RADICORE: From Designing Databases to Rapid Application Development

With a professional history of programming tracing back to the years when only organisations could afford computer systems, Radicore’s CEO, Tony Marston, planted the seed of the company by converting his software code libraries into a rapid application development framework. As a self-taught programmer willing to experiment with new ideas, Tony adopts those ideas which offer actionable benefits with Radicore. Today. Radicore stands tall as one of the most reputable rapid application development organisations in the United Kingdom.

The Genesis

Years before the internet, Tony mastered designing databases and then writing the software to access those databases. Instead of duplicating code, he maintained his own collection of reusable libraries that he later converted into a framework. The birth of Radicore was inspired by the converted framework that could be used to develop and run any number of database applications, and he produced three versions in three varied programming languages.

Centering Focus

As an application development firm, Radicore’s primary focus is on building web-based B2B database applications, which may or may not have a B2C front-end. For instance, an e-commerce website has two major aspects: displaying products and accepting orders. However, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application may have multiple faces, such as processing those orders, dealing with inventory, shipments, procurement and financial accounts.

Dodging the Bullets

An entrepreneurial journey is a long and winding road, and navigating it requires strategic approaches. While establishing Radicore, Tony faced two fundamental difficulties: Marketing and Acceptance from fellow developers. “I can build software, but I don’t know how to sell it, ” said Tony. This led him to partner with Geoprise Technologies as a hole filler. Earning acceptance for the built software from fellow developers was another challenging task for the company. Although Tony can demonstrate the efficacy of his results, he is constantly criticised for not following “best practices.” He calls himself a ‘pragmatist’ and not a ‘dogmatist,’ so the only practices he is prepared to follow are the ones that yield the best outcomes.

Radicore’s Offerings

Radicore’s framework is designed to deliver bespoke applications for any organisation. The company also offers training services to the staff of these organisations, helping them build their own applications. Radicore sells copies of its own customisable ERP application through Geoprise Technologies to its clients. Unlike other software packages, which are difficult to customise, Tony has developed a technique for separating each customer’s customisations from both the core software and every other customer’s customisations.

Winning a Competitive Edge

Rapid Application Development requires the use of large amounts of pre-written and reusable components, and Tony challenges anyone to identify a framework that has anywhere near the same number of reusable components as Radicore.

Navigating Industry Changes

As the CEO of Radicore, Tony dislikes jumping on the bandwagon and implementing the latest fads and fashions as they go in and out of style, such as infinity scrolling, Single Page Applications (SPA) or Artificial Intelligence (AI). “I prefer the judicious use of tried and tested ideas rather than leading-edge, bleeding-edge inventions that can fail to deliver the expected returns,” shared Tony. Hence, 90% of the code shared by hundreds of table classes comes from a single abstract class, and all the code to produce thousands of web pages comes from just twelve reusable XSL stylesheets.

Using such a small number of stylesheets meant changing a few components when there was a need to upgrade all screens from classic web to responsive web. This took one month to complete, and affected over 4,000 HTML forms. To aid the secure exchange of data between collaborating organisations, such as between a customer and their suppliers, a private blockchain-powered additional module was created. This fully configurable module was crafted by Tony, leveraging a standard set of online screens.

A Culture of Experimentation and Innovation

Tony encourages his fellow programmers not to follow rules blindly but to question everything and experiment with new ideas. Sometimes they learn why something doesn’t work as expected, but that’s still a valuable experience. Rapid Application Development can only be achieved by completing common tasks using reusable code, as the more reusable code you have at your disposal the less code you have to write. Constructing reusable code requires the ability to identify repeating patterns in the application. Using this abstraction process, developers at Radicore then eliminate code duplication and separate the abstract from the concrete to incorporate the similar into reusable modules and the different into unique modules.

The abstract table class created by Tony using this innovative technique is inherited by hundreds of concrete (Model) classes, opening the door to massive amounts of polymorphism and allowing the creation of a library of 45 reusable Controllers. During his time as a junior programmer, creating a separate login screen and a set of static menus for each application was a standard practice. Nevertheless, he found it easy to build into his framework a standard login screen and a system of dynamic menus which could be used to drive any number of different applications.

Tony later enhanced this to include a standard Audit Logging module, an activity-based workflow system, and a Data Dictionary, which enables the quick building of user transactions from a library of Transaction Patterns. Building components from a series of standard templates with a consistent user interface makes it easier for end users to become familiar with the application. This is how Tony helped Radicore adopt and integrate innovation at the core of its application development process.

What Lies Ahead for Radicore?

As part of his future plan for the company, Tony concentrates his efforts on the ERP application shared with his partner at Geoprise Technologies. It is often easier to demonstrate something that already exists instead of something which has to be imagined.