PathNET - Our MVC & Active Content Framework:

Technical Content Warning: The following section contains technical minutea that will be tedious to non technical readers. For non programmers reviewing this section, suffice it to say that SSG created a web code base containing a design architecture that preceeded certain Microsoft releases by 3 years. That means we designed applications using methodologies that years later are finding their way into MS products. We did not create these methodologies, but our software engineers are pro-active and incorporated great design choices ahead of the curve. 3 years ahead of the curve to be exact.

Now for the technical details:

Certain methodologies have proven themselves across a number of different platforms and language implementations. The Model-View-Controller pattern is one of them. So are Provider patterns and Object Relational Mapping. Sequoia Services Group has had the good fortune of attracting talented engineers with a diverse background - including a considerable amount of non-Microsoft experience. Be that Java or more recently Ruby On Rails. It is this exposure and cross pollination of ideas that drove the advance of PathNET - our very own MVC and CMS framework. In addition, some of the very lessons learned during the development of PathNET have been applied to other projects. In this manner our customers benefit from cutting edge concepts without necessarily implementing an entire cutting edge code base.

In 2003 / 2004 during the .NET 1.1 release cycle, Thomas Wagner introduced the Provider Pattern to the forerunner of PathNet, which at that time was simply a shared libraryu of best practices code that SSG implements free of charge in our custom application projects.

Shortly thereafter Microsoft released .NET 2.0 which entailed an official implementation of very similar provider patterns. Of course we didn't invent that pattern, however, this is the beginning of a series of examples that show again and again certain technologies being adopted by SSG and later being incorporated by MS in its own framework platform.

The next advancement in our PathNET framework came through the incorporation of Object Relation Mapping technologies in the production of our applications. This step most notably was employed in the delivery of the ITT BDx application, as well as a host of other projects. In our experience ORM frees the developer from the tedium of writing the same data access code over and over and over.  It provides a tremendous boost in programmer productivity which translates directly into cost savings for our customers.

In 2006 SSG licensend PathNET for use by Fun Technologies (SkillJam) in the production of its white label gaming platform. PathNET most notably drove several game download sites, among them Lycos and the GameShow Network. Several of its core components where used to drive the internationalization of the download sites. Our ActiveContent system allowed SkillJam translators to convert the sites into proper localized content in record time - including the ability to translate text and preview a live snapshot of how this translation lines up in the actual site.  Different languages require different amounts of text to express the same idea. This fact, if not properly accounted for,  can impact a site design negatively.