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SQL, AppFrame and other cool technologies

5 minutes interview #4 – Peter Øren

Peter has been working in Omega for 3 years now. The first time I got to have a good chat with him was at technology’s teambuilding to Hovden. That was very fun! In December 2008 Peter took over as "working chief" since Johnny’s been set to be the master of PIMS for a while.

Do you remember your first day? How was it? …. and when was it?
Yes, I remember my first day. I started up in April 2006 starting AppFrame certification program with assistance from Johnny. It was an exciting day, as it always is when starting in a new job.

What did you do before you started in Omega?
I have been working in 2 companies before I came to Omega. I first started in a small company called Globe Systems which was located in Bergen. We were developing competence mapping and personnel testing tool for large companies. I Spent 2.5 years in Globe before I moved back to Ølen/Etne. In 2003 I began in Hatteland Display working with both hardware and software development. I worked 3 years there before I got hired in Omega.

What have you been doing in Omega since you started?
When I started in Omega, the Web2 framework was on its way up. I joined the team that developed the Web framework, and my first big project was the AppFrame Grid control. I continued working with the web for quite some time. Then after 1.5 year I joined Sigmund and started working with internal applications (MarketMaker). In that period of time we were focusing on getting some of MarketMaker on Web2, but after 3-4 months we started on the AppFrame R3 framework which, as you know, ended up as the Access killer. From that time I was next in charge in Tech department. In December 2008 Johnny started up as lead of PIMS product development. I took his place and now working as Manager for Tech. dept. in Omega.

What do you think is the main difference between working with internal applications and system applications?
When working with internal applications you have a large influence on how the end-user does their daily work. And off course the development it is limited down to single applications. Developing the framework gives influence on the system developer and how they are working, which is quite different from an end user. Also when working with framework you have to consider all possible approaches that can appear since it will reflect in all applications using the control. So the code you write has very large impact in a both positive and negative way :). But it gives challenges in a very different ways.

I’ve seen a bit of web3, and I have to admit it looks AWESOME and easy to both use and develop. Could you tell us a bit about when systems engineers can start using it and what they can expect from it?
First of all we have to keep CR3 development and Web3 development separated. Web3 will not, due to limitations in VS designer, be as effective as CR3 development. When that is said I hope and expect that the developers will find it easy to do development in, and a user-interface which behaves and looks much better than what we are used to in Web2. The integrated source control and the DevConnectionString, as we are familiar with from CR3, will speed up the development very much. In addition we don’t have any own developed controls. All are based on Telerik, which gives a more robust environment.

Why did we choose Telerik instead of DevExpress on web?
Telerik has a much more powerful web control package than DevExpress. I believe that they have been working with web controls for a longer time than DevExpress. But for Win Forms DevExpress is in front of Telerik. We tried out DevExpress in a period of 3-4 months, but found it quite difficult to create a dataobject that worked well together with the grid control. In addition we had other small issues that caused quite some headache for us. So I’m really confident that we have done the correct choice.

What’s new in build 4 that’s scheduled for early August?
The August/September build will be the largest build we have had so far. It’s been 6 months since last build, and therefore we have a lot of new stuff in addition to bug fixes. For CR3 the load on demand of DLLs and publishing without the need of restart of CR3 that are the most wanted features. In addition we have quite a few other features that have been implanted in the framework.
For Web3 it is the Client Side data-binding which is high-runner. This new technology will increase the performance of applications quite a lot. We have developed a control package for the Client Side framework, and I think this will be a future proof concept that will live for quite some time.

Except programming, do you any hobbies?
I spend much time with my family. But in addition I like to play volleyball, soccer and in the winter skiing is highly preferred. I also try to play the bass whenever I have the chance.

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