I work as supervisor of systems development at Fábrica de Papel e Papelão Nossa Senhora da Penha S/A and I'm a partner of a software company called High Performance de Itapira Informática Ltda, both located in Itapira.
Below is the history of my career: (PS: The years are approximated...)
- 1982: I saw a computer for the first time in my life at Penha and my
eyes got brilliant. So, I decided to start a computer-data entry course in 1983. Few
months after I finish the course, the people from Penha's IT gave me a chance to work as a
data entry. In a few time later I started to pay attention to the work that the
developers used to do every day and it looked interesting for me. I thought myself 'How
cool' are those strange words (goto, gosub, return, print tab, for, next and so on...) and
I asked my manager to give me a chance to develop applications.
Computers: LABO 8034 SE and LABO 8043
Operational System: NIROS-TAMOS (Nixdorf)
Programming language: Basic (Proprietary)
Database: Provided by the operational system and the language - 1989: I had my first contact with an IBM-PC. I took courses of MS-DOS and DBase.
- 1990: I start to learn DataFlex. I took a lot of courses provided by Penha. In the same year we started to develop our first application "non-basic" using DataFlex and it was implemented within an IBM-PC AT 286.
- 1991: I and my co-workers at Penha kept on developing our application
from basic to DataFlex and we finally ported all of them to a brand new huge computer.
Computer: Elebra MX-4900
Operational System: VAX-VMS
Programming language: DataFlex 2.3
PS: We used to have some small non-integrated DataFlex application on IBM-PCs - From 1995 until present time: Penha decided to migrate
applications from DataFlex to a "visual one". SQLWindows was the chosen language
among VB, Delphi and Power Builder.
I had a course of SQLWindows inside Penha and a SQL Server one outside. Then I and my co-workers started to develop SQLWindows (version 5.0.3) applications using a library called "Master Objects". This was very bad... I'm not sure why. I haven't make my mind if the problem was with the library or with our lack of experience or both. One of my co-workers called Wagner decided to create his own library to be used at Penha. This library was called "Flex Objects" and in my opinion it was much more simple and better to work than "Master Objects". We developed almost all of our DataFlex applications using this new library. As the applications used to reach their final stage, we used to distribute them for use to the users of Penha. At this point we were using SQLWindows 5.03 and SQL Server (I think 6.0) on a server with NT and we realized that things were not doing good. I don't now once more if the problem was with SQL Server (not enough for the Penha's structure...) or NT or with the server that used to host SQL Server and NT. So, we made a lot of studies and evaluations and finally we decided to change the server and the database to a Digital Alpha Server 4100 (OS: Digital Unix) and Informix 7.XX respectively. Well, the applications started to run with more stability and we kept on developing new applications.
I used to know that my co-worker Wagner was working with us with a contract that would expire later and I thought myself "What will be the future of Flex Objects after he leaves Penha???". The very good job made by Wagner with "Flex Objects" and my enthusiasm and satisfaction in building new tools encouraged me to start the development of a new one that I called "Speedy Objects".
The first release of SO was created using SQLWindows 5.04 with no "Properties Dialog" so all code was typed on the Outline. Example:
cSOFormWindow: mdifrmEstad
Description: Estados (Formulário)
Named Menus
Menu
Tool Bar
Contents
cSOFormdfStr: dfEstad_Sigla
Message Actions
On SAM_Create
Call SalSendClassMessage( SAM_Create, wParam, lParam )
Set hSORelatedColumn = hWndForm.mdifrmEstad.tblForm.colEstad_Sigla
Set lsSOSearchSelect = 'Select Sigla=estad_sigla, Descricao=estad_descricao
From tbl_coven_estad
Where estad_descricao Like :sSOShortCut'
Message Actions
Functions
Window Parameters
Window Variables
Message Actions
On SAM_CreateComplete
Set lsSOSelect = 'Select estad_sigla, estad_descricao
From tbl_coven_estad
Into :hWndForm.mdifrmEstad.tblForm.colEstad_Sigla,
:hWndForm.mdifrmEstad.tblForm.colEstad_Descricao'
Set lsSOInsert = 'Insert Into tbl_coven_estad
Values
(:hWndForm.mdifrmEstad.tblForm.colEstad_Sigla,
:hWndForm.mdifrmEstad.tblForm.colEstad_Descricao)'
I and my co-workers started to build new applications using SO.
An improvement was done in a few time later. To set properties that would be used at run time, a "Speedy Objects Properties Dialog" was implemented using the power of "QuickObject". We kept on building new applications and converting old ones with this new release of SO.
I suppose that one or two years later I've converted SO from SQLWindows/16 to its equivalent 32 bits version that was called Centura Builder at that time. The 32 bits version of SQLWindows is stronger and easier to work than its 16 bits one so, the SO library was also improved. The next SO improvement was the powerful capacity to generate applications using CDK (Centura Development Kit).
At the present time I'm using TD 1.5.1. Next step: Check the possibility to migrate to a newer version (The current is TD 3.X).
Click here to download a movie of "Speedy Objects" (1.149.358 bytes).
- A lot of computing courses since the beginning of my career until present time
- 1994-1996: Data Processing Technology (College of Data Processing Technology "Ministro Roberto Cardoso Alves". Espírito Santo do Pinhal-SP, Brazil)
- 1997: Postgraduation in "System Analysis with emphasys in Internet"
(Pontifícia University Catolic of Campinas. Campinas-SP, Brazil)
Applications development and data manipulation in several areas.
- From 1982 until present time at Fábrica de Papel e Papelão Nossa Senhora da Penha S/A
- From 1998 until present time at High Performance de Itapira
Informática Ltda
Programming languages:
- Gupta Team Developer (SQLWindows/16 and Centura SQLWindows/32 including Web Developer). I use frequently.
- Unix C with Informix ESQL/C. I use sometimes.
- DataFlex 2.3 procedural. No more used by me.
- Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual Basic .NET and Visual C++, Borland C++ and Delphi. I don't use them frequently and I have a poor knowledge of them.
- Java, DOS Turbo C, Pascal, Clipper. I just had some experiences at the college.
- Web Developer (Gupta). I have some huge applications developed using this tool.
- HTML
- JavaScript
- ASP
- XML - I've just an idea on how it works and I spent few time with some reads and tests. I've never used it yet on a professional level (I intend to...).
- PHP - I've just downloaded for tests.
- PLATINUM ERwin
- SQLBase
- Informix
- Microsoft SQL Server, Access
- ODBC
- A very good experience with Eletronic Document Interchange
- Portuguese (Native)
- English
