Why Aralia Software?
Compared to the usual product development firm, we separate ourselves through our beliefs and core values. Our company relies on simple, fundamental tenants:
Seems like common sense, right? The reasoning is simple — the only way we can obtain excellence is by following these principles.
Embrace Advancement
A very vague statement, indeed; what do we mean by "embrace"? What about "advancement"? It's very simple, really — technology will always improve, and time waits for no-one. In the last 5 years, we've seen tremendous advancements in many facets of software technology: browsers have become more capable and secure than ever before, becoming their own software distribution mechanism; cryptocurrencies have taken the world by storm, and now artificial intelligence is making statements (literally) that are challenging the way we see the definition of "intelligent".
Staying behind means sacrificing all the potential and effort put into advancement. There are benefits to knowing and understanding the philosophies of historic technologies and techniques, which we'll address later, but we should not let complacency prevent progress. Of course, there is also the question of practicality — when could an advancement harm us, rather than help us? The most common example of this is where a percieved advancement is actually prohibotively difficult or immature to use in industry. At Aralia, we believe that a problem domain space dictates what is practical or impractical — as an example, consider web applications: five years ago, WebAssembly wasn't widely used, nor was it universally supported (especially without the downfall of Internet Explorer). Now, however, it's a fundamental technology and stable design space, in which individuals and companies like Aralia can develop solutions catered to that problem domain — sophisticated web applications. Another example domain would be algorithm design (sans implementation): in this scenario, the use of esoteric programming languages like Coq, Agda, Idris, or other languages strong with denotational semantics, is highly encouraged, but in any real-world implementation, those languages wouldn't suffice for a production environment.
In short, we believe that time waits for nobody, and we shouldn't be behind the curve. The use of new technology should fit the problem domain we are trying to solve, and the goals of that solution should dictate our approach.
Appreciate History
We live in a unique time in history — never before has so much been available and communicated. We are the beneficiaries of the effort and wisdom of many people who dedicated their lives to bringing us the things we take for granted. Their wisdom is locked in their work; to ignore that and "move on" would waste the deep understanding and philosophy that inspired progressively modern technology.
For instance, Functional Programming is a hot topic among industry professionals today, but its roots stem back decades. JavaScript, Scala, F#, and even Haskell (a notable functional programming language) all pay omage to the work of Per Martin-Löf, Haskell Curry, and many (many) others for good reason: they laid the foundation for the utility we take for granted. Respecting the individuals and projects that came before our modern day will bring us closer to the truth of their original intentions, which makes us more proficient, skilled, and wise.
Don't Lie
Another simple concept, but often gets lost among the best of us, particularly when it comes to business. Software engineers are often compared to wizards because it's hard to understand how they think, or are capable of doing what they're doing. As a trusted individual, it's very tempting to capitalize on that mystery by artificially inflate one's capability in order to make a sale or retain confidence of a customer — talk is cheap.
Sales are important, don't mistake that, but when it comes to business, we have a strict honesty policy — we will never make a claim about our work that we can't back up without evidence. Although our contracts will usually involve developing novel concepts — things that either haven't been done before, or unique spins on an existing concept, they will never excuse an artificial inflation, as we consider that a lie.
Conclusion
Simply put, we at Aralia Software believe that this field will always evolve, and we should do our best to keep up and provide new solutions. We also believe we should never forget where we come from, and always strive to learn from our past. Lastly, we believe in uncompromising integrity; that our word is our brand.
If these core values resonate with you, feel free to Schedule a Consultation with us and see what we can do for you or your company.