Technologies
To be able to supply its client with versatile, future-proof and easy to use solutions, Altera always uses the most sophisticated technolgies available.
WebObjects
WebObjects is a Framework and a Java Application Server by Apple Inc, created by NeXT in 1996. WebObjects is based on the most sophisticated and mature Database abstraction layer on the market, Enterprise Objects Framework, it has been one of the first web application servers and allows deployment on any J2EE compliant application server on any platform with Java support. WebObjects is freely available from Apple, apart from many Fortune 500 companies, the biggest client for WebObjects is now Apple itself, relying on it to power its online services Apple Store and iTunes Store. Applications developed with WebObjects are based on a three-tier approach, separating the web tier from the application logic and the data; this approach enables security, availability and scalability. The only layer exposed is the Web Server, the data are on the DB Server, safely placed on a dedicated network, also the Application Logic is on a protected area. The three-tier approach allows high availability and load balancing minimizing the Total Cost of Ownership: as demand rises the only thing to do is to add hardware on the most critical tier without having to modify the software.
Cocoa
Cocoa is Apple Inc's object oriented programming environment for developing Mac OS X applications. Cocoa allows the programmer to quickly build polished and feature rich applications by focusing on the unique features of the application and leaving the base functionality to the framework. Just like WebObjects, Cocoa was originally developed by NeXT in 1988 with NeXTSTEP, since then it has been continuously polished and enhanced. The native Cocoa programming language is Objective-C, an object oriented C variant, other languages are supported, such as Ruby or Python.
Cocoa Touch
Cocoa Touch is a version of Cocoa especially targeted for developing iPhone applications. The differences between Cocoa and Cocoa Touch are very few and both make use of the same paradigms used also in WebObjects like, for example, MVC (Model View Controller) approach, key-value coding and key-value observing.
Our deep knowledge in those interlinked technologies allows us to offer our clients with elegant solutions for Desktop, Mobile and Web platforms and to be very aggressive in integration and development time.