MSS Code Factory 2.11: Mark Stephen Sobkow's Code Factory   

MSS Code Factory 2.11 is a model-to-source code manufacturing tool designed to capture a knowledge engineer's (i.e. programmer's) coding architecture and style through a General Expansion Language (GEL) XML syntax.

It produces a Java 13 Object-Relational Management caching architecture with pluggable persistent storage to DB/2 LUW, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, as well as an in-memory RAM repository.

It also produces a structured SAX XML parser for loading databases, and an X(ml)Msg implementation for client-server communications.

It produces an XMsgSrv WAR file and an SM (Security Manager) WAR file for deployment to unsecured and HTTPS-secured web servers, respectively.

Note that the security implemented over the HTTP connection requires that you have the unlimited strength cryptography installed on both your client and your server. I'm not interested in "watering down" security for anyone.

What is "A Fractal Programming System"?

MSS Code Factory 2 is what I call a "Fractal Programming" system. It uses a rule base to specify a code fractal with mathematical precision, that is expanded based on those rules to produce predictable code.

It is also a self-maintaining system, in that its intial core focus was to create an expert system that would author domain-specific expert systems recursively.

Each generation "breeds" the next by writing the bulk of it. There have been 10 generations of the tool to get to this point (1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7., 2.8, 2.9, 2.10, and now 2.11.)

What is it like to work with an infinite team of junior coders?

When I work with MSS Code Factory 2 on the rule base for producing applications, it is just like working with an infinite team of junior coders, all just waiting to implement whatever change I've made to the project "templates" (rules), and delivering the results in mere minutes.

It takes far, far longer to build and test the resulting code than it does to produce the code in the first place.

What MSS Code Factory 2 does for you...

By using MSS Code Factory 2, your projects will see:

• Improved delivery time. No one can edit a few thousand objects as fast as you can with this tool. No one. It's physically impossible for human developers to type fast enough, no matter how many offshore juniors you can afford to hire.
• Reduced development costs. As the rulebases grow and are extended, more and more application code becomes automated and a fixed per-enterprise lease becomes a negligable cost.
• Consistent modelling. The tool uses an XML-based application model, forcing the business developer to think in object-relational mapping terms as the core of their business modelling efforts. You can easily write an XML parser that will allow you to import the model to your own modelling tools, or you can follow the GPLv3 and use the existing MSS Code Factory 2 code base.
• Reduced testing costs. As the rulesets are exercised and stabilized, there will be no further need to test new application objects that are added to the model, because they follow the same patterns as the objects created and tested in the past.
• Support your ISO9000 and Six Sigma efforts by developing your own extensions to the rule base. The transformation from model to code is encapsulated by an ever-growing rule base, with constant feedback to correct any defects in the manufactured code. The system learns not to repeat the same mistake, improving not only your current applications, but all future applications.

Licensing, the GPLv3, and Apache V2 core code freedoms

All of the MSS Code Factory 2 projects are under an Apache V2 license so that you can incorporate and extend them as part of your project models.

Projects under the Apache V2 license, for reference/import by any project

You must be compliant with Apache V2 requirements for the following projects. You are not allowed to use the GPLv2 with manufactured code, because it is incompatible with the Apache V2 license used by core libraries. GPLv3 is compatible with Apache V2.

CFSec (Security base is included by all projects at a minimum)

CFInt (A structured internet object hierarchy specifically designed for model ownerships)

CFCrm (Customer Resource Management -- an address book/information database)

CFAcc (A primitive accounting system with atomic server-side transactions)

CFAst (A configuration database for Asterisk which can be used to serve up configurations to an Asterisk server, with some work, of course)

CFBam (The Business Application Model for MSS Code Factory 2 itself)

CFDbTst (A test database used to exercise the data types manufactured by the factory)

CFFBPfl (A means of loading a Facebook profile into a database for analysis)

CFTxAn (A text analysis/syntax parse of natural language text)

CFEng (An english-language sytax parsing database)

CFFrSw (A configuration database for FreeSwitch which can be used to serve up configurations to a FreeSwitch server, with some work, of course)

CFLib (the core library used by all applications)

CFCore (the core library of the engine itself, required for builds, but only required by projects if you use the manufactured msscf package to run a GEL instance over your model to convert model elements to text.)