Web and mobile apps

What development includes

We design and write web and mobile apps for the client's specific task: internal services, user dashboards, control panels, integrations with equipment and third-party APIs. First we analyze the client's process, fix the requirements and constraints, then we assemble the architecture, a prototype and a working version. If the app controls a machine, warehouse machinery or a line, we prepare the software part and the setup, while the client's equipment itself cuts, welds, prints or hauls loads under the control of our code. We deliver not only the interface but also the server logic, the database, authorization and data exchange between nodes. We hand over the source code, documentation and maintenance instructions so the system can be developed without lock-in to a single contractor.

How development really works

At the core of any service lies the split into the client part, which the user sees, and the server part, where the data and business logic live. The browser or mobile device sends a request, the server processes it, queries the database and returns an answer, which turns into a screen with buttons and forms. Between these layers works an API — a set of rules by which parts of the system exchange data in a strict format. When a service is linked to physical equipment, one more loop is added: the app sends commands to a controller, which controls the client's drives, sensors and actuators. We're responsible for making this chain, from a tap on the screen to the machine's action, fire predictably and without data loss.

How web development came to be

The web as a technology was born at CERN: in March 1989 Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal for a document-exchange system, and he published the world's first website on 20 December 1990 on the server info.cern.ch. On 30 April 1993 CERN released the web's software into the public domain, and this decision removed the barriers to mass adoption. Server-side development got a foothold in 1995, when Rasmus Lerdorf released the source code of PHP, and PHP became a full-fledged language with version 3.0 in 1998. So over a decade the combination of a browser, a transfer protocol and a server language came together — the one that web and mobile apps are still built on. These dates aren't abstract history but the foundation of the tools we use every day.

Why programmatic precision is critical

In development there's no room for approximation: a single error in a condition or an unclosed input check breaks the logic of the whole service or opens a security hole. When an app controls the client's equipment, the cost of an inaccuracy is higher — a wrong command to a machine or conveyor means scrap, downtime or a breakdown of real hardware. That's why we separate the setup and parameters from the code, cover the critical sections with tests and check the system's behavior before it goes into the production loop. The precise configuration of access rights, data formats and failure handling determines whether the service will withstand load and non-standard situations. Software here isn't a wrapper but the part that sets how reliably everything else will work.

Development languages and tools

We most often build the server side on PHP with the Laravel framework: it provides routing, work with the database, authorization and templates out of the box, which shortens the build time without losing control over the code. For web interfaces we use the PWA approach — the app runs in the browser but installs onto the device, opens from an icon and retains some functions without a constant network. We do mobile development where access to the camera, geolocation, push notifications or an offline mode deeper than the browser allows is needed. We make the choice between a PWA and a separate mobile app by the task, not by fashion: we weigh the budget, the audience and the hardware requirements. This stack covers most scenarios where web and mobile apps are needed for business and for linking to equipment.

When these tools appeared

Laravel was released by Taylor Otwell in June 2011 as a better-equipped alternative to the PHP frameworks of the time, and as early as September 2011 version 2 added controllers and the Blade templating engine, which is still in use. The term Progressive Web Apps itself was coined in 2015 by Google engineer Alex Russell and designer Frances Berriman, describing a class of web apps that work like native ones. Mobile development as a mass field grew after the iPhone came out in 2007 and app stores appeared from 2008, which set the very notion of installing a service onto a device. These three points — 2011, 2015 and the late 2000s — outline the stack we work on. We use tools with a clear history and a mature community, not raw experimental solutions.

Why you can trust the task to us

The combined experience of our development team is more than 45 years in IT, and that means a practiced hand on projects where software has to work, not just launch in a demo. We work as engineers: we break the task down to requirements, fix the architecture and check the system before the production launch, rather than fixing it on live users. ASI Robotics writes programs and configures the client's equipment — we don't substitute ourselves for production but are responsible for the code and the configuration on which the result depends. We hand over the source code and documentation so the client doesn't end up dependent on a single contractor and can develop the product further. If you need web and mobile apps linked to real processes and machinery, we take on the part where an error costs a lot, and we're responsible for it.