The Devil Framework is a system based on a set of proven open-source multi-platform technologies.

Python

Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Its high-level built in data structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, make it attractive for Rapid Application Development and for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components together. Python's syntax emphasizes readability and reduces the cost of program maintenance, supporting modules and packages, to encourage program modularity and code reuse. The Python interpreter and the extensive standard library are available in source or binary form without charge for all major platforms, and can be freely distributed.

Python does not demand a compilation step and edit-test-debug cycle is fast, contributing to efficiency. When the interpreter discovers an error, it raises an exception. When the program misses the exception, the interpreter prints a stack trace. A source level debugger allows inspection of local and global variables, evaluation of arbitrary expressions, setting breakpoints, stepping through the code a line at a time, and so on. The debugger is written in Python itself, testifying to Python's introspective power.

QT Libs

Qt is a multiplatform C++ GUI toolkit created and maintained by Trolltech. It provides application developers with all the functionality needed to build applications with state-of-the-art graphical user interfaces. Qt is fully object-oriented, easily extensible, and allows true component programming.

Qt is also the basis of the popular KDE Linux desktop environment, a standard component of all major Linux distributions.

Qt is supported on the following platforms:

• MS/Windows - 95, 98, NT 4.0, ME, 2000, and XP
• Unix/X11 - Linux, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, Compaq Tru64 UNIX, IBM AIX, SGI IRIX and a wide range of others
• Macintosh - Mac OS X
• Embedded - Linux platforms with framebuffer support.

PyQT Libs

PyQt is a set of Python bindings for the Qt toolkit and available for all platforms supported by Qt, including Windows, Linux, UNIX, MacOS/X and embedded systems such as the Sharp Zaurus and the Compaq iPAQ.

About Open Source Software

For many types of business software, the "open source" methodology (by which freely-available software is developed cooperatively by thousands of self-directed programmers around the world) has proven to be far more efficient and produces better quality products than any one company could hope to accomplish.

Equally significantly, open source represents both a disruptive technology (dramatically changing the way something is done) and a disruptive business model (with the potential to wreak havoc on incumbent players).

Open source is an incredible value proposition for customers. With closed, proprietary software, it is expensive and difficult to change the software to meet a company's business needs; with open source, the software is inexpensive and flexible, and the customer is in control of his own destiny. Bob Young, the co-founder of Red Hat, compares closed-source software to a car with the hood welded shut. No one would knowingly buy such a thing; even if you weren't a mechanic yourself, you'd like the freedom to take your car to the garage of your choice.