Yesterday, a whole new world was opened up to me. I have discovered Lasso. I’d heard of it before, but only in passing. What is it? Lasso is a server-side language that bridges the gap between server/database and client, much like PHP, ASP, or Perl. However, Lasso is not open-source like PHP or Perl.
Lasso is quite easy to program in. It has a low learning curve (which is why I picked it up in one day), but surprisingly (and thankfully) it is not limited by that learning curve. It has Regular Expressions and other powerful aspects that make it a solid language to write applications in.
One of the best features of Lasso is how integrated it is. Lasso has built-in functions and APIs for Java, various databases (MySQL, ODBC, and FileMaker Pro to name a few), and other interesting things like the iCal format (incredibly useful for compatibility across multiple calendar systems).
In fact, I am using Lasso at work to write applications to synchronize a central calendar/work order system for our department (which will be used to collaborate with another department, as well). This calendar app will only be a small part of a larger workflow system designed to streamline customer requests and a new major aspect recently introduced to our department: digital signage. The district office sent 20 flatscreen TVs our way to be placed throughout the campus, and it’s our job to manage the system that puts content on those TV screens. This becomes incredibly complicated if you have, for example, 20 different orders to be placed on those 20 TVs; it is compounded if a different order or group of orders is placed on each individual TV. Nevertheless, the workflow system is designed to make that process much simpler. It’s not perfect, by any means, but as of today we reached the first iteration of it.
In any case, my job has become significantly easier with Lasso. I am using PHP for most of the programming (as I didn’t discover we had Lasso until an IT guy told me about it the other day), but I have integrated the two together yesterday and it has been working very well. Lasso isn’t free and originally only ran on Mac servers (which we currently use at work), but Lasso seems to run on Windows, Linux, and Mac servers now as well. You can find more information at http://www.lassosoft.com/ if you’re interested.
Anyway, if nothing else, Lasso has given my life new purpose. I see this as a learning opportunity, as well as another programming language to put on my resume. I am ecstatic to begin using it alongside FileMaker Pro database systems as well, as FileMaker Pro will also be a nice software environment to have thoroughly learned and placed on my resume. Life is good.
