604 736 2461
email: peter@ActiveInfo.CA, peter@smalltalk.org
web: http://www.ActiveInfo.CA, http://www.smalltalk.org, http://www.peter.lount.com

Consulting Services Provided by Active Information Corporation

We offer flexible and negotiable consulting rates.based on the project.

I look forward to talking and working with you. Please contact me to discuss particular jobs at your convenience.

Best regards,

ACTIVE INFORMATION CORPORATION
per:

Peter Lount, President and Senior Design Consultant
peter@ActiveInfo.CA
peter@Smalltalk.org

Senior Design Consultant

EXPERTISE SUMMARY - 2004

OBJECT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT: Twenty-three plus years of professional work experience with Object Technologies including Smalltalk, Object Analysis, Design, and Implementation. Early adopter of Object-Oriented Technologies. In-depth understanding of object-oriented methodologies (00A, OOD, OOP - Coad/Yourdon, etc...), object-oriented systems (Cincom Visual Works Smalltalk, Objectworks/Smalltalk-80, IBM Visual Age Smalltalk, Smalltalk/V -286/Windows/Mac Visual Smalltalk, Visualworks Smalltalk,NeXTstep/OpenStep, Little Smalltalk, Objective-C, Self, Actor, Audition), and Object Oriented Database Systems (Gemstone OODBMS and others).

Adept at breaking apart problems and creating an object-oriented understanding and approach to solving them. Skilled at producing rapid prototypes to demonstrate proof of concept and then creating a deliverable system. Skilled at integrating diverse ideas and systems.

PRODUCT ANALYSIS, DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION: A core member of a team that designed and successfully deployed the "Das Kapital" trading system for J.P.Morgan on Wall St. in New York City. Designed and implemented CAD/CAM software used in the construction of bridges worldwide (the first bridge built is the six kilometer long raised highway through Seoul, Korea).

Designed and implemented commercially successful products that earned over One Million U.S. dollars in revenue in 1985!. Authored the arcade game GEMSTONE WARRIOR which won an industry award in 1985 for Outstanding Original Program.

USER INTERFACES: Possess a thorough understanding of the characteristics of successful user interface design. Skilled at implementing user interfaces which maximize available computational power and enhance user productivity. Applications developed have consistently exhibited clean, glitch-free operation, with a consistent visual appearance.

Skilled at developing real time user interfaces (information presentation, graphics (2-D, 3-D, optimizing implementations). Implemented a sophisticated yet simple to use Drag and Drop interface in VisualWorks a.k.a. Objectworks Smalltalk-80.

COMMUNICATIONS: Excellent written and spoken communications. Effective teaching and mentoring skills (taught an introductory course in OOP at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, conducted in-house OOA,OOD, OOP courses at corporations and individual mentoring).

Accomplished at facilitating the transference and evolution of ideas in a design group.

A team player. Extensive background and work performed in learning human communications skills. Highly skilled and trained in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (an approach to human communications).

BUSINESS FOCUS: Flexible approach to communicating with business and technical people. A focus on profitability and practical technology that gets the job done. Developing the Value and Result Focused (Software Design) Process to facilitate maximum performance teams. (See Pages 28 through 39 of the conference presented paper Smalltalk and Time to Market (PDF, 391KB) for additional material on this process).

July 2003 Smalltalk Solutions Conference Speaker
Presented a paper, Smalltalk and Time to Market ( PDF, 391KB), in Toronto, Canada at the 2003 Smalltalk Solutions Conference. The presentation explores time to market issues, advantages, limitations and benefits of Smalltalk and Object Oriented based technologies in the light of the real world.

Internet Technology Expertise
Since 1991 I've worked extensively with Internet technologies of all kinds. Current work proceeds on the AIMS Web Engine, a dynamic collaborative content management system for web sites. The system is written in Smalltalk and is nearing production readiness. It will be used in the Zoku.net web hosting service  as well as Smalltalk.org and numerous other web site. It is similar to object oriented web engines such as Web Objects from Apple Computer. Extensive experience with UNIX (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Linux) based web systems including Apache, et. al.

Advanced Object Oriented Database Systems
Active Information Corporation addresses the needs of Advanced Information Systems through the development of AIMSä, Active Information Management System. AIMSä, built upon the foundation of a TRUE Object Oriented Database System, provides the storage and networking of Object Data Structures with full Transaction Processing capabilities. Full Security and Access features are present. Referential Integrity of the Persistent Data Store is guaranteed. Many other advanced technology features have been designed and implemented in A.I.M.S. that can match the needs of the most demanding applications. AIMSä enables systems developers to take full advantage of Object Technologies without limiting object features that occurs when objects are stored into a Relational Database Management System. In AIMSä Objects are stored as Persistent Objects with all inter-connections intact. Developers can focus on maximizing the power of Objects while AIMSä handles Persistent Object Storage and Transportation. Legacy data, in a R.D.M.S. or other forms, can still be accessed.

AIC's Global Construction Industry Projects

Condor Rebar Consultants and the National Research Council of Canada
CRDS/CRMS/KeyTask Project, 1998-July 2001

I was engaged, as an AIC consultant, in projects with Condor Rebar Consultants, Inc. including a large and long project that received funding from the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) under an Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) grant . The main focus of these projects was re-engineering the Condor Rebar Detailing System (CRDS) and creating the Condor Rebar Management System (CRMS) rebar production software. In addition research work was performed in partnership for Condor's related KeyTask project - a fundamental shift in how Civil Engineering software applications interoperate with each other. The consulting involved bringing AIC's advanced Object Application Technologies and software expertise into the engineering field. I consulted closely and intensively with the client's domain experts including their senior professional engineer, engineering staff and rebar detailing experts on their software systems projects.

CondorFORMSET2.0™ Segmental Bridge Design and Production System 1998-1999

Worked with Condor Rebar Detailing Consultants, Inc. (an engineering company in Vancouver, B.C., Canada) and VSL (a large construction company in Singapore) in the development and deployment of the second version of a Bridge Design system. Developed entirely in Smalltalk, the CondorFORMSET™ system enables a bridge designer to design and construct segmental bridges. Successfully used to build bridges in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and other countries. Consulted with clients on site in Vancouver and Singapore. I was one of the original two designers and implementors of this complex bridge "calculator". The project had two designers: the client's senior professional engineer who handled the engineering domain issues such as the bridge domain knowledge and calculations; and myself, the software technology specialist who designed the software architecture. We implemented the system together.

Peter is the site maintainer for the Smalltalk.org web site. A primary resource on the Internet for Smalltalk related materials. Peter is developing an extensive new look and format for the site all based on various web technologies including dynamic web applications written in Smalltalk, database access and publishing, and distributed e-commerce applications.

Work with Fannie Mae development staff to train, teach and mentor them advanced Object Technologies. Introduced new technology to their core developers: Frame Reuse Technology and Object Business Rules Technology. Worked on a number of projects: Servicing Transfer, Reference Files, Year 2000 and Corporate Reuse of Objects.. Fannie Mae uses object technology from NeXT/Apple Computer - Objective-C, WebObjects, Enterprise Objects Framework (EOF - Object to Relational DB), and Portable Distributed Objects. Fannie Mae has developed and makes extensive use of Object Analysis, Design and Implementation Process Methodology - know as Objective WHEELS.

The PDI project is a re-write of numerous systems that Fannie Mae uses to record, analyze, and report on (to Government, Wall Street, Investors, and Internal Management) financial information regarding the purchase of discounted loans and other financial instruments. I was brought in to the PDI project to save it from a wayward schedule. A new schedule was produced after three weeks of intensive re-design. I lead the team in getting the project completed on schedule - which was accomplished. Innovative design features allows the many batch jobs to be synchronized together. This is a WebObjects application.

The PDI project is also Year 2000 Compliant.

The Servicing Transfer Project creates a new automated application for Fannie Mae which enables Services, other financial institutions who service loans, to transfer loans or pools/portfolios of loans from one servicing company to another via a Web based application. Assisted in the Objective WHEELS development process from Analysis through Implementation. Implemented a vertical slice of the Application. Mentored six Fannie Mae staff persons in Objective-WHEELS and Object Technology including management, database administrators, analysts and developers.

The purpose of the Reference Files project is move a legacy application off of the Data General Mainframe to Client-Server Object Technology in order that the mainframe can be retired and for Year 2000 compliance.

The purpose of the corporate reuse project is to develop reusable design patterns so that the many independent development projects can share object models. This is a challenging project due to the varied nature of the different projects involved. For example, most of the projects make use of a Loan object. However, almost every loan object has radically different requirements for each application. There is one application which has 250 attributes for the loan object - this comes from the legacy system and requires major refactoring of the business domain.

Made recommendations, after extensive analysis of the technology in use, to the Fannie Mae business and development group on incorporating new technologies into their "Object Factory Substrate" object technology framework. These advanced technologies include: Object Database, Object Business Rules Technology (from Analysis to Design and Implementation), and to leverage the powerful Frame Reuse Technology from Netron.

Client Confidential.

Designed a collaborative work group system, known as Advanced Business Building System (ABBS), for a large marketing & sales organization that has tens of thousands of representatives in the field spread across North America. Currently the company receives and processes orders and lets the field representatives know their sales results via the telephone or via a incomplete printout produced once a month that shows data that 5 to 8 weeks old. The desired result provides the field representatives with a complete, accurate and most importantly a timely view of their sales results and business activities. The actual solution provides the company and the field representatives with the ability to collaborate and coordinate their team and individual activities to maximize the sales in the current month. This can be accomplished using an unique and advanced collaborative work group technology designed by Peter Lount. The system makes use of the Internet as the communications medium linking the more than 30,000 field representatives with the company's computing resources in a secure manner. Each field representative would use their Intel PC with Windows NT or Windows 95 to access the company with special client software.

The client side of the ABBS application software provides a base of functionality that the field representative needs in order to make informed business decisions: the system automatically downloads raw sales data , performs complex analysis, presents the information in textual or visual formats summarized or with as much detail as requested, allows the data and information to be manipulated, provides a full contact management system, and many other capabilities and features.

The server side of the ABBS system provides the connecting link between the 30,000+ field representatives and the company's mainframe relational database. The ABBS server accesses the mainframe data store to provide the users that are currently connected with a live data feed of their critical business information. Furthermore, as not all users remain connected during the day the server provides them updates since the last time they were connected. The ABBS server uses an Object Database for it's persistent storage needs. The communication with the clients take place using full distributed transaction processing technology for fault tolerance - industrial strength..

The ABBS client software communicates using TCP/IP and UDP networking protocols and will work over a private Intranet, private Internet or public Internet. Due to the sensitive nature of the business information the ABBS system uses rigorous Identity Authentication in the form of a Security Token Credit Card such as the SECURID card which provide a one-time-use-only password that changes every 60 seconds. Once the user's identity has been established the ABBS server and client software system can begin their electronic conversations over a Virtual Private Network using military grade data encryption. The client and server both make use of the same Object Database to store business objects and data with the client software storing all the information local to the field representatives personal computer. Both the client and server share much of the same object design.

ACTIVE INFORMATION CORPORATION - Vancouver, B.C., Canada 1995 (June - December)

Systems Analysis & Design Consultant to Deluxe Corporation (Shoreview, MN)

Client background:

Deluxe Corporation produces many products. They are the largest printer of blank Cheques for business and personal use in the United States. The software product Deluxe made, that used the services of AIC, is called "Printovationä" which takes desktop published files and orders from clients running Window95 and prints them with Deluxe's high speed/quality presses. The finished goods are then couriered via Federal Express or UPS to the client the next day.

Performed analysis of user requirements, designed, and wrote specification documentation for an electronic (EDI) order back-end processing support system.

The computer and software systems involved in this project: Windows95 Client software; WindowsNT Communications server; Windows Dynamic Link Library components to support communications between systems; OS/2 client running Digitalk Smalltalk/V for OS/2 (with development tools: ENVY/Developer R1.41a integrated with WindowBuilder Pro Version 1.0.5E OS/2); Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) using SGML (ISO8879), Lotus Notes release 3.30 and IBM Mainframe with DB2 Relational Database.

Participated in analysis and design teams that designed the organization of how the support systems interact with each other. Assisted in translating business rules and requirements into software design using object oriented analysis and design methods. Supported and directed the implementors who were coding the system to understand the design issues. Assisted in debugging and testing.

Performed analysis and design for extending the existing Customer Management Representative client applications. Wrote design specifications for these extensions.

Assisted in integrating extensions to the existing 'legacy' relational DB2 database system schema with the Digitalk Smalltalk/V for OS/2 application. Utilized knowledge of Relational and Object-Oriented technologies in this integration.

Performed analysis, design, and implementation (in Digitalk Smalltalk/V for OS/2) of the 'validation for reliable entry of critical information' (such as the customer number) into the 'untrusted' client side software. (The client side is untrusted due to the possibility of 'hackers' modifying the Printovation client software running on there own computers. Thus having this modified software present to the Deluxe back-end systems false information detrimental to Deluxe). This involved investigating Cycle Redundancy Checks, Check Sums, Base 10 to Base 26 conversion, and other numeric techniques. Selecting an appropriate technique for this application. This design was implemented in the other systems, by other team members, in C++ for the Windows95 client software and in COBOL for the DB2 mainframe database.

Performed analysis and design of Credit Card Validation processes for automating (no Deluxe staff in the loop of credit card validation) and integrating credit approval of customers credit cards into the existing and extended order processing systems. Investigated a number of different alternative implementations.

Performed analysis of requirements and design of Electronic Data Interchange with the Federal Express computer system for the purpose of electronically scheduling and tracking parcel pickup and deliveries.

Made security recommendations on how to ensure the integrity and trustworthiness of the electronic order files which come from external sources. Preformed analysis, design and made recommendations for validating the identity of customers with the use of passwords, PINS, and a personalized security question and answer combination.

Wrote numerous reports including an extensive, 125 page, in-depth design report on "Order File Validation Rules & Validation Violation Notifications" that contained the specific software systems implementation details. The main issue here for Deluxe and almost all EDI applications is the validity, trustworthiness, accuracy, and security of electronic order files submitted from 'untrusted' systems into 'trusted' internal order production systems. Deluxe needed to protect against a number of problems with this EDI Validation such as: 'hackers' or customers attempting to disrupt Deluxe; programming bugs in the potentially 'untrusted' Printovation client side software; or most seriously customers attempting to obtain printing services fraudulently by adjusting the price within the electronic file. The validation rules also assist in debugging and testing of the systems to ensure that the client side's price and product database is in sync with the back-end production system's relational DB/2 database. The validation rules were very detailed and consisted of over 350 rules.

Currently the leading member of a two person team that performed analysis, architectural design and implementation of an advanced Application Development Kit in Smalltalk (built using the Smalltalk Relational DB Kit) with an Object Oriented interface to SQL Relational databases. Currently consultants are using this Application Kit to build mission critical applications for multiple corporate clients. Constructed key essential components of the system including: Created objects that automatically write and execute the appropriate SQL code so that application objects are automatically selected, updated, inserted, and deleted from the Relational Database, built generic classes to simplify User Interface design layout (i.e. to add the Cancel/Revert and Ok buttons to a window just drag n' drop a pre-defined panel into the window and any application objects that are being viewed by the window will be saved/updated/inserted when you press OK. No need to write any special code for the window to perform when ok is pressed!), designed and implemented a comprehensive class hierarchy to represent this Application and Database Kit.

Developed using Digitalk Smalltalk for Win32S (Windows NT and 32Bit Windows 3.1) with Window Builder User Interface Kit, and SubPanes, PSI Tab Control, and other ST add in kits. Development occurred using Intel PC running Window for WorkGroups 3.1.1 and Windows NT with SQL access through Microsoft ODBC to Microsoft access, and other Relational databases. The Coad Yourden methodology of Object-Oriented Analysis and Design were used to developed the big picture and implement the details. The prototype is running and the final system is currently being completed.

A member of the four person team (which formed the core of a larger team of twenty) that performed analysis, architectural design and implementation of an advanced trading system for J.P. Morgan under an very tight schedule. Performed analysis, design, implementation and testing of key essential components of the system including: the central core representation of the trading applications data as objects, a Drag and Drop user interface for Smalltalk 80 which is used extensively throughout the application, a transparent interface connecting the application data objects to an Object-Oriented Database (Gemstone ODBMS), generalized user interface components to simplify and accelerate the development of User Interface Window design, enhanced and expanded a source code and object sharing system which allows for a distributed team to rapidly propagate their work to the whole team.

Developed using ParcPlace ObjectWorks-Smalltalk-80 Software with VisualWorks User Interface Kit. Development occurred using various versions of UNIX on SUN, HP and NeXT equipment and on Macintosh (Mac O/S System 7) equipment in a networked environment. An in house methodology of Object-Oriented Analysis and Design were used to developed the big picture and implement the details. The completed system was developed in eight months. It has been deployed to J.P.Morgan's trading floor and is successfully being used by traders to perform their tasks.

The project was performed at JP Morgan's Wall Street office and was under tight security and a high degree of secrecy. As a bank JP Morgan must follow very strict company and government security policies and perform in-depth research on and approve of each potential contractor before the person can work with JP Morgan.

Advanced CAD/CAM applications development.

Developed a prototype CAD/CAM detailing program in Smalltalk/V Macintosh and 286. Program allows engineers to create detailing drawings and output to AutoCAD DXF format.

In conjunction with the client's senior professional engineer, I developed a large SMALLTALK based application, FormSet, for producing structural detail drawings of pre-stressed segmental bridges with internal tendon cables. Involved creation of more than 50 complex engineering classes, 30 interface windows. Program is highly successful and is generating significant income and growth for Lount, Sally and Associates. Currently used to produce bridges in Asia and around the world. The system was built for V.S.L. International, a division of the French multi-national Bouygues which is one of the top five construction companies in the world.

Worked with tech support personnel at Digitalk and Acumen to document and solve bugs in SMALLTALK and Widgets. Worked closely with engineering specialists to transform their bridge designing skills into generalized templates used to automate the production of thousands of similar blueprints.

Advanced Object-Oriented Language Research:

Conducting exploration of the commercial opportunities and capabilities of a disk and RAM based SELF-language (as opposed to RAM-based only) to access object-oriented databases transparently from the language.

Design Consultant to P. Dodge, Marketing and Sales :

Developed a financial simulation to model contract arrangements between companies. Allowed client to analyze potential contracts with best- and worst-case data.

Design Consultant to The Computer Paper :

Automated Ad Placement for magazines. Developed a rapid prototype to demonstrate and sell concept to client. Program maintains a list of advertisements and a thumbnail view of a publications page. Ads are automatically placed onto a selected page based on user-selectable size and layout type. Program then produces template pages for use in a Desktop Publishing program. Development continued into a complete application.

Contracted to teach a one-term lab course in object-oriented programming using SMALLTALK and HYPERCARD. Instruction praised by students as clear and easy to understand.

Consultant to Synaptec Corporation (18-month contract, 8/87 - 9/89): Object-oriented language development.

Developed a text editor written in FORTHTALK (Synaptec's own SMALLTALK like object-oriented extension to FORTH) for Synaptec's AUDITION PERFORMER system. This text editor enabled Synaptec's personnel to edit and compile code directly in the AUDITION system, and thus improved the productivity of the entire development team. The NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA is using AUDITION.

AUDITION was conceived to be more advanced than Smalltalk. In many ways AUTITION resembles what you get if you mixed Smalltalk and Apple's HyperCardä products together. Easy user interface design and a powerful full object oriented language.

Debugged the graphics and window system that implements and displays the AUDITION user interface. Worked with a team debugging and testing the entire AUDITION system. Hundreds of test suites were written which revealed over 600 bugs. Converted the graphics system of AUDITION from IBM PC GEM and 80X86 Assembly to the DEC VAX UIS workstation and DEC VAX MACRO Assembly. Designed and implemented an interface between the high-level object-oriented language and the low-level assembly language (VAX MACRO). Developed rapid prototypes designed to test, demonstrate, and sell the AUDITION system to clients of Synaptec.

Co-founder and Electronic Artist to Paradigm Creators, Inc. 1982 -1987

Founder of independent video game design and production house.

Developed and successfully marketed video games that produced more than One Million U.S. dollars in revenue. Authored the arcade game GEMSTONE WARRIOR that won an industry award in 1985 for "Outstanding Original Program".

Gemstone Warrior shipped with 35,000 lines of tight and highly optimized 6502 Assembly code. Implemented many innovative user interface and graphical techniques on a limited resource computer. Wrote 40,000 lines of 68000 Assembly code on the MACINTOSH. Negotiated contracts with publishers. Supervised conversions of software to other computer systems.