Technology

We are relying on the ISO, ANSI, and corporative standards as well as proven software languages and tools. Though, some of them is not so widely used as could deserve.

ISO/IEC 9075: SQL-92/99/2003 and ODBC

Database language SQL is the most powerful and wide-spread basis of application development. Call-Level Interface (SQL/CLI) published by ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization and International  Electrotechnical Commission) constitutes flexible, reliable, and DBMS vendor-independent infrastructure for information systems.

The most popular implementation of SQL/CLI is Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) developed by Microsoft Corporation. There are lots of ODBC drivers software all over the world.

Common Lisp

Common Lisp with Common Lisp Object System was the first object-oriented programming language standardized by ANSI (American National Standard institute). We consider Common Lisp the most appropriate tool for developing complex and intelligent informational systems. Its power and maturity overweight "modernity" exhibited by many hyped-up developing environments.

As Common Lisp looks unaccustomed to today's public, we have compiled some especial information about it at lisp.ystok.ru

Object-Relational Mapping for Common Lisp

Admittedly, object-oriented methodology provides the following benefits:

On the contrary, relational methodology does not match real-world concepts closely and scatters information among multiple tables — the user or programmer is responsible for interpreting data and dealing with conversion complexity. But relational databases generally outperform object ones and are relied on technology proven over decades.

A hybrid methodology, called object-relational mapping, includes definitions of classes of persistent objects, primitives for queries and data manipulation in object-oriented idiom. The specification should follow the principles of the Object Data Management Group (ODMG) standard. But in implementation, the object layer only exists on a client or application server tier and relies on a relational database as a final storage. The back-end database can easily be exchanged, so the technology is DBMS vendor-independent.

Along with object language constructs, powerful "usual" SQL sentences are allowed for searching, reporting, and intercommunication. The overall architecture guarantees that one's investment in relational technology and knowledge is retained.

Portable Document Format (PDF)

PDF is an open and platform-neutral format for document exchange. The standard was developed by Adobe Systems in 1993.

PDF allows fonts, bitmap and vector graphics, multimedia to be embedded into a single file. To create PDF documents, we CL-PDF, an open source Common Lisp library.

Many freeware implementations allow printing and previewing PDF-documents on Windows, Linux, MacOs, and other platforms. For example:

Data Replication

Sometimes, the system has to provide remote users with bulk of "identical" data but on-line connection is unreliable or not permanent. The solution is to create off-line copies (or replicas) of the database and synchronize them periodically. Ystok-Systema is offering an add-on relied on DBMS built-in replication mechanism (Replication Panel) as well as a heterogeneous configuration (Ystok-Syncer).