Articles by Ian Thain

Messaging Is a Simple Game: Tic-Tac-Toe with SMS

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:00:00 EST

SMS or Short Messaging Service is being used by millions of mobile phone users as you read this article. Here is a fact...Sybase 365 aids the delivery of nearly 6 billion messages each month. Originally limited to 160 characters and the small phone keyboard, SMS language was born on December 3, 1992, when an engineer named Neil Papworth sent the very first SMS with 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' on it to his colleagues at Vodafone in Great Britain.

The Secret's Out!

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

August is always an interesting month for me at Sybase. It's the month Sybase holds its User Training & Solutions Conference and employees like me get to meet a lot of customers and partners face-to-face. This year was no exception and I was thrilled to meet the folks, who I believe are the leaders responsible for the coolest weapons in the road warrior's arsenal. Who am I talking about? Why HTC of course, one of our great sponsors this year. In fact if TechWave were a Bond movie (forget Jason Bourne; I'm British and was raised on the one and only one JB), HTC would be Q, the guy with all the neat gadgets that look so normal from the outside, but pack an outstanding punch.

The Road Warrior's Mobile Arsenal Increases

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EDT

August is always an interesting month for me at Sybase, as it's the month when Sybase holds their User Training & Solutions Conference and employees like myself get to meet a lot of customers and partners face to face. This year was no exception - I was thrilled to meet the folks who I have believed for a long while are the leaders and responsible for the coolest weapons in the road warrior's mobile arsenal. Who am I talking of? Why HTC, of course, one of our great sponsors this year.

Conference Countdown

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:00:00 EDT

As Sybase's largest annual technical training conference, TechWave is the place to meet the experts, hear first-hand what's new, and network with thousands of industry professionals like you. It also contains a wealth of in-depth content that would be hard to find elsewhere, so when all that's added together, there's no better value for the money around.

Everything Should Start with a Model

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 13:00:00 EDT

In this article I'll cover how a model-driven design and development process can pave the way to a Service Oriented Architecture that will in turn produce accurate applications that meet business needs and increase development team productivity.

Model-Driven SOA

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 05:45:00 EDT

UK PowerBuilder?

Thu, 24 May 2007 09:15:00 EDT

Are you interested in PowerBuilder in the UK? If so, do you know that we are launching PowerBuilder v11.0 this Thursday? PB11 Kick-Off - 24th May 2007, Emirates Stadium, London ...more details ...register

Send, Receive & Change

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:00:00 EDT

Pick up any book or article on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and somewhere in the text will be the statement that SOA isn't about throwing away existing systems and redeveloping them, but integrating them into new SOA processes, SOA processes that are flexible enough to change through characteristics that are loosely coupled, course-grained, standards-based, business-oriented and patterns-based, as described by my colleague David Brandow in PBDJ October 2006.

Web Application Development

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:00:00 EST

In my last few articles I have tried to show how to build Business Processes (BPs) and how to use them with PowerBuilder. This article will cover how to build a simple JSF within Sybase WorkSpace to call those BPs. My engineering colleague Jean Choi wrote recently about Web application development, but my aim here is to show you, step-by-step, how easy it is.

Federation and Integration

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 16:45:00 EST

In this article I want to show you how easy it is to use the new Avaki perspective and what you can achieve in the areas of Data Federation and Integration. This feature is newly available within Sybase WorkSpace v1.6 and integrated into the Workbench IDE (Integrated Development Environment). What I won't cover in this article is the installation, set-up, and configuration of Avaki and how to create your first Avaki Grid Domain Controller (GDC). This is very well explained within the Avaki documentation.

Business Process Service

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:00:00 EST

In my last article I showed you how to expose a PowerBuilder component on an EAServer as a Web Service that could then be orchestrated into a Business Process Service in Unwired Orchestrator with Sybase WorkSpace. In this article I want to attack the big picture from another angle, the angle of calling a Business Process Service in Unwired Orchestrator from a PowerBuilder Client.

Using PowerBuilder Components in Sybase WorkSpace 1.5

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 13:00:00 EST

This article describes the synergies between PowerBuilder and Sybase WorkSpace for services-oriented development and shows how to use a PowerBuilder component in Sybase WorkSpace 1.5.

PowerDesigner 11 to the Rescue For Your Mobile Development

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 18:15:00 EST

In my last article I wrote about how Afaria from Xcellenet helps deploy your applications to mobile devices on your company's frontline and manage these devices. Now, let's take a step back from there to something that's also been an issue for PocketBuilder developers. This is the subject of 'When PK developer met MobiLink' for the first time.

MEDC 2005

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 11:00:00 EDT

You may be asking yourself, what's happening in the Microsoft Windows Mobile space? Well, Reed Shilts (in his trademark Hawaiian and PocketBuilder slogan shirts) and I attended Microsoft's MEDC 2005, Mobile & Embedded Developers Conference, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 10-12, 2005, as an exhibitor. The purpose was to evangelize about Sybase UnWired Products along with iAnywhere.

Deploying PocketBuilder Applications

Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST

After reading my previous PocketBuilder article on innovation ('Innovation with PocketBuilder' [Vol. 11, issue 12]), I hope you're convinced of the business benefits of mobile applications and have developed a PocketBuilder application that will empower your road warriors.

Innovation with PocketBuilder

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 00:00:00 EST

Every time I speak to new audiences or at conferences about PocketBuilder and mobile application development, the same two questions arise, which I never tire of answering:

Flying High with PocketBuilder v2.0

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:00:00 EST

I can't think of a better place to stress the virtues of mobile applications than from where I'm writing this article, on Virgin Atlantic, flight VS19 from London to San Francisco. Even at 35,000 ft above Greenland and traveling at 500 miles per hour, I'm using a PocketBuilder-built Windows mobile smart client application to access and update data for later synchronization to my corporate database - occasionally connected, always available taken to new heights.

PocketBuilder Application and UI Design

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:00:00 EDT

This article points out specific areas for Pocket PC and Smartphone application development and user interface design with PocketBuilder. This isn't a million miles away from the older client/server techniques, but there are some specific areas that need to be discussed for the currently available Windows mobile devices (Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Smartphone).

Interview with a Minuteman

Sun, 01 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EDT

I've come to Concord, MA - the location of the old PowerSoft offices, home of the revolution, and a few miles from the 'shot heard 'round the world' - to speak to Reed Shilts, development manager for Pocket PowerBuilder. Reed, many thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak to me. Reed Shilts: That's no problem, Ian, though it does seem sort of weird being interviewed by a Brit, so close to the place where we kicked you guys out : )

Where Am I and Can I Take a Picture of It?

Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:00:00 EDT

Ever since the dawn of time, man has strived to find out his exact position on the face of the earth, and since the invention of the camera, man has recorded that location, event, or person in a photograph. Even in modern times these two things are still of great interest and I'm sure you would agree that both would provide excellent data input for applications.

Pocket PowerBuilder v1.5

Fri, 09 Jan 2004 12:00:00 EST

It doesn't seem that long ago that Pocket PowerBuilder broke onto the scene; in fact it was only in August 2003 at TechWave. Since then the Pocket PowerBuilder engineers in Concord, MA, have churned out Pocket PowerBuilder 1.0.1 and are now releasing Pocket PowerBuilder v1.5 in January 2004.

Pocket PowerBuilder and Biometric Security - The proof is in the fingerprint

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 14:00:00 EST

Security is always a hot topic. How do we make sure that data can be accessed only by those who are allowed to access it? Working in conjunction with encryption, the current mainstream solution is passwords, which is not ideal.

Don't Think Big...Think Small

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 09:00:00 EDT

Over the past 11 years we've seen PowerBuilder grow and develop into the tool it is today. Originally for client/server, then incorporating component development and RAD thin-client development, PowerBuilder is still the best RAD 4 GL available

Pocket PowerBuilder, SOAP, and PocketSOAP

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 09:00:00 EDT

What should you do if you have diverse components in your enterprise and need to access them from your Pocket PowerBuilder application? I won't spend too much time on SOAP and Web services, as there's lots of reading you can do on those subjects, especially if you have insomnia.

Pocket PowerBuilder v1.5 - Boldly going where no Pocket PC RAD IDE has gone before

Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 EST

Pocket PowerBuilder and Biometric Security - The proof is in the fingerprint

Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 EST

Don't Think Big...Think Small

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 00:00:00 EDT

Pocket PowerBuilder, SOAP, and PocketSOAP

Thu, 01 Aug 2002 00:00:00 EDT

Full Power to Vancouver

Fri, 01 Feb 2002 00:00:00 EST

The mission of Sybase's PowerJ development team, based in Waterloo, Canada, was to produce the best Java development IDE for Sybase customers and the best integrated IDE for EAServer.. PowerJ 4.0 (Vancouver) will soon be generally available and it could be said that PowerJ has finally come of age in this excellent release, which is full of new features.

Full Power to Vancouver

Thu, 01 Feb 2001 00:00:00 EST