Richard Daley Associates

Richard Daley Associates (RDA) undertakes software development through sub-contracts and is interested in being your partner if you are looking to outsource your software development to a developer based in Europe. If this is of interest please contact us by emailing development@rdas.co.uk.

Please note that if a client provides us with information or material in any form for use on their projects, then we assume they have the copyright in the information or the copyright holder's permission to use the information. It is the client's responsibility to ensure that any information or materials given to RDA may be used on the client's projects.

RDA develop applications for PC or UNIX® including Solaris™. We are acknowledged experts in compiler development — in fact any development where a defined language requires parsing. We are experienced in developments demanding C, C++, Java and older languages such as Pascal. 

Whilst we will consider any software development project, our strengths are in the following areas:

Software Tools

We have developed many tools for clients to assist their complete software development process, including compilers, linkers, debuggers, static analysis tools, Interactive Development Environments (IDEs). With over 25 years experience in software tools (in fact some of our tools are still in use after 20 to 25 years!) we are likely to both understand your needs and be able to provide a solution.

RDA has, for example, provided a bespoke source-code static analysis tool for use by one of its clients. This tool is called MCA and is highly configurable with project and user control over the rules applied to analysing the source code. Our client has indicated that our product is far more user friendly and customisable than comparable products from Programming Research Limited such as QA-C, QA-C++, or Telelogic's Tau Logiscope. Our client has also indicated that the return on investment (ROI) far exceeded their initial expectations, and have advocated its use on all new projects. It is used by developers whilst making code changes and on delivery of updated modules where it is run in batch mode and the results compared against the quality of the last version. This is the first time they have been able (without testing) to check that code quality is not being affected by ongoing maintenance and bug fixes.

Language Processing

If what you work with is a language with a defined structure and syntax we can provide parsing tools and compilers that can be used to manipulate, correct convert or compile it. We have worked with parser generators, preprocessors, compilers and related tools for over twenty years so have a wealth of experience and tools that be used to give you competitive advantage. If appropriate we can base our work on the GNU software available. A recent project have required us to port a system from Solaris Pascal to the GNU Pascal Compiler. Another project required us to adapt the GNU C Preprocessor to allow information about the preprocessing to be collected and used by other tools.

For those projects which require them we can develop or adapt Assemblers.

Language Conversion and Refactoring

We have developed tools that will convert one programming language to another and not just on a line-by-line basis. Line-by-line language conversion rarely makes best use of the target language and doesn't recognise opportunities for optimisation. We translate the source language into an intermediate (in effect a language independent) form from which the translation the the target language is begun. Language issues not easily resolved are identified either in the original source language or in the resulting target language depending on requirements. If part of the conversion cannot be automated effectively or economically then areas needing manual intervention may in some cases be best changed prior to conversion whilst other times it is easier to make the changes in the newly generated language. Our approach recognises this and supports developers to take the most cost effective approach to language conversion by giving developers control over where they resolve complex language conversion issues.

Related to language conversion is the situation that most companies have source code that has been developed and extended over many years often by different developers. For example the source may contain both 16-bit and 32-bit code. Our refactoring approach, often used as a precursor to language conversion, can be used to identify and rationalise the existing source code so that it is easier to either continue maintaining or simplifies the conversion to a new language.

Internet & Web Development

See our web development page for details of the web-based systems we have developed.

We are experienced in Internet development such as setting up and running mail servers such as Gordano's NTMail or VPOP. We have also developed client/server or Internet software utilising networking services.

We are also able to host your web space and provide email services. Please contact us for details.

We also able to undertake web development on your behalf that is geared to your needs and is suited to the target client base and their likely level of usage. 

Alcatel System 12 Tools Development

Alcatel's System 12 Digital Switch and related products represent a massive investment of time and money over twenty years. As is typical of systems of this complexity (which typically have many millions of lines of code) many commercially available software development tools are just not suitable or capable of coping with the demands put upon them. RDA has worked with Alcatel for many years to provide and maintain tools used in their development process.

It is this work with Alcatel which defines the strength, depth and scope of our development activities and provides us with a reference point from which other development can take place on behalf of other customers.

Gnu Tools Development

We are experienced in working with and adapting tools such as GNu's GDB. We have adapted third-party compilers to work with the gnu tools and are familiar with the use of the ELF and DWARF (debug) formats necessary to integrate third-party compilers with the gnu tools.

Utilities

Some of the software utilities developed by RDA and made available as shareware or freeware.