With Daniel Zollinger.

There is a lot to be done before you can start writing quality code and developing software for haulage data systems. It’s not just a matter of sitting down at your computer and starting to write.

iVolve Software Engineer Daniel Zollinger has vast experience in writing quality software, and says getting these processes right is necessary for success in setting up effective haulage data algorithms

“You need to have a clear understanding of the concept and the customer’s interpretation of it, which sounds obvious but the biggest problem you can have with something like haulage data is defining what exactly it means, so you can be sure you and the customers in general know what the concept is.”

Daniel says this communication between developments here in Brisbane and the customers onsite hundreds of kilometres away is very important.

“This is more important when writing the code because if you start getting loose with your terms in the code and someone else has to look at your code, they’re going to really struggle to understand what you mean if you’re not precise about the naming of all the different [aspects of haulage],” he said.

Is software development different in non-English speaking countries?

Daniel has a Swiss background, having been in software development for over 20 years and worked in several different countries. He is new to iVolve but recognises the differences between European development culture and that of English-speaking nations.

“It’s almost easier dealing with people in Europe because you know they have a different language and you have to make the effort to be clear about what you’re saying,” he said.

How do programmers rate working with iVolve?

One of the things that iVolve does well, as Daniel noted, is letting developers stick to best practice and making things as easy as possible for software development – the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid).

“Most of the code is relatively straightforward, and have lots of good blocks that aren’t convoluted or mixed up,” he said, “The commercial reality is you don’t always get to rearrange or refactor everything as you’d like, but I think iVolve has done a good job of avoiding the temptation to have splatterings of code all over the place.”

This fostering of a positive development culture at iVolve has ensured better communication from office to site.