About TEK Solve

Seriously?

If you got here by pressing the "Seriously?" button, then the answer is "No". My Home Page is what I imagine I would get if I handed over huge amounts of money to a marketing company. Yeah, a pipe-dream!

Here in the real (multi-value) world, we are usually saddled with systems that were not well-designed in the first place, and have subsequently been mangled/twisted/stretched by dozens of developers. All of whom, for various reasons, (including: time-constraints; budget-constraints; fear; laziness; shiny-new-toy syndrome; no understanding of the importance of good design), have never done anything to make things better.

I'm not saying developers are solely to blame. No... the business/users have also done their bit - by providing foggy and constantly moving definitions of requirements, coupled with unrealistic time-scales. But the biggest cause is the lack of dialogue, (between IT and the business), before developers start hacking the code. Since when did you witness a conversation where IT explains: "To deliver the requirement, the best option would be to refactor the database and change dozens of programs. This is going to take quite a bit longer to deliver, but will be a whole lot easier to support going forward." and the business says: "I'm in".

About me

Yes, I've dabbled with PHP, Python, MySQL, C#, .Net, SQL Server, Wordpress, and many, many years ago Basic, COBOL & Plan. But, for the last 40 years, I've mostly worked on multi-valued systems - including: Pick R83, Reality, Universe & Unidata. I also have a pretty good understanding of Linux/Unix.

If you wanted a new Wordpress website, I could do it, (in fact, I have), but I wouldn't be my first choice. It's going to take me 5 times longer than an expert. And, to be honest, I'm happy sticking to what I'm good at: developing software for multi-value databases.

What have I worked on

It's a long list:

  • Utilities, including B-Tree software, 4GL, Automated File Resizing, version control & software change/release.

  • Accounting Software

  • Shop-floor data collection

  • Health systems

  • Local Government systems

  • Mail Order packages

  • Integrated Order Processing, Stock Control, Forecasting, Purchasing, Warehouse Management - with website and EDI integration.

  • Wealth Management

  • Building Supplies systems.