Quadriform Dataserve :: What is Lasso?
What is Lasso? Yes, this is a question we have been asked on numerous occasions, please read on.
We've been intending to add a section on the Middleware we use Lasso
for some time but work gets in the way. Recent changes have spurred us on to add some comments. The Lasso Development Team has split away from Omnipilot, to form Lassosoft. This is the third ownership change in the history of Lasso, we selected the software way back in the last century when it was owned by Blueworld Communications, this was Lasso's first owner, a full history is available on Wikipedia here. We used Lasso with FileMaker Pro for a major Joinery Company [Rugby Joinery] back in 1998.
Lasso is a software application that can be described as both simple and complex. This may seem contradictory, but it truly describes the comprehensive nature of the product. You can pick it up and write a few statements (Tags in Lasso Parlance) and you can start developing dynamic web sites, in no time you could realize the full implementation of Web 2 with the addition of Lasso's adoption of Ajax.
We are running multiple servers with Lasso and have been instrumental in a number of other local organisations taking up the technology. So you might say we have created a local Lasso hotspot! One area in which it does excel and has no alternative in php (Unless you buy the software additions) is the built-in security.
PHP
Should the need arrive then we are not averse to developing with php, but as we run our own servers, we are able to choose the software that we feel best suites our needs, so php is a lesser used technology.
Ruby on Rails
Things change with some regularity in the interweb world and we would not have survived this far if we didn't look at other technologies, to this end we have started to investigate Ruby on Rails, it is described on Wikipedia as A free web application framework. It aims to increase the speed and ease with which database-driven web sites can be created.
Looking at the way it works it may be a little time before we offer it as a commercial option for our e-commerce solutions.
