Release Notes MicroImages, Inc. TNT-Products V. 6.8

RELEASE OF RV6.8 TNT PRODUCTS
RV6.8). Implementation of automated testing of aspects of more interactive processes,
such as spatial data editing, is currently being studied.
• The TNT product release cycle has been lengthened over the past several years
from 4 per annum to 3 and now to 2 per annum. This has been possible as the
Internet and its increasing bandwidth to your desktop has enabled you to get direct
access to error corrections. You no longer have to depend upon MicroImages to fix
your errors and get them in the next release sent to you via air express on CD.
Impact
on Official Release.
Even with a dual development system, it is impossible to eliminate error propagation—
this results from correcting an error in a specific application that causes an error in some
totally unanticipated and heretofore reliable application. It is impossible for MicroImages
each time we correct an error in the official release patch to check the literally millions of
ways you might string together your interactive solution through our millions of lines of
code. However, with a dual development system, each correction or patch you apply to
the official release will improve that version’s overall reliability. Thus, the number of errors
you encounter in your patched version of the official release will decay asymptotically
with time.
My selfish goal is to reduce the time MicroImages expends dealing with the errors you
report by reducing the number of errors and the number of times each must be reported.
As you know, your free MicroImages support is provided by professional computer scientists
as it often involves complex technical issues. They are not specialists in any discipline
to which you plan to apply
your TNT product. However, more and more of our
independent resellers are able to offer you assistance
in how to design a geospatial ap-
plication in your discipline, provide local training
in your language, and immediate
application support
by phone or email. It is my hope that under this new error management
system, our software support engineers will now have more time to devote to put-
ting computer systems into place to catch errors in our nightly builds of all the TNT
software and manage your error identification and correction more efficiently. They can
then
put more of their time into working with those of you working with us on the Development
Version for the next release.
New Error Management System
Two
Code Bases.
A new TNT error management and associated patching system has been established
for use with the Release Version of 6.8 (designated as RV6.8) of the TNT products.
Patches obtained and applied to correct the errors in RV6.8 do not include any features added for the
next version of the TNT products.
Prior to RV6.8, a single source code base was maintained by MicroImages and all error
corrections were made in that code base. Immediately after a new release was shipped
on CD, changes to that code base began for the next version. Typically, the most complex
changes to core features (for example, to the geospatial rendering engine (GRE),
RVC file structure, topology management, …) are begun immediately after release.
This is necessary since these core items impact many other aspects of the operation of
MICROIMAGES MEMO 18
5 MAY 2003