The life story of one software package in photos

It’s not that one morning we wake up and think, and why not create software that will allow you to manage large streams of regulatory and regulatory and technical documentation. No, believe me, do not wake up with such thoughts. Especially when the nineties are in the yard and all hope is only for two rented computers, but for a group of enthusiasts consisting of 10 people. Rather, our software development was the answer to the real need of the time. Now over 200 thousand users across the country use professional reference systems Codex and TechExpert, and 23 years ago none of us could have imagined what would happen.

In honor of our first post on Habré, we want to share with you a couple of photos from the "family" archive and tell about how we developed together with domestic IT.

On the heels of adjustment. The first software shell
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1991. The Soviet system collapses with a crash. New regulations come into force, and old ones are constantly changing. There is no normal access to professional, updated information. It is necessary to develop electronic tools to track these changes in legislation, which would not only store information, but also be able to structure it, professionally analyze, keep electronic copies of documents and display all changes in them. A small team of specialists of the Scientific and Technological Scientific Production Association “Lensistemotekhnika” was then engaged in the development and maintenance of applied automated systems for the Executive Committee of the Lensovet. In a couple of months, they will work in the newly created “Computer Development Center” on the first Code shell.
Since Codex began work at the Mariinsky Palace, we witnessed many memorable events. For example, rally and barricades were observed from the windows of the palace during the 1991 coup.

Meet Sergei Tikhomirov, the founder of the “TsKR”, the president of the Consortium “Codex”. In the photo - "real Petersburg bow" sample of 1991.

The appearance of the network option

1992. The shell, based on its own DBMS, provided for unique possibilities of compressing texts and placing them in a database. The version also included two main features: the network version and the possibility of simultaneous work with several databases. These qualities first appeared in the Codex information retrieval system and played a decisive role in its dissemination and development.
In the photo - Maxim Gubin, one of the developers of the first versions of the Code shell.

New technology update

1993. An important issue is updating the database. For those times, the update required a complete reinstallation of the database. In order to transfer the base, it was necessary to “cut” it and rewrite it to 5.25-inch floppy disks, resulting in 30-40 floppy disks. The database was constantly growing, and everyone understood that its volume would not soon be limited to four boxes of floppy disks. At that time, a new update technology was proposed, which does not require reinstalling the entire database. It was enough just to rewrite the informational “supplement” from the diskette, which included only changes and additions. This technology (albeit, significantly improved and modernized) is still used. Now the general fund of documents of the Consortium "Code" is about 30 million units. 12,647,999 of them are located in the Codex and TechExpert systems - so far this is the largest information fund in Russia.
In the photo - the computer of the sample of the early 90s, on which our users first saw our IPA.

First distributors!

1994. The number of users of the Codex system has steadily increased, many of them were outside of St. Petersburg. So began work on creating a network of regional distributors. The geography of the distribution of "Code" has become the whole country. In the photo - a rarity! The first distributors seminar in St. Petersburg.


Common information space

1995-1996. Information becomes more and more. “And it would be nice to combine everything together: a software product, internal content, convenient and fast search, as well as an abundance of services, which is becoming more and more,” we thought. We thought and solved this problem with the release of the fourth generation of Codex .

It implemented a new principle of a single information space - the possibility of end-to-end search across all database sections connected to the system, as well as a hypertext link system uniting all information sections and thematic comments area.

And in 1996, the Code-Server technology appeared, becoming the first Russian carrier of legal and reference information in the Internet / Intranet space. The technology allowed to combine legal databases “Code” and the organization’s own information resources in a single corporate database. In the future, Codex Server contributed to the success story of the country's largest companies, including AvtoVAZ, Vimpelcom, Gazprom, Lukoil, Norilsk Nickel and other Russian business leaders.

And here is the design of the main page of the 1997 software package. From the point of view of usability then he had no equal.


The main thing is not a wrapper. The main thing is the filling!

1997-2000. The fact that the software shell has developed is understandable. And what about the content? During this period, a new class of sectoral specialized reference systems was created for various sectors of the economy (construction, fuel and energy complex, trade, and others). In addition to regulations, they also included regulations and standards - very important and necessary information for technically complex industries.

These products will become the ancestors of the TechExpert system. Even then, we released a series of professional legal systems, including materials of judicial and arbitration practice. A couple of years later, in 1999, the Codex software was integrated with Microsoft products, and a year later, Codex legal systems and databases were able to integrate with workflow systems.

Intellectual opportunities are expanding.

2002. Regulatory regulation permeates all areas of activity of enterprises in various industries. It is changeable and ambiguous. There are already a lot of information flows in enterprises, which makes it difficult to build an effective business process. Various software is connected, where information is duplicated, difficulties arise with the actualization and communication of all information. It was at this time that our systems began to have the functions of solutions that allow you to organize entire business processes of organizations in a single information space.

A version of the Codex software package 5.0 has been released , which was immediately followed by version 5.1 for Windows . A string of intelligent search appeared on the toolbar. Interface, it already resembled the search string in familiar browsers and allowed the user to quickly search for documents in all connected database volumes, without entering the attribute search dialog. In the same version, the process of receiving updates was fully automated. A single information space, new search tools and navigation through the system using shortcuts has become available.
The photo shows a meeting with the then governor of St. Petersburg, V.I. Matvienko.


Techekspert. Addition to the family

2004-2005. In the fall of 2004, version 5.2 was released . Changes affected the search capabilities of the system. And the main event of 2005 was the allocation of a group of electronic systems of regulatory and technical information for
industry specialists for a new class of systems that have continued their development under the new brand TechExpert. All the required GOSTs, SNiPs, SanPiNs, flow charts, standard documentation forms and other necessary documents and materials will be presented here, and the overwhelming part of the systems still has no analogues on the Russian market. For him, we drew a beautiful logo:


Space speeds

2008. The first version of the sixth generation saw the light. Perhaps it is this line of systems that is currently used by someone who reads this post. In version 6.1, a comfortable user environment was provided thanks to a new interface created on the basis of a web browser interface. The complex was a universal solution for both branched corporate networks and local working machines of individual specialists. The breakthrough in the field of software technologies was the release of the Codex-Intranet software package 6.1.7. He worked 14 times (!!!) faster than previous versions. Such a dramatic increase in system performance was achieved thanks to the use of Google Chrome internet browser as client software. And in order to make the Codex and TechExpert systems even better, our programmers developed version 6.1.8 , which allows you to install the system on a portable USB-drive. Certain milestones in the development of the product were the certification of Platform 6 for compatibility with Windows 7, the release of the client-server version of the software package, as well as the release of the Code software package for Linux.

Of course, the basis of everything is a software shell. But we should not underestimate the importance of the user interface, because we work with people and for people, so we still pay a lot of attention to product design. See how the appearance and functionality of the advanced search card has changed.
IT WAS:
BECAME:

New technologies - new home

2010. And here, look, we move to a separate building in the historic part of the city. Pay attention to the new label "Code", which adorns our new home. For many months, for most of the employees, it remained a mystery who includes it every evening and extinguishes it in the morning. After a small internal investigation, it turned out that the “switch on the Code” is right under the table of the head of the AIS escort department at the sites! However, the author of the post was not allowed to press the button. It's a pity.


By the way, the main event of the year took place in the same building - the release of the Codex / TechExpert software package on 6.2011 ,
ensured access of legal information systems to a new technological level. The systems have a user-friendly interface, a lot of functions that facilitate the work with complex legal and methodological documents, and most importantly, an updated search algorithm developed based on user behavior research and designed to be as clear as possible to the expert. This is made possible by a hint system that “catches” the user's logic, as it happens in the most widely used search engines on the web. The new PC is already compatible with the latest operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista and other versions of Windows, as well as Linux and FreeBSD. The stability of his work is guaranteed by the certificate of conformity Windows 7.

Version 6.2014

2014. The software complex was released on 6.2014 . The version contains the main features of professional help systems, as well as a lot of new services. Among them, for example, expanded possibilities of integration with external applications. We have already tested them with Microsoft products, as well as at the NSI “Semantic” and AutoCAD. On this, let's finish watching photos of past years. Enough about the past - from day to day we are waiting for the release of the new version!

By the way, the replicable software package of 6.2014 under the trademarks "Code" and "TechExpert" is not the only solution that the Consortium is developing. In future publications we will tell about them in more detail.