Intro to Rapid Development with Web Application Frameworks

A gentle beginners guide to Rapid Application MVC Frameworks. How and why they can help a startup to get off the ground sooner and with better results.

Talk given at RefreshQatar#2 in Doha, Qatar - www.refreshqatar.com/

Transcript

1. Rapid Development with Web Application Frameworks Balal Khan
2. Let’s start with a (sad) story about my friend Fred
3. Fred wanted to build an EMPIRE
4. Fred was serious $thousands on setting up $2000 on a logo $9000 on a developer team
5. What was the result? He never launched
6. Why did he fail? Fred was stubborn Developer was a nerd Lots of communication problems
7. Its normal to change direction You won’t get your app perfect the first time you make it
8. The web industry needed: Lightweight but flexible technology A more productive project process
9. What if we could… Massively reduce the time to build something Make an app easier to maintain Have better security Make apps more portable
10. Most startups use… Rapid Application Development (Technology + Process)
11. Web Application Framework = A toolbox of code Skeleton code structure Interface between user interface, back-end and database code A bunch of helper code snippets
12. If you’re not a techie… Think of it as LEGO for building web apps
13. Most frameworks use MVC User Controller Model View Our App
14. Why are frameworks awesome for developers? Standardization Constant improvement Saves time Better team-working
15. PHP Frameworks CodeIgniter CakePHP Symfony
16. Ruby Frameworks Ruby on Rails Merb
17. Python Django AppEngine
18. Visual Basic / C# .Net
19. Recommended: Startup Startup Corporate
20. A quick development process 1 : Write down your idea 2 : Start sketching 3 : Design 4 : Build a Prototype 5 : Code > Test > Code > Test > …
21. Launch ASAP Lots of people get stuck in the ‘its almost ready’ stage
22. RAD doesn’t guarantee success The idea might not be very good The user experience might be terrible Your team might be bad at what they do You might lose focus
23. But it does help us Faster development Quick re-building More time on design Less on paperwork