Nest&Cut is a web application we are passionate about developing. Our aim is to make nesting and cutting simple and enjoyable.
We also know that a webapp, no matter how well designed, needs to be totally robust so that it can be used anywhere in the world, at any time, without interruption of service.
In this article, we’d like to tell you how we design quality software development, so that Nest&Cut is simple, powerful and robust.
A polished interface for greater efficiency
Nest&Cut’s user interface has been designed with 2 main ideas in mind: to offer a streamlined ergonomic interface, and to automate everything that can be automated.
Simplicity is the latest sophistication.
A web application must have a clean and intuitive interface. While respecting web codes and practices is essential, the interface must be constantly reworked to keep it simple and ergonomic.
Functionalities must be present where the user is looking for them, icons must be self-explanatory, and the user must make as few clicks as possible to perform an action.
We also want the application to be as responsive as possible, and we’re equipped to find and eliminate slowness.
Our challenge is to create and keep a simple, intuitive, responsive and highly automated application!
Simplicity means clarity
Nest&Cut offers a clearly identified 3-step procedure: Set, Nest, Cut.
- Set is the preparation phase, when you import your parts and define quantities.
- Nest, is the configuration phase, where you define the placement options and formats used before launching the placement.
- Cut is the phase after nesting, where we find the nesting result and the machine code ready to be cut.
Most options are represented by an icon. A simple click on the icon activates or deactivates the option.
A mouse-over is all it takes to see details of the option’s effects.
For greater efficiency, Nest&Cut remembers the settings previously used for the next project.
Simplicity means automation
We believe that everything that can be automated should be. Why constantly ask the user to make adjustments that the software’s intelligence can make on its own? That’s why we integrate algorithms at every stage of the nesting process.
A dozen cleaning algorithms and automatic corrections are performed on the geometries contained in the CAD files sent to us.
The dozens of settings of Nest&Cut nesting algorithm are automatically configured according to your parts for optimum performance.
All you have to do on the nesting side is set the time you want it to take, according to the performance you want to achieve.
In this way, we automate everything that can be automated. For each new feature, we only suggest the parameters you absolutely need to enter into the application.
It’s much more pleasant and efficient to work when you’re not swamped with options and buttons on every screen!
An infrastructure designed for performance
Nest&Cut’s infrastructure was designed from the outset to be robust and high-performance. We discarded traditional infrastructure models that could not offer the necessary performance and responsiveness. Nest&Cut was designed using an infrastructure based on the latest innovations, known as “micro-services”.
The application is divided into several sub-applications, called services. Each service has just one main role, for example: user management, CAD file processing, nesting, etc. This breakdown enables us to cope with peaks in use by allocating more resources “on demand” to services that need them to temporarily increase their computing capacity.
If the number of servers is too low, new servers are started up and available within seconds.
Nest&Cut goes one step further by integrating an ecological component into its server management from the outset. When activity drops, the number of instances decreases. Dynamic resource management, for example, limits the number of servers switched on at weekends.
Nest&Cut uses open technologies and robust, proven languages such as PostgreSQL and Python. This means we’re not dependent on a locked-in hosting platform, and we can develop more efficiently and with greater peace of mind. Development can be carried out entirely on a computer, without even needing an Internet connection.
The CAD/CAM algorithms derived from Alma’s 45 years of experience are written in high-performance compiled languages.
This technological mix enables us to develop new features rapidly, while guaranteeing the best performance for our algorithms.
To test is to doubt!
Updates are frequent, whether for new features, performance improvements or maintenance tasks. Updates are carried out “on the fly”, without service interruption.
The new code is deployed on new servers, which replace the old ones in a matter of minutes, with complete transparency for users.
Updates are systematically tested from A to Z before going into production. Each addition of new functionality comes with a series of automated tests to ensure that new developments don’t break the existing system. Nest&Cut teams spend over a third of our development time creating tests, and almost all our code is covered by them.
Finally, during deployment, each update passes through 3 successive test environments to ensure that no regressions or bugs are deployed.
Behind Nest&Cut, a cooperative team at your service
When there’s a problem, we all like to be put in touch with competent people who can solve it quickly.
That’s why at Nest&Cut, support is provided directly by the product design and development teams.
By limiting the number of intermediaries between customers and application developers, requests for help or functionality are not distorted.
Bug reports are taken into account immediately and corrected as quickly as possible.
Thanks to the cooperative spirit of our company all the teams that revolve around the Nest&Cut project participate in creating the future of Nest&Cut.
The roadmap is defined based on customer requests, in a dialogue between the product and marketing teams.
We work together to maintain a balance between improving the application for existing customers and introducing innovations.
All the teams involved in the Nest&Cut project contribute to maintaining this balance, so as to build a lasting application.