Netsoft Blog

Spring Batch Overview

Recently I had a chance to work with Spring Batch. Throughout the project I had to research and explore features of the Spring Batch framework to understand the features it provides and their best usage. In this post I will share my experience and give a brief, yet comprehensive, framework overview.

Topics: Application Development (5)

The Individual Mandate: Pros and Cons

In June of 2012 The Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act (PPACA) – commonly known as Obamacare – was upheld by the Supreme Court as U.S. law. As such, the “individual mandate,” a mechanism that compels citizens to buy health insurance, remains intact as originally intended. This blog will explore how the individual mandate is designed, setting aside the specter of government intrusion. We will consider the mechanical function of the individual mandate and how it will be implemented.

Topics: Healthcare and Life Sciences (5)

All Great Developers Write Code For Fun

I have a single question that does more to separate the interesting developers from the masses better than any other I have come up with; I merely ask “Tell me about a program you wrote for fun, not for school or any job, just for yourself, for fun”.

Topics: Application Development (5)

Healthcare Costs of Personal Choice

What would happen if lifestyle became a factor in determining the cost of your health insurance? What would happen if the government decided to tax unhealthy foods? Would the mere threat of financial consequences change your behavior, or would the system need to enforce accountability through increased premiums and taxes?

Topics: Healthcare and Life Sciences (5)

Netsoft USA’s Blended Team Approach

At Netsoft USA, our offshore staff is an integral part of our success. Netsoft USA has two offices, our headquarters in New York City and our office in Yerevan, Armenia, which was established in 2006 to complement our consulting and development services in the United States. The Yerevan office is home to all of our quality assurance engineers and approximately 25% of our development department. We do not outsource work; all members of our offshore office are employees of Netsoft USA and are part of our tightly integrated team.

Topics: Application Lifecycle Management (2)

C# 5: New Async Pattern

The proliferation of mobile applications on smartphones has created an expectation among users that interactions with every application should be responsive and immediate. For applications that have little business logic, this typically is not an issue, but for applications that perform CPU-intensive tasks, keeping the user interface responsive to user interactions is challenging.

Topics: Application Development (5)

Transparency in Healthcare - Is this the Silver Bullet?

One would be hard pressed to find a Healthcare Insurer that doesn’t have “Transparency” on their 2012 agenda. The burning question is what will it take for this mechanism to successfully impact a system that is so desperately trying to regain its footing (both health and financial outcomes)?

Topics: Healthcare and Life Sciences (5)

Patients Without Patience Pay More

Administering one’s own healthcare can require a Herculean effort. Benefit Plans have become increasingly complicated over the last 15 years. With the rise of Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHPs), members are expected to play an even more prominent role in managing their care and associated costs. Some employers report spending 12 to 18 months educating their workforce on complex plans. For most people, the maze of rules and restrictions can be overwhelming, and often individuals choose the path of least resistance — they simply pay the bill, even if they don’t understand it. Ironically, those who work in the healthcare field or otherwise understand the system fare no better. In fact, people who have expert knowledge of the system and its inner workings are often the most frustrated by the system’s failings.

Topics: Healthcare and Life Sciences (5)

Separating Design from Technology: a Risky Proposition

Whether you’re redoing your public website, overhauling your corporate intranet, or launching a mobile app, it’s common practice to engage design firms to help create the experience. While this can be an exciting proposition, there are risks associated with this approach, especially when the project involves a complex technology solution.

Topics: User Experience (3)

Why Voluntarily Upholding Obamacare Provisions May be a Red Herring

Three of the nation’s top Health Insurers have recently announced their plans to preserve certain provisions of the PPACA regardless of whether or not the law is struck down by the Supreme Court.

Topics: Healthcare and Life Sciences (5)

Exchange Web Services

Microsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) is an interface by which you can programmatically manage Exchange items such as calendar, contact, and email. With EWS, you can store or retrieve any data on your Exchange account, providing wide flexibility in managing and manipulating email data on an Exchange server for a user, a group of users, or an entire organization. EWS is a powerful tool for moving data from legacy email systems to Exchange Hosted services or Exchange Server.

Topics: Application Development (5)

Importance of Understanding Stakeholders, Politics, and the Project Context

A formal project kickoff does not mean the entire team is 100% on board. That's why it's crucial to thoroughly understand the business context and politics affecting a project, and to identify any stakeholders who don't wish to change the status quo. Giving extra attention to these stakeholders and seeking their buy-in will help minimize risks or prevent failure altogether.

Topics: Application Lifecycle Management (2)

JQuery UI Position Utility

I got a chance to try the jQuery UI positioning utility today, and overall, I was quite impressed by how well it worked and, more importantly, how easy it is to use. I certainly wish I had known about it in previous situations where I've had to position an element. But there was one issue that took a bit of time to figure out, so I wanted to share the results of that.

Topics: Application Development (5)

Achieving an Optimal User Experience is an Iterative Process

If only we could wave a magic wand to make all our user experiences work perfectly for our target audiences right from the beginning. Unfortunately, humans are tricky creatures, and getting things just right can take a few attempts. That's why user testing is so critical to success.

Topics: User Experience (3)

What is a User?

Users are people. They have wants and needs; they get angry, they feel joy; they have hopes and fears. In fact, there really is no 'they,' because they are us. We are them.

Topics: User Experience (3)

If you think about writing a tool on a project – write the tool!

Every project has a point where the team or team lead contemplates whether writing some tools would help the project. By tools I mean custom software not directly related to the solution deliverable. Sometimes these tools assist in generating code that is used in the project, other times they are just analysis tools to help you parse through gigabytes of log files looking for issues. And a tool can be a script or any other programmatic doohickey you come up with to help you in your day-to-day job of creating great software.

 I’ve been in the software biz for quite some time, and here’s one rule that I live by – if you are thinking about writing a tool, then write it! I have never been on a software project where we cursed ourselves for writing too many tools, but I have been on projects where we banged our heads against the wall when we should have written a tool.

Topics: Application Development (5)