Tom Peters

To this day my mother refuses to make deposits via her bank's ATM. Her reason is a valid one: she doesn't trust a machine with her money. You get no real validation from the ATM, just a receipt stating the amount you said was in your envelope. If the contents of your envelope gets lost or stolen, you don't have any real evidence that you put your money in that ATM. No, Mom wants a human to stamp her pink copy of the deposit slip so she can prove the bank did, in fact, take her money. Why Client/Server Focus? To this day a fair share of corporate America refuses to put their applications on the web. Their reason is a sound one: they don't want to make their data any more vulnerable than it may already be. Perhaps they're financial institutions or highly competitive busin... (more)

Business Objects

It's all ancient history now. PowerBuilder 5 was still in beta, and Powersoft toured a series of seminars on this hot new version. One session focused on Distributed PowerBuilder. This concept blew me away, having come from a mainframe background. (Am I showing my age?) In fact, client/server was still exciting to me, so this idea of distributing NVOs and building application servers was... (more)

Embarcadero's Rapid SQL Version 5.7

There's nothing more tedious than having to type out SQL. While the glory of PowerBuilder rests primarily within its DataWindow technology, which saves us from most of this horror, we still need to write our own stored procedures, triggers, and other SQL logic. The database painter does have a SQL painter in its ISQL pane, but it's limited when it comes time to write stored procedures, tr... (more)

Client/Server-The Haven Of Sensitive Data

I'm a huge fan of Marvel Comics. The subtitle of this article, as well as that of its first part, "The DataWindow Superhero" (PBDJ, Vol. 8, issue 1), shows my fantastic immaturity toward the concept of superheroes. I want it known that it's the Marvel Comics' characters, specifically ThunderStrike and the X-Men entourage, that did this to me. ThunderStrike and Juggernaut are my favorites ... (more)

Client/Server Rescue Mission

Just when you thought you couldn't make your existing client/server application even thinner, we've got another technique for you. I enjoy writing these articles because I know there are lots of developers still supporting client/server applications that need to be thinned out. The funds to completely reengineer your system may not be available or maybe you don't have the time. These tech... (more)