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Preparing for a Project

Educating Yourself

      There are some things you can do to help define your software project requirements. We will discuss some of the options available in this section by covering topics such as programming languages and data management options.

Choosing the Right Desktop Programming Language

      When you create custom software, choosing the proper programming language is important. Here is a chart comparing the three most common desktop programming languages you can choose from:

Language		Speed		Cost		Description
Visual Basic						Slowest performance, great price
C# (C Sharp)						Slightly faster than VB, low price
Visual C++						Maximum performance, high price

      This choice should be made with heavy consideration to the complexity of your specific application, and we can help you determine which will best suit your needs.

Considerations for Web sites

     If your looking to create a web site, there are a number of things you need to consider:

      What should your domain name be? For example: Tom, who owns a car restoration business would likely register www.TomsCustomCars.com.

      Who will host your site? If you have a fast internet connection, you may be able to host your site from your office. In most cases, for reliability and performance purposes, companies will hire an external hosting service to manage this for them. We can help you meet your goal either way.

      Does your site need dynamic content? This site like most web sites, is a static site. The pages do not change their content based on a search or anything the end user chooses to do. A good example of a dynamic site would be www.ebay.com which will display a very different page to visitors looking for different items.

Determining the need for a Database

      Web sites and desktop applications may or may not require a database behind them. Essentially, if you want your program to save information, then you will likely need a database. A calculator would not require a database but a library application to keep track of books probably would.

      There are also different types of databases for specific applications. Embeddable databases and server based databases. You will likely find embeddable databases on portable systems like laptops because the data is served up from the local machine. These databases keep data separate from other systems running the same application, so if John saves a record, Mary would not see the new record on her system. With a server based database, the data is stored in a centralized location where John and Mary could both access it. For this to work, John and Mary must have access to the database over a network, so this type would not work well in the field. There are options available if you require portability and centralization, but data will need to be synchronized on occasion.