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Re: Dylan in the commercial world?

  Rick Innis <rick@informinteractive.com> wrote:

>I'd be interested in knowing what kind of projects people are using
Dylan
> on, and what environments they're using it in, in particular in any
> commercial situations.
>
> There used to be a "Prolog 500" list of active Prolog applications;
anything
> similar exist for Dylan? If not, is it an idea whose time has come?
>
> 	--Rick.

Rick, all:

I'm using Dylan to develop a commercial application.  This app is a
cross between a CAD system and a compiler, which will be used for
embedded systems.  These embedded systems are a series of networked
panels, each panel is typically a custom.  You click and drag a panel
to the size you want it, and drop in the switches, displays and so
forth to populate the panel.  You can right click on a feature to edit
its properties, and simulate the panel's operation as well as the whole
systems to verify your design.  The result is a binary which is
downloded into each panel to make it run.

I'm using HD Pro on Win98 with 256M RAM on a pentiumIII 450MHz. I'm
also on the 2.0 beta program.  Its a big project which benifits from
Dylan's fast development cycle, fast runtime speed (for a real time
design rule checker, and simulator), first-class objects, and from
Dylan's language integrity.

The path which with I came to use it, in the 'real world', was:

              -or-

"How Dylan Saved My Job... My Company".

First: At my previous job, a friend who was C++ 'guru' type (who used
to work at Metrowerks) raved about it .  It sounded like Metrowerks
caught some the the original Dylan developers when Apple dropped it.
The Word thus spread to my friend and then to me.

Second: I had to compete against a vb (v*sual b*sic) contractor to get
the above described project.  The contractor had the upper hand as he
was someone's brother-in-law and had much more experience with this
company than I, who just started a few months prior.  One thing about
vb is that you can always get a demo that looks 'real', up fast.  Our
management behaves like water... they always rush down the first viable
opening.  So I had to beat the vb guy out before he finished his vb
quickie (which ended up being a sad 'fill out the forms' type
application).

Third:  In a effort to overcome all these odds, I grabbed
the *free* eval. HD copy, (I didn't think I would have had a chance
using VC++).  In the few weeks of 'preliminary investigation' that I
was officially alloted, I managed to learn Dylan and have a running
proof of concept which *wowed* the management.

The rest is history, I am now the admiration of my peers, and the evil
forces of vb darkness have retreated to the shadows.

Les


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