RE: Suitability for production code?

[address@hidden]

----Message d'origine----
De: uce@splook.com
Date: 2008.10.07 19:22
À: <discuss-gnustep@gnu.org>
Objet: Suitability for production code?

This is an overly blunt question, but my timeframes right now are 
shorter than I'd like. I've used NeXTstep a bit and Cocoa extensively 
but I'm new to GNUstep. A client to whom I cannot sell a Mac, but who 
has embraced Linux, has approached me to write the replacement for an 
old Windows app - written with Borland's Delphi environment - and I'd 
prefer to use an OpenStep derivative this time around. So I have, 
literally this week, begun poking at GNUstep. The app is algorithmically 
simple - and I have the benefit of being intimately familiar with the 
Delphi app, having written it as an employee - but needs to be 
bullet-proof.

What I'm really looking for is opinions, anecdotes, etc on how stable 
and robust the GNUstep version of Foundation is. I know I'm up to it 
because I've already done it, but GNUstep's my unknown. Can I trust this 
as the base for a mid-volume server (say 50,000 transactions per day), 
heavily threaded with response windows measured in centiseconds, and 
uptime that needs to be very close to 100%?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Greg

-- 
"Harry?" Ron's voice was a mere whisper. "Do you smell something ... burning?"
   - Harry Potter and the Odor of the Phoenix
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Nicola Pero and Richard Firth-Macdonald from Brainstorm would be two persons to 
contact for precise facts and 
figures.

They use GNUstep base for SMS messaging and related services for the top UK 
telecom operators. 

Their application has a HTML 4.0 CSS compliant web interface, GNUstep 
application servers and behind it a very large 
Postgresql 8.3 database.

Two months ago, one of the message tables they have for the UK database was 
over 64GB, so it can more than handle 
large volumes. 

For reliability, the GNUstep applications are quite mature and have very few 
problems as this is quite stable code.

As far as throughput was concerned, they have had to throttle the applications 
to not choke the operators' servers. 

A lot will depend on your database, hardware and network combination.

They run systems in-house, for one of the telecom operators in the UK and 
another in South Africa. These systems run 
24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

The machines in each system are clustered, with load balancers facing the 
internet.

Some tricks include batching transactions to improve database performance.

Much of the work at Brainstorm went into network design, security, backups and 
administration. I imagine your project 
will also be heavy in these areas.

GNUstep will probably be the least of your worries.

Brainstorm has built a successful business around GNUstep. Nicola and Richard 
from Brainstorm are both long time 
GNUStep supporters and developers.

If you use the Payforit mobile phone payment scheme in the UK, you will have a 
good chance that your payment goes 
through Brainstorm software.

I would not hesitate in recommending GNUstep and the gnustep developer 
community.

Thanks,

Gerold Rupprecht

Note: I have been testing software for Brainstorm.