Want more...Inspiration

Some software projects are started because you receive a contract to build and application.  Sometimes you join a company that has a project and needs additional developers.  Often you are working on the next version of an existing application.  I hope that sometime in your career you have an inspiration and start a company to create the application.  Thomas Edison is quoted as saying (back in 1932), "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration".  In the 1971 movie, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", Gene Wilder, who plays Willy, says “Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple”. In today's software world, especially at software start-ups, I believe that programming genius is one hundred percent inspiration and one hundred percent perspiration.

The power of RAD, visual development with Delphi, C++Builder and RadPHP allows you to quickly go "from prototype to production" and "from inspiration to application".  RAD Studio XE's programming languages and development environments allow you to easily create highly interactive, ultra-rich, ultra-fast Windows and  and web applications. Using wizards, drag and drop visual designers, visual and non-visual components, and direct database connectivity allows you to build desktop applications, interactive touch-screen, kiosk, and database-driven multi-tier, cloud, and Web and Web Service applications.

Where does inspiration come from?  Inspiration comes from many different sources.  Here a a few inspiration avenues:

• Inspiration comes from the top


• Inspiration starts with a life altering experience


• Inspiration is driven by a need to solve a problem


• Inspiration happens in the shower


• Software inspiration is motivated by automating the real world


• Inspiration and passion are the two key ingredients in every success


• Inspiration comes from setting a lofty goal


• Inspiration happens just after my head hits the pillow


• Inspiration starts after a hard workout ends

My all time quote from any movie also comes from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" when Willy says "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams”.  For developers, this quote would change to "We are the software developers, and we build the dreams".

When I need music to inspire me to greater heights, I often listen to Ralph Vaughn Williams' "The Lark Ascending" (You Tube video with Nicola Beneditti on violin). Another song that motivates me to the max is "Somewhere over the Rainbow" sung by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" and more recently and wonderfully by Israel "Bruddah Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole.

At Embarcadero, the R&D team is working to reinvent the ways that we build business applications.  The dreamers and developers at Embarcadero will help you move from Inspiration to Prototypes to Applications to Apps with the Future of Software Development.  Stay tuned to the Embarcadero web site.  The musical volume is starting to amp up.

What inspires you to build great software?  What inspires you in your life?