In software development, time helps us build powerful and robust products. However, as the years goes by, the team changes along with ideas and programming styles; tight schedules lead to unclean codes; inexperienced hands create limited and ‘viral’ solutions, which then spread through the code and are hard to improve; finally, design and UX trends evolve. Nowadays, when the importance of web applications keeps growing, it is an advantage to be aware of the possibility to use Seaside to keep our Smalltalk applications updated with the new technologies, such as HTML5, CSS3, Javascript and its libraries. My dissertation will be focussed on the new UI we created for our oldest and biggest product, called Mercap Unitrade, and how we made the most of that project improving its architecture with new techniques. As a result, we were able to update it, take it to the edge and build the foundations for the multiple developments to come, without messing with the model layer and while building a huge amount of reusable components, that are shared with the other products developed by Mercap.

1. Recycling Legacy
Applications

2. ALLOW
TAILORING
ROBUST
READY
FOR
CHANGE
Unbeatable application

3. Team
building
Architecture
design
Development
scheduling
User testing

4. Client
changes
specifications
Budget and
schedules are
adjusted
New
technologies
emerge
New
developers
join
Some
developers
leave

6. Stability
Unit testing
Conformance
to customer
expectations
Experienced
team
Optimized
performance
Well known
UI

7. Deployment
on larger
scale
High
concurrency
Simplified
interfaces
Small
business
model
changes

8. Research latest technologies

9. Research latest technologies
Rethink interfaces

10. Research latest technologies
Rethink interfaces
Unify products line

11. Research latest technologies
Rethink interfaces
Unify products line
Set foundations for future developments

12. Research latest technologies
Rethink interfaces
Unify products line
Set foundations for future developments
Reify missing key concepts

13. Research latest technologies
Rethink interfaces
Unify products line
Set foundations for future developments
Reify missing key concepts
Reapply good decisions

14. Research
latest
technologies
Innovation
motivates the
team

15. Rethink
interfaces
Modern
visuals attract
customers

16. Unify product
lines
Common code
implies mutual
improvement

17. Set
foundations for
future
developments
Clear
methodologies
speed up
projects

18. Reify missing
key concepts
Well designed
objects help
transmit
knowledge

19. Reapply good
decisions
Reused
designs build
trust

20. New web
interface
Connect
with legacy
objects
Multiple
server
instances
Organize
systems
and
modules
Generalized
persistence
Smalltalk
SQL queries

21. Seaside
Connect
with legacy
objects
Multiple
server
instances
Organize
systems
and
modules
Generalized
persistence
Smalltalk
SQL queries

22. Seaside
Apache
Connect
with legacy
objects
(load
balancer)
Organize
systems
and
modules
Generalized
persistence
Smalltalk
SQL queries

23. Seaside
Apache
Connect
with legacy
objects
(load
balancer)
Organize
systems
and
modules
Generic
object
manager
Smalltalk
SQL queries

24. Seaside
Apache
Connect
with legacy
objects
(load
balancer)
Organize
systems
and
modules
Generic
object
manager
Query
builder

25. Seaside
Apache
Connect
with legacy
objects
(load
balancer)
Generic
object
manager
System
hierarchy
Query
builder

26. Seaside
Apache
Legacy
object
hierarchy
(load
balancer)
Generic
object
manager
System
hierarchy
Query
builder

27. Say it in
Smalltalk,
Do it with
jQuery
Instant
deployment
SEASIDE
Platform
independence
Independence
from HTTP and
HTML