computer programming

Computer programming describes the process of explicitly telling an inherently stupid machine how to do what you want.

Despite news about Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) , speech recognition, self-driving cars, and the rest; computers are basically dumb.  They need very explicit instructions on what to do, when, and for whom (authorization and security).    Ideally, these instructions would come from you, the user, using your own words and the computer would do exactly what you wanted, not necessarily what you said.

Although such a human-machine interaction be done to varying levels of success in the lab, or within a limited domain, or at a very high cost;  the fact is someone has to provide those very detailed instructions.  We have various titles for those people including coders, computer programmers, software developers, application specialists, and many other terms, some of which are not very flattering.  Whatever you call it, computer programming is what we can do for you.

Computer programming is more than telling a computer what to do. The process starts with a need (requirements) and  includes making the business case (R.O.I. analysis) for software development in the first place as it is most often easier to buy a good commercial solution "off the shelf" (C.O.T.S.).  Surprisingly, the total cost of a custom solution when delivered is only 20% of the total cost of the software over its useful life!

Good software development is not just coding, but includes activities such as requirement definition, project management, design, testing, documentation, training, and more.  A very important issue is that of maintenance of the software which accounts for the bulk of the cost over the life of the solution.   For that reason, we strive to customize and integrate your existing solutions whenever possible rather than re-invent the wheel.

We understand the software development process.  Collectively, we have been doing computer programming for decades in various languages including legacy languages such as BASIC, FORTRAN, and COBOL as well as some of the most modern and commonly used languages such as PHP, JAVA, C#, and .NET

We are good translators between your needs and the computer's job.  Let us help you decide whether you should  pursue a custom software solution and if so, how best to get it done whether involving your programmers, ours, or by leveraging others with specific relevant skills and experience.