FAQ's
Answers to frequently asked questions.
Q: Is DevTools platform independent?
A: DevTools is written is ANSI C and
supports all leading UNIX, LINUX and Windows 32 and 64 bit
computing environments.
Q: How do I evaluate DevTools?
A: All DevTools evaluations are free of charge and you receive full support
during the evaluation period. You must sign a short Software Evaluation
Agreement and we supply you with the documentation and a pre-compiled version
of DevTools for a specified UNIX, LINUX or Windows system.
Evaluation periods are typically from 30 to 60 days.
Q: How do I license DevTools?
A: Licensing DevTools requires signing a Software Licensing Agreement.
There are two basic fees involved, a Development License Fee and a
Distribution License Fee. The Development Fee is a relatively low, recurring
annual fee which is dependent upon the number of development sites and
licensed toolkits. The Distribution Fee is a form of royalty which is
paid when actual units, incorporating DevTools, are sold.
Standard discounts are applied for volume and features used.
Q: What about source code?
A: All clients receive the source code in obfuscated form. This allows
you to compile the software on any operating system or computing platform
you choose, with any compiler options you desire.
Q: What form is the documentation in?
A: All documentation for all our component software products is in
HTML form. Many clients install a link to it on their company intranets.
We maintain current versions of the documentation
on our ftp site and as a licensee or evaluator of our software can download
updated documentation at any time.
Q: What license manager do you use?
A: None, there is no license manager in any of our products.
Q: How do you handle error messages, memory allocation, etc.?
A: All detected errors are reported through a single error handler function.
All memory allocation is performed with three functions which most of our
clients override so that they can detect any memory allocation failures
and recover. As component software, our products must exist dutifully in
the host application - nowhere do we "exit", "assert", "printf", etc.
Q: Is DevTools object-oriented, thread safe, re-entrant - all those good
things?
A: Basically yes. Our development language is ANSI C which does not preclude
us from implementing a very solid object-oriented architecture. All our
modules have formal constructor and destructor functions and support strict
data encapsulation. We never write to a global variable, so as a result,
all our software
is thread safe except for the case when an underlying system or graphics
function is not.
Q: Is DevTools C++ callable?
A: Yes. In addition to the C language bindings we generate a thin
C++ class layer on top of our C modules. This C++ class layer has the identical
feature set as the C bindings but provides all the benefits of a full C++
class library. The majority of our clients use the C++ bindings.
We also provide FORTRAN bindings in a similar manner.
Q: What about bugs?
A: Bugs exist in any large scale software system like DevTools
and when they are reported to us or we discover them they
receive the highest priority. Since our products are object oriented and
we deliver source code, once the bug is fixed, we update our affected clients
by simply emailing the appropriate source file to them.
Q: What about enhancements and new releases?
A: We release new versions of our software every 6 to 9 months. All clients
get identical versions of the modules they license. All enhancements
are incorporated into the core toolkits, there are no extra cost options.
All development at VKI is internally funded -
do not expect to be charged extra for your enhancement request to be
implemented.
Q: How is business?
A: Good. About half of the major CAE software companies world wide incorporate
one or more DevTools libraries in their products.
