Facebook’s Association With PHP

According to the history described on the Wikipedia page for Facebook, Zuckerberg wrote the initial code for Facebook in October 2003.

Consider what other web technologies might be considered, and whether they existed in 2003:

• Ruby existed, but no Rails yet (1.0 was introduced July 2004).

• Java 1.4 with JSF 1.x or Spring 1.0.

• Perl 5.8, but no Catalyst framework (it was introduced February 2005).

• Python existed, but no Django framework (it was introduced July 2005).

• The term Ajax for web programming was coined in 2005, but the use of asynchronous XML requests was still nonstandard, too early to be used with for broad browser compatibility.

• C# 1.0 and .NET 1.1 (C# 2.0 was introduced June 2006).

• JavaScript existed, but no Node.js (it was developed in 2009) and no jQuery (it was introduced August 2006).

• Amazon EC2 was released in August 2006.

• Heroku was founded in 2007.

• Go first appeared publicly in 2009.

The point is that Facebook’s choice of PHP was perfectly reasonable for the time it was created.

And Why Facebook Has Not Done Away With PHP?

The reason Facebook hasn’t migrated away from PHP is because Facebook’s engineers have managed to work around many of its flaws through a combination of patches at all levels of the stack and excellent internal discipline via code convention and style. The worst attributes of the language have been avoided and coding style has been rigidly enforced through a fairly tight culture of code review.  Engineering management has never had to take a strong hand here. This arose largely due to key internal technical leaders just sort of pushing everyone else along.

There is also a lot of industry precedent indicating that re-writing an entire codebase in another language is usually one of the worst things you can do, so at all levels there is a reluctance to do that.  The preferred strategy is to write new components in a decoupled manner using a better language of choice (C++, python, Erlang, Java, etc).

This is easily facilitated by Facebook’s early development of thrift, an efficient multi-language RPC framework.  This also helps avoid the worst effects of PHP: it can be totally avoided in subcomponents where the language is grossly-unsuitable.  The broad effect is that the overall codebase slowly evolves away from depending as heavily on PHP, with the components that are still in PHP being written in tightly-controlled, disciplined ways by veteran members of the staff.

The flavor of PHP used at Facebook, Hack, is very far removed from what we typically think of when we picture PHP. In almost every way it has been ahead of JavaScript. It had static typing, generators, async/await, tuples, anonymous functions, classes, and XHP for a long time, often years before they were available in Node. As a result the Hack codebase is very close in spirit to a modern JS application.

So, to summarize it, Facebook has internally upgraded features of PHP by using its own unique methodologies. Hack, their flavor of PHP is far better than most of the other options and hence they have stuck with it, and are likely to in the near future as well.

Why Python is best for back-end coding & websites

Python has been one of the most popular programming languages among developers. With access to a wide variety of frameworks and libraries, developing web applications on Python becomes easier. Also, Python has been designed keeping in mind OOP (object-oriented programming), thus making Python a perfect choice for coders.

5 reasons to develop your website on Python

In this article, we are going to talk about why it is super beneficial for you to build your company’s website on a thriving software such as Python.

1) Easy to Read and Quick Development

Python is an easy to read language. Unlike others, Python codes are not cramped with semi colons and curly brackets through out. It has a set of rules that guides every developer through the entire process. So in case of any interim development, any developer can pick up the code from where it was last left.

Due to this nature of easy readability, development of the code in Python is very straightforward. It is a dynamic versatile language that allows for quick deployment of projects.

2) Best for Integration and Data Science

Python makes a great choice for any data integration tasks. It is very versatile and has many ready-made tools, thus making it a preferred language either for automation of small tasks or integration and communication of huge data bases and asset management.

Also, Python has garnered a lot of importance in the Data Scientists. It is widely used for scientific and numeric computing and integrating large amounts of statistics data with web apps.

3) Highly Secure

Since Python is built with a purpose to be a simple application, the chances for vulnerability to rise in the language are less. Mostly, languages that use a lot of code are always at a risk of being manipulated. The simplicity of its code makes it a more secure platform.

4) Trusted by big brands

It is a very popular software development language. Most of the big brands such as Quora, Instagram, Dropbox, Reddit, NASA etc have integrated most of their workflows with Python. Due to the ease and availability of frameworks like Flask and Django, Python has become the go-to web development language that most brands are quickly adopting.

5) Multiple benefits apart from back-end management

Python was once highly recommended for back-end developments and integrations, but as we have discussed, the language is so versatile and has so many code libraries that it can support multiple modules. With Python, websites can be highly customized in a way to boost user performance and engagement.

Python is also used for:

• Website Development
• Machine Learning and Data Analysis
• Database management with Django
• API Developments
• Automation and Maintenance

In Conclusion

Thus, Python is the best software language to chose if your business requires a custom website to cater to customer requirements. If you need help in developing your website on Python, then just drop us a quick message with your requirements and we shall get the best minds working it.

Top Websites built on Ruby on Rails Technology

Ruby is an active, object-oriented programming language. Rails is a web application for framework development and Ruby is the language written in it. Now that we are clearly informed about the basics, let’s take a look at some of the amazing projects developed on it, shall we?

1.     Airbnb

Shocked? Me too. If you are an avid traveler, you will be familiar with this company. Airbnb is a platform for people to easily find accommodation in a location they are visiting. Now, these aren’t hotels but rather houses and apartments offered by the owners or agencies. Airbnb was founded 9 years ago when three guys went from renting mattresses to owning a $10 billion company.

Airbnb has been relying on Rails since 2008 (when it first started). Last year they improved their large-scale payment systems and as a result managed to have systems that have strong transactional integrity, a robust audit trail and very predictable failure behavior.

2.     Hulu

Hulu is a successful online platform showcasing movies and TV shows legally and for free- well initially at least. Some like to call it Netflix’s slightly less popular sister but what makes Hulu different from its huge competitor Netflix, is that Hulu receives its content much faster. The trade-off here is that Netflix has a wider range of content but for those who wish to keep up with the latest shows and movies, Hulu is the perfect choice.

At a recent conference, Hulu’s ex development manager explained how Rails greatly benefitted their company- “The ideals of Rails – convention over configuration, Don’t Repeat Yourself (whenever possible, reuse as much code as possible rather than duplicating similar code in multiple places), test first, and agile – are quickly becoming pervasive throughout software development” he said.

It’s Rails that provides Hulu with a large and enticing library full of content along with easy navigation on various platforms.

3.     SoundCloud

SoundCloud is the world’s leading platform for users to create and share their music everywhere with everyone. This makes it easy for anyone to record and self-promote their music on various social networks and blogs.

With $60 million in recent funding, SoundCloud is all set to become a key competitor against paid platforms such as iTunes and Google Play.

4.     Groupon
 
Groupon, now a global pioneer of offering great discount deals in the local commerce business, initially founded in 2008, has shown tremendous growth.

With RoR, the developers got the site up and running with the advantage of easily adding new features. The company’s front-end began to thrive with this implementation.

5.     GitHub

If you are a programmer or a developer then you are bound to know about this amazing platform. The social networking hub for software developers allows them to store previous versions of their projects (lines of codes and all) to allow them to revisit the entire code and make changes to release new versions and updates. With GitHub, developers can work together to make the changes and upload the latest version of their projects in the most efficient manner. And networking with likeminded people is of course, a plus!

Built entirely on RoR, GitHub allows programmers to create a brand-new project based off pre-existing projects by forking, make changes to existing projects so they can be recognized by the original developers and lastly, access changelogs so everyone is informed in the loop.
Ending Remarks

These projects demonstrate tremendous caliber and creativity on varying levels. It is evident how Ruby on Rails has allowed them to kick start their venture and support it in becoming a popular resource used by millions. And who knows, perhaps you will build the next Airbnb or Hulu of our generation.

If you are looking for professional Ruby on Rails developers for your websites, then just leave us a quick message with your requirements below

Why use Joomla for Website Development

Joomla is one of the best open source content management system (CMS) and helps to easily manage and edit all your website content. One of the main advantages of using a CMS is that no specific technical knowledge is required to manage it. Àlso, Joomla is a very popular open source CMS with growing developer community.

Some of the industries for which Joomla websites perform well are:

1. E-commerce websites

2.  Government websites

3. Education websites

4. Online magazine or news portals

5. Corporate websites and portals

Joomla allows you to customize your website designs as per your needs and has templates, menu systems that enable the development of user friendly websites. Also, Joomla is SEO friendly ans allows you to use search friendly URLs, meta tags and links. It allows for an easy Google analytics integration to track the progress of your website.

5 famous websites that are built on Joomla

Joomla is an excellent choice if you want to develop e-commerce or any content heavy websites. The below brands have trusted Joomla for their website developments.

1) e-Bay

The American multi-national e-commerce corporation e-Bay uses Joomla to launch a community portal as part of its internal analytics platform. Joomla CMS supports e-Bay’s initiative of community sharing and expansion among its employees. All active collaboration in terms of content creation, discussions, sharing of documents will be part of the community analytics that e-Bay’s employees will be able to access. It also allows other extensions and integrations to ensure a smooth flow of content delivery on the e-commerce site.

2) GE Transportation

GE is the second largest company in the world and you will be surprised to find out that GE uses Joomla to launch its GE Transportation website. With Joomla, GE and its employees get all the necessary tools to interact and engage in creating interactive websites and content for their customers.

3) Harvard University – The Graduate School of Arts and Science.

Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States of America. The Graduate school website which is a sub website of the main the university site, is built on Joomla with a customized template. All website content such as news announcements, pictures of the school, event listings and exhibitions etc are being easily displayed and rendered on this website with the help of Joomla.

4) Holiday Inn

Holiday Inn is one of the largest hotel chains in the world. With hundreds of guests flocking in and out of their hotels, Holiday Inn uses Joomla to manage and maintain all their customer reservations and bookings. With multi-site manager feature of Joomla, Holiday Inn can centrally manage  and run all the individual sites from a single installation.

5) MT V Greece

This is the greek version of the very popular music television channel MTV. This music website is built on Joomla which helps to categorize the content into menus, modules, popular shows, as well as articles. The content on the website is well organized and one can easily find the music information that they are looking for in a matter of minutes. This superior content management is possible only with Joomla.

In Conclusion

We just looked at some of the top brands who have trusted Joomla to showcase their websites. If your business is also very content rich and requires a clean display of information, then Joomla could be a great solution to develop your website.

Read out to us for your requirements on Joomla Development.

This year GMASA showcased a platform for app developers, marketers and managers along with executives from the most dynamic, future-oriented and innovative companies around the globe. The CEO of GoodWorkLabs, Vishwas Mudagal,  gave a keynote speech and shared his experiences in challenges faced by start-ups in 2017  during a panel discussion at this event.

This year’s global mobile app event was held in the beautiful city of Bangalore for a two-day summit.

Appcelerator’s Titanium is an open-source development platform that allows developers to create native applications for both mobile and desktop use. What’s better? Titanium allows developers to code in JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

Currently 285,663,256 devices are running apps built by this magnificent solution for developing mobile applications!

As with every software, there are both benefits and drawbacks associated with this platform.

Pros

• Rapid Prototyping

With flexibility in its DNA, Appcelerator’s Titanium immensely speeds-up application development with just a few lines of code in a few hours. It is important to note that this would usually require more attention and a few days. Whether you opt for native or cross-platform toolkits, Titanium is always an open option to develop a prototype to evaluate the user’s interaction with the UI, given its rapid development.

• JavaScript

With Titanium, JavaScript, a language well known by hundreds of thousands of developers, encourages more individuals coming from a web development background to easily transition to mobile app development. Over and above, Titanium shows off its combination of flexibility and structure–a fundamental characteristic of prototype-based scripting languages.

• Cross-platform

This obviously does not operate like how the well-known Java slogan goes: “write once, run on iOS and Android”, it’s slightly different. It is necessary to setup the development of one of the two platforms and then implement the required measures to make the app also run on the other one. The advantage here is given to you- the developer does not have to learn two languages and can reach a very high level of code reusability.

Cons

• Limitations in flexibility

Programs are interpreted “cross-compiled” by the vendor and as such incur a startup and runtime cost.

• Errors

Errors are usually not detected until runtime. Now, most developers know this can be a risky investment in a software that doesn’t give real-time feedback.

• There have been reports of unforeseen memory starvation issues. The SDK makes it quite easy to cram features into an app, but these features do not necessarily play nice with each other as far as memory is concerned.

• Even though you as a developer may initially expect to write for one platform, it is imperative that you conduct tests on all platforms.

As with everything that we use, there come advantages and disadvantages, but it is important to understand that these should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. This is because the size and complexity of the project predicts the number of bugs and limitations one could encounter when choosing to develop on this platform.

Titanium is however, an excellent tool for rapid prototyping to present a mock-up, within a few hours, into a prototype in order to evaluate consumer interests or conduct usability tests- or whatever floats your boat!

Angular JS  – the best framework for  single page applications

Angular JS is one of the most popular and sought after framework for dynamic web apps. Also, Angular JS is an open sourced front-end web application framework maintained by Google. Websites built on Angular JS typically load faster and also it gives you the permission to add specialized features to your websites which would otherwise take much longer to create.

4 industry scenarios that support Angular JS Websites:

Angular JS websites are the best choice to go ahead with if your business model falls under one of these industry or services:

1) Video Streaming Apps:

Angular JS is an incredible platform to upload and stream high quality video content. YouTube is the largest video streaming and sharing website brought to you by Google. YouTube is now not just a browser app but it is also available on platforms such as PlayStation and YouTube for Sony’s PS3 is built using the Angualr framework.

NetFlix is another online video streaming website that delivers high quality content to users and has been built using Angular JS.

2) User – Review Websites:

Today’s new age customer likes to make an informed decision before any purchase. They like to read reviews of a particular product or service before taking the plunge. Angular JS perfectly supports user review websites, one such example is Good Films which write about latest movie reviews.

3) Travel Apps:

Travel Apps need to be dynamic and deliver an excellent user experience to the millions of users that would visit the site. American airline – Jet Blue caters to 35 million passengers annually. With Angular JS, the company has been able to improve their web performance and increase user traction.

4) User generated content websites:

The internet has become a store house of content and consumers are always on the look out for a rich content download. Be it News or user friendly content, Angular JS websites are best solutions to cater to such requirements.

Upwork.com is one such website built on Angular that allows employers to find freelancers for their timely projects.

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper and with Angular JS, data heavy pages are easily fetched and rendered within seconds while still maintaining the single page application.

Thus, it goes without saying that the Angular JS framework can drastically improve the performance of your website. Big brands have invested in this technology to upscale their business. Since the framework is built by Google, there is a huge community that can help you tackle any challenges that can come up while developing. It is intuitive and comprehensive.

If you are also looking to drastically improve the performance of your business website, then you might want to consider the Angular JS framework.

Reach out to us for your Angular development requirements here!

The job market is HOT and scanning the crowd for experienced, proficient developers and it is not too late for you to join in. With numerous programming languages floating around it can be hard to decipher which ones are best suited for beginners looking to dip their feet into the pool of coding.

Below is a list of some of the easiest languages gathered through extensive research along with their pros and cons to help you decide which is the right one for you to begin your coding journey with.

1. JavaScript

Not to be confused with Java, this is majorly a front-end development scripting language. Java is a programming language. This language is especially popular with beginners since it has a wide applicability and is dynamically-typed. More than that, it sets you up for learning more complicated languages like C++ in the future.

Used for: Web Development

Used by: Accenture, Google, Warby Parker, Canon and Fitbit

Pros

• Cross-platform compatible
• No compiler
• Gateway to other languages (e.g C, C++)

Cons

• Not a class-based object-oriented language
• Dynamically-typed (untyped)
• Difficult to debug

2. Python

This is a great example of an easy programming language for beginners. Python supports object-oriented, procedural and functional programming. There is huge chunk of the community dedicated to teaching it, making it easily accessible for anyone.

Used for: Web and Desktop Application development

Used by: YouTube, Dropbox, Yahoo, NASA and Mozilla

Pros

• Can be used for both Desktop and Web apps
• Open-source
• Easy to read

Cons

• Requires one to maintain a set naming convention
• Weak in mobile computing
• Has design restrictions- since it is dynamically typed, it requires more testing and has errors that only show up at runtime

3. Ruby on Rails

While Ruby on Rails refers to a framework, Ruby is the programming language that is used under this belt. This is easy to read and a recommended for anyone with sans-programming experience. Ruby is essentially a collection of shortcuts, but is perfect for beginners as many Startups are hiring RoR developers, so even with entry-level experience one can land a position.

Used for: Web App development

Used by: Airbnb, SoundCloud, Groupon, Bloomberg and Hulu

Pros

• Heavily used
• High demand in the job market
• Development takes less time

Cons

• Not as fast as apps written on Java or C languages
• Difficult for scaling
• Consumes more system resources

4. Java

This is one of the oldest programming languages remaining. It is immensely popular and flexible in terms of developing cross-platform. Widely used, Java is object-oriented and a class based language. It is however, slightly more challenging in comparison to beginner level languages. It derives its language from C and C++ which is why many courses start with these languages before moving to Java.

Used for: Web and App development

Used by: Intel, Uber, Spotify, eBay and Yelp

Pros

• Widely used and accepted
• Has numerous resources
• One of oldest programming languages

Cons

• Gets syntax from C/C++ so it could be better to learn those first
• Requires very analytical thinking
• Bigger projects can be hard to compile and build

5. C and C++

These are the best introductory languages to recommend to anyone. They form the basis for languages like Java or other more complicate ones. Learning C and C++ can perfectly position you to get going in the future. Learning and grasping the fundamentals from these languages can be invaluable. It can be challenging for first-timers but if you’re able to overcome this speedbump, the rewards are bountiful.

Used for: Application development

Used by: Google- Android OS Chrome server, Microsoft- Windows, Visual Studio, Facebook- Apache Hive, Apple- OS and largely universities.

Pros

• Gives you an exceptional computer science background
• Great for software and game development
• Good choice for low-level programming

Cons

• Time-consuming for development and maintenance
• Takes several years to master
• More lucrative but has fewer job openings

Here are some online resources to help you get started!

CodeAcademy

Udacity

Coursera

Every programming language has its pros and cons but it is up to you to decipher which one works best for you. These are also some of the most in-demand languages in the market today, so roll your sleeves up and get coding!

Why Use Angular JS?

AngularJS is a structural framework for dynamic web apps. It lets you use HTML as your template language and lets you extend HTML’s syntax to express your application’s components clearly and succinctly. AngularJS’s data binding and dependency injection eliminate much of the code you would otherwise have to write.

The main Angular advantages over its closest rival, KnockoutJS is that there is no need to use observable functions; Angular analyses the page DOM and builds the bindings based on the Angular-specific element attributes. That requires less writing, the code is cleaner, easier to understand and less error prone.

Seeing the growing popularity of Angular JS, we give you 7 reasons why you should also be using Angular JS.

1. Super User Experience

Apart from the main technical reasons stated above, Angularjs is awesome in making the app more visually appealing for the audience. Visualforce pages are created to make the UI terrific and accomplish the objective of making the application aesthetically more appealing. To make the task simple, prebuilt libraries, components and modules are present in the framework that speeds the development time and alongside gives the app a visual bonus as well.

2. Full UI Support

To describe an application’s UI, Angular takes into use HTML which is a declarative programming language. HTML creates a less complicated and more intuitive user interface that is solid unlike other interfaces written in JavaScript. Also, HTML allows you to declare which controllers should be employed for specific UI element so that you can focus more on the look and feel of your app’s UI. Just mention what you want and Angular will take the dependencies in control.

3. Simple Testing

There are certain parts of the application present in Angularjs modules that can be easily be manipulated. With the help of module separation, you are comforted by loading only necessary services and thus smoothly conduct automatic testing. Further, if you stick to ‘one file, one module’ pattern, you don’t have to worry about keeping module loading order to memory. For expert support in building scalable applications, partnering with an angularjs development company Softteco can streamline your development process.

4. Improved Flexibility

Just like directives, filters are standalone functions that distill the data before it reaches the view. These differ from your app and deal in activities like implementing pagination, formatting decimal places on a number and reversing a text string. The filters can be utilized in controllers, services, templates and even directives. These enhance flexibility tremendously and are so resourceful that you can tackle a HTML table without any JavaScript.

5. Backed By Google

As Angularjs has a strong backing of Google, the developers are relieved to be working with a solid code base that will offer complete support to the project. Being an exception to the other common JavaScript application frameworks, which are created by independent hobbyists, Angular is the result of brilliant work by genius Google engineers Adam Abrons and Misko Hevery. This is one of the major reasons why developers use Angular over other JavaScript frameworks like Ember.JS and Knockout.JS.

6. Less Coding

Coders need to spend less time in coding process as AngularJS requires less coding. Without a doubt it is a great deal for developers.

A glance where it asks for fewer codes:

• AngularJS developers community do not require to write their own pipeline

• Its data model is simple and you do not need any getter/setter functions

• Its data-binding feature grants developers to stop giving data manually into the view

• AngularJS is defined using HTML for view to make it more specific

• As directives are separate from app code, other teams can write it without any integration issue.

• Filters allow developer to manipulate the data on the view level without changing any of your controllers

• AngularJS has a built-in dependency injection subsystem useful for developers for creating applications in an easier style including testing process as well.

7. AngularJS Handles Dependencies

Dependency injection is something Angular does quite well. I’ll admit I was skeptical we even needed something like that on the client, but I was used to the key scenario being the dynamic loading of modules. Oh, wait – what did you say? That’s right, with libraries like RequireJS you can dynamically load JavaScript if and when you need it. Where dependency injection really shines, however, is two scenarios: testing and Single Page Applications.

For testing, Angular allows you to divide your app into logical modules that can have dependencies on each other but are initialized separately. This lets you take a very tactical approach to your tests by bringing in only the modules you are interested in. Then, because dependencies are injected, you can take an existing service like Angular’s $HTTP service and swap it out with the $httpBackend mock for testing. This enables true unit testing that doesn’t rely on services to be stood up or browser UI to render, while also embracing the ability to create end-to-end tests as well.

The Chat Bot Revolution

Significant developments in AI and the rapid proliferation of messaging applications have led to the growth of chatbots. We will surely come across a multitude of tasks that are performed and executed through messaging apps and software. It is no wonder that Juniper’s new research finds that chatbots will lead to a cost savings of $20 million in 2017 which will multiply to a whopping $8 billion by 2022.

It’s here that we come to the crucial point. Does the widespread popularity or increased usage of these bots point at a specific opportunity? Does it actually talk about a trend that’s going to rule the tech arena in future? Finding answers to these crucial questions is what we plan to do with this blog!

The recent developments in the world of chat bots

Chat bots have come a long way from just being communication aids to integrated messaging software. Companies are taking a keen interest in providing services and solutions around this technology. Cases in point –

1. Microsoft’s own bot framework to allow development of chatbots
2. Facebook acquires Wit.ai
3. IBM acquires Cognea

App usage recession

There’s no denying the utility of apps even till this day! Dynamic, highly functional, and innovative applications have completely transformed the way people work and do business. However, things began to change from 2015. Apps weren’t the ‘hot’ property anymore as the app market was struck by severe recessive forces.

If we refer to what Google has to say about this, we will find that an average user has nearly 36 applications on his smartphone. However, 80% of those apps aren’t used regularly. That explains the situation quite clearly. If you want your app to get noticed and used on a daily basis, it has to be relevant and rank amongst those few apps which find applications in day-to-day functioning. While social media apps are the most popular ones, it is the gaming applications that follow suit.

The emergence of Chatbots

What we need to find out is how chat bots are different from apps? Are they reincarnations of an application or distinctive entities? Let’s take a look!

Businesses today share one point of similarity. Each of them strives hard to ensure 100% satisfaction for consumers. Whether it’s a small-scale business or a huge venture, customer service and support are critical to its growth and development. It is here that chat bots enter into the scene. Every consumer or buyer will wish to gain personalized experiences while associating with a brand and chat bots can make it happen for them.

What’s the future for chatbots?

We can’t depend or rely on technologies entirely when it comes to ensuring 100% customer satisfaction and support. Human intervention is always necessary. However, chat bots ensure logical, transparent, and clear communications. You will have them right within your applications, and no matter what you speak will get recorded. So, there’s no chance of ambiguities or confusions.

As far as the current market trends suggest, chat bots are heading towards a bright future. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and wait for the final results!