Last time, I wrote about Software Development, done Sustainable. How to do this and where my thoughts go when looking on the topic. In this post an example. How does Oracle Application Express, APEX, help you to create a Sustainable Software Environment.
Two elements are to be considered. One is the, absolute necessary, runtime footprint. The other, at least just as important, is the development in APEX itself. As we noticed in the last post Sustainable Software Development is creating a solution that lasts, without stressing the elements of environment, resources and people.
During Runtime, in order to lower the complete energy footprint of the solution, we need to take a look inside Oracle APEX. The simplicity of the architecture of APEX, learns us that well working customized office applications don’t need to run on lot’s of designated servers. A simple database server is sufficient to serve an entire organization.
When we run the APEX applications on virtualized environment, or even in the cloud (like Amazon’s EC2), it’s even quite simple to manage the server’s resources. In other words: only run when you actually need it. Lot’s of energy is spilled running servers that don’t do anything.
During development we actually design and implement the solution. Using APEX, together with an Agile Approach, we can develop smart functionality in a short amount of time. These solutions are also very sustainable. APEX is completely based on the Oracle Database and PL/SQL, which both will still be here for quite some time.
Remote Development in APEX, which is done completely browser based, is another part that gives sustainability a chance. Developers are not bound to one location, therefore they don’t have to travel distances in order to develop, or to make a change in the features of the application. There aren’t a lot of development environments that offer the same possibilities, and therefore this is a major advantage of Oracle’s Application Express.
Possible the main point is recycling. Within APEX we have the possibility to re-use elements of our application within and in other applications. This means that we don’t have to code everything over and over again. Therefore we have the possibility to implement variations of functionality fast. With the plugins offered to us in APEX 4.0 we will have even more possibilities to re-use code and functionality.
Oracle APEX offers us the possibilities to create a Sustainable Software environment. Both in Runtime as during the development of functionality. Short, yet effective projects can be done with this tool, using an Agile approach.
