Software construction

Tools

Construction of software plays an important role in our line of work. Developing applications boils down to bookkeeping, at least to a large extent. The more bookkeeping the developer has to do himself, the more mistakes are likely to be made, thereby deteriorating the quality of the product. It is for this reason that Bèta Research has chosen for the development environments from Borland, which reduce this problem to a minimum. Most applications are written using object pascal with Delphi or Kylix. It is also possible however, should such a wish exist, to develop in c++ with C++ Builder or in java with JBuilder.

Demo applications

To get a feeling for the type of software we develop we put a application on-line for demonstration purposes. This demo was also used in a Dutch educational project to get young students more interested in technology and science (Ingenieur voor de klas). This application is a simulator for a electric water kettle (used for example to make tea). It gives insight in the physical processes such a warming up and cooling down. The graphical interface is kept as simple as possible. Several versions are available, all with source code. The interface is available in English and Dutch. The version below is set to English by default, but that can be changed to Dutch easily. For other languages, the user can translate this application without compilation. Water Kettle for Windows [WinEng.zip, 1,996,584 bytes] Water Kettle for Linux [LinEng.tar.gz, 754,447 bytes] Water Kettle source code only [Source.zip, 27,648 bytes]

Please note that this software is for demonstration only and is not intended or suitable to obtain quantitative insights.

Delphi / Kylix components

The development of software is inevitable accompanied by the construction of components. Most of them are under secrecy. However some of them can be shared with a bigger audience. These can be used without costs privately or commercially, given that a visible reference to our site is included in the application (for example in the about-box).

This component implements design by contract for Delphi and Kylix. With Design by Contract you can monitor and improve the quality of your software while it is in use. At this moment this component is in maintenance, you cannot download it. [DBC.zip, 11 bytes]

This class, the "Event Manager" makes the event model of Delphi more powerfull and easier to use. An interface is defined in every object containing variables that must be observed. More methodes can be coupled to changes of the observed variables. Furthermore it is possible to defini a generic event superseeding all other events of the object. The event handeling itself can be posphoned to the moment of your choosing. Documentation in the interface unit. Contains simple example illustrating the functionality. [EventManager.zip, 21,138 bytes]