Finding the Right Tools

Many a time we've been down to our last piece of fatback. And I'd say, "Should we eat it or render it down for soap?" Your Uncle Jed would say, "Render it down. God will provide food for us poor folks, but we gotta do our washin'."

Granny, The Beverly Hillbillies

Basic data modeling tools are adequate for small-scale development. If application development is extended to large-scale Visual Basic 6 distributed development, a sophisticated CASE tool is required that supports object modeling and partitioning the application into components that can be distributed among processors. Such a tool will require a higher level of expertise to use. A source code control system will be required to manage the software and documentation when applications become of significant size or complexity.

An essential part of managing the risk in Visual Basic 6 distributed development is testing performance under realistic stresses. Load-testing tools are available to assist in this process. Other classes of test tools test the user interface and the code structure.

To use such tools effectively, you must first understand them and then use a method to guide their use during development. Most tools and methods are not mature; some might not exist. Test the methods with the tools. Old methods might not be appropriate or might need adapting.