A small peak into what we, Siddhatech plan to move forward in the year 2012 –

• PLAY Framework – we have a lot of interesting projects starting this year. We even managed to complete a large project recently.

• SYMFONY 2.0 – A new polished version of SYMFONY was released in September 2011. We jumped onto it and managed to complete a relatively large application. All new projects lined up for SYMFONY will be developed in version 2.0

• DJANGO – The love for DJANGO never dies once you get your hands onto it. Though there are a few projects in DJANGO – we promise to continue working on this platform simply for the love of it.

• HTML 5 / CSS3 / JQUERY / Ext – New demands to develop applications compatible with the mobile platform probably may make life simpler!

• Mobile development already gained momentum in 2011 – some interesting API development with Web and Mobile underway in 2012.

Having said this – we also plan to retain our skills in WordPress , Expression Engine and CMSMS.
We currently have a longer waiting period before commencing projects. Wireframing and Graphics designing activities can start immediately. But development now is more organized and planned. Our developers prefer to pay dedicated attention to work on hand rather than jump the gun to new projects. We avoid working with clients who come with the ASAP tag – hey – that just doesn’t work ☺
Software development is an art that continues to evolve in the developer as he matures along. Maturity leads to stable output and better focus on quality.

So this is wishing all our readers and clients a very happy 2012 ! Hope everyone enjoys their jobs!

aditi at Siddhatech dot com

Play makes use of several popular Java libraries:
▪ JBoss Netty for the web server
▪ Hibernate for the data layer
▪ Groovy for the template engine
▪ The Eclipse compiler for hot-reloading
Apache Ivy for dependency management

Play leverages the advantages of Agile development processes and targets restful architecture.
The integrated test runner makes it easy for you do test-driven development. You can write all kinds of tests, from simple unit tests to full acceptance tests, and run them directly in a browser using Selenium. Code coverage can also measured.

At Siddhatech we have successfully completed more than 3 large portals in PLAY. The richness of the framework and the advantage of a JAVA environment definitely have raised the bar for PLAY.
It is difficult though to compare it against the other well know frameworks like SYMFONY , DJango and Rails since PLAY provides all the features that these frameworks also offer . Though this is not an apples to oranges comparison – PLAY still is relatively new – but it wont be long before the seasoned JAVA developers embrace it. JAVA with the simplicity of RAILS , DJango and SYMFONY – a dangerously winning combination.

If you are passionate about coding – remain a developer – we dont convert developers to managers

Learn to get passionate about coding again – no excel spreadsheet jobs here

Learn to confidently deal and handle clients

In short if you have the talent – be your own boss.

We need artists who understand the web! In short -

• Have excellent ADOBE PHOTOSHOP / FIREWORKS skills.
• Understand color themes and element placement on the screen.
• Should have thorough USABILITY understanding.
• Excellent HTML / CSS skills.
• Ability to work with developers !

We are looking for self motivated , hard working and passionate web developers with a minimum of 2 years of industry experience.

To be very specific about the requirements here are the details -

• Experience of object oriented programming / modular programming (essential).
• Understanding of MVC design patterns and frameworks (essential) – SYMFONY , DJANGO , PLAY preferable.
• Front-end development including HTML / CSS / jQuery ( essential).
• Understanding of Ajax (essential).
• Understanding of Agile Methodologies(desirable , not essential).
• Some knowledge of the Linux command line (desirable, not essential).
• Good levels of communication. Both written and verbal.

How to use Django effectively :
- Django comes with its own really powerful templating system, it provides the template inheritance which heaviliy utilizes OOPS methodology. So one should utilize it to follow DRY(Do Not Repeat) and KISS(Keep it Simple Silly) principles.
- Utilize Django template filters to its max.
- Django provides a really nice concept of signals , so multiple actions can be notified with signal which can be used for running background processes.
- Django must be coupled with mod_wsgi whenever possible as it is much faster than mod_python.
- An effective cache management should be implemented with Django.

Advantages over other competitive frameworks
- Template inheritance which is really an advantage over other frameworks
- Internal signaling system which is an added advantage over other frameworks.
- It is a well matured framework with large documentation available.
- Really good community support.
- Less configuration is required – a single settings file and that’s all which is really handy over other frameworks.
- Strict syntax language results in a well structured and readable code.

Learning Django
- Fewer configurations, language libraries make it very easier to learn.
- Strong documentation is available.
- Very easy language syntax, makes it easier to learn

Our experience with DJango has only accelerated our faith in the framework . All the modern web development jargon can be effectively executed through DJango.

shardulg at siddhatech.com

With the official release date of SYMFONY2 nearing it becomes more and more difficult to wait patiently. Tons of new concepts have been introduced in SYMFONY2 – in fact we feel they should not have named it SYMFONY – there are no traces of the earlier versions of SYMFONY in the new framework. Guess the trademark name will probably be the selling point for this new framework.

Bundles have replaced concepts of plugins and modules. In fact the bundles form the core part of the system. Each bundle will have it’s own well-defined directory structure. In addition to all the source files there is a Resources/doc/index.rst: The root file for the Bundle documentation.

This is especially useful when different bundles are used across projects. For eg a Forum Bundle can be developed once and used across different projects. Custom changes can be made within the project – to the bundle as required.

Understanding SOA , Dependency Injections , Annotations are vital to grasping the new framework.

Doctrine 2.1 has also an important role to play.

The main disadvantage for newbies is that there is no “jobeet like” tutorial as we had available for the earlier SYMFONY 1.x versions. Guess it must be already in edition as this post is being written. This will be a big boost to those who wish to learn and use the framework for application development.

We will be writing more on the different parts of this framework in the coming days ! In fact we have already started developing a couple of applications using SYMFONY 2 .. So stay tuned …

What are the advantages of AGILE DEVELOPMENT ?
AGILE DEVELOPMENT does not force the team to design the entire application / software module before they begin development. Development can be broken down in smaller modules. Developers focus on the problem at hand rather than develop the entire application. The main advantage lies with the customer (Product Owner) who can actually start reviewing his product earlier and suggest changes accordingly. This saves a lot of time – customer does not have to wait till the product is built to suggest changes.

How does Siddhatech follow AGILE DEVELOPMENT practices?
Siddhatech has developers who understand the AGILE process well. We have executed projects using SCRUM in the past. SCRUM unites the team together . If tasks are distributed evenly amongst the team members – the ownership factor for the product grows. It takes a couple of SPRINTS (SCRUM Terminology) to adjust to SCRUM and the new team – but once the team velocity is calculated – SCRUM is an easier model to follow.

How has it benefited Siddhatech?
Siddhatech primarily provides services to it’s clients – the majority of the projects that are executed here are defined by clients – requirements are sent by the clients. Miscommunication with the client is the major cause of a project failure. We keep the sprint cycles as low as two weeks. This gives the client time to review and provide feedback on the modules delivered after the completion of the sprints. Miscommunications , design failures , vision failures are all absorbed to a large extent when a project is executed following SCRUM.