Creating a Component Factory with Scorpus
I recently took some time to explore Scorpus. Scorpus is an asset repository intended to make software reuse easy. It is based on the Reusable Asset Specification standard from OMG. I have a vested interest in Scorpus because I'm a partner and member of the board of Canarys Automations Ltd.
Initially I spent about an hour with Scorpus beta 1.0. I was able to set up the portal and an assetifier. The portal is a web site where you can view and download the assets. The assetifier is a program that you use to create and update assets. I was able to create and publish an asset but there were so many bugs that I couldn't get very far exploring the features of Scorpus.
Then about a month ago Scorpus beta 1.1 was released. Many of the bugs were fixed and now I was really able to get into it. I wanted to create an asset that would be of pretty wide interest so that everyone could see the value of Scorpus and see how it is different from other approaches to software reuse. After playing a little bit with the four built-in assets, I struck out on my own. The results so far are shown below. Click on the image and make sure you are viewing it at 100% size in order to see it clearly.
First I tried the idea of a Java Component Franchise. I picked Java because I had just installed Java as a prerequisite for Scorpus and I wanted to see how difficult it would be to create and publish my first Java program, the ubiquitous "Hello World!" Java was easy as expected and I published my Java Component Franchise asset including the sample code for Hello World and how to learn Java and modify the component. However, I wasn't satisfied with the value of a Java Component Franchise. How would that idea showcase Scorpus?
After some thought and experimentation, I came up with the idea of a Java Component Factory. If you were an experienced Java Programmer and were interested in parlaying your skills into a self-sustaining business, then Scorpus might be the catalyst you were looking for. I kind of liked this idea but it seemed too limiting. Why only Java? Why only for experienced programmers? Scorpus accomodates components in any language. And I believed it should be possible even for non-programmers to build a component factory (my Ph.D. dissertation on Learning Computer Programming is another story).
This line of thought led to Component Factory. If you click More on Scorpus Portal you see the idea described as shown below.
(to be continued...)
I recently took some time to explore Scorpus. Scorpus is an asset repository intended to make software reuse easy. It is based on the Reusable Asset Specification standard from OMG. I have a vested interest in Scorpus because I'm a partner and member of the board of Canarys Automations Ltd.
Initially I spent about an hour with Scorpus beta 1.0. I was able to set up the portal and an assetifier. The portal is a web site where you can view and download the assets. The assetifier is a program that you use to create and update assets. I was able to create and publish an asset but there were so many bugs that I couldn't get very far exploring the features of Scorpus.
Then about a month ago Scorpus beta 1.1 was released. Many of the bugs were fixed and now I was really able to get into it. I wanted to create an asset that would be of pretty wide interest so that everyone could see the value of Scorpus and see how it is different from other approaches to software reuse. After playing a little bit with the four built-in assets, I struck out on my own. The results so far are shown below. Click on the image and make sure you are viewing it at 100% size in order to see it clearly.
First I tried the idea of a Java Component Franchise. I picked Java because I had just installed Java as a prerequisite for Scorpus and I wanted to see how difficult it would be to create and publish my first Java program, the ubiquitous "Hello World!" Java was easy as expected and I published my Java Component Franchise asset including the sample code for Hello World and how to learn Java and modify the component. However, I wasn't satisfied with the value of a Java Component Franchise. How would that idea showcase Scorpus?
After some thought and experimentation, I came up with the idea of a Java Component Factory. If you were an experienced Java Programmer and were interested in parlaying your skills into a self-sustaining business, then Scorpus might be the catalyst you were looking for. I kind of liked this idea but it seemed too limiting. Why only Java? Why only for experienced programmers? Scorpus accomodates components in any language. And I believed it should be possible even for non-programmers to build a component factory (my Ph.D. dissertation on Learning Computer Programming is another story).
This line of thought led to Component Factory. If you click More on Scorpus Portal you see the idea described as shown below.
(to be continued...)
posted by Michael Leonard at 12:15 PM
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