goal is to expose a web service to wrapper a process in SAP, then BizTalk is good, but I recommend you see if your organization already has netweaver licensed as there are many web services available directly from SAP with no coding.
My recommendation is to avoid Jitterbug and Mule for the enterprise for now - unless Open Source is actually a popular thing at your place of employment. Netweaver and BizTalk are very robust, polished products.
If you are looking for something you can ship easily, then Jitterbug may make more sense. Though generally I'd recommend you define it as a web service call, and look to your customers technology stack for the most appropriate integration technique.
More context of what you are looking to achieve will enable a more accurate answer.
Michael,
We use Jitterbit in our organization and we've been very successful with it in various projects. Our SAP projects use XI and Jitterbit has dramatically simplified the ability to integrate web service interfaces with the various protocols it supports.
In addition to an excellent price (and we now subscribe to Jitterbit for support) we realize great value out of the support service. If we have any questions during our implementations they seem to provide all the subject matter expertise included in the support cost, so we're quite self sufficient.
We still have many other integration solutions in our company including VB and Java programs; it's a mess, but we don't believe that any one platform will meet all of our different divisions' needs. We have been using open source, specifically Linux and Apache for many years now, although IBM and Microsoft are also prevalent here.
We went with Jitterbit as it supports protocols needed to integrate any modern system and with SOA / Web Services being our stated direction Jitterbit was a great fit for what we needed.
Given that Jitterbit is Open Source, I would encourage you to download it and try it out.
I will say it simply, I have been using biztalk and was one of the people that helped validate the 2006 training course. Biztalk by far one the best server applications for Business process that is available today. You do also have to factor in the price point is ridiculously low compared to what else is out there.