Brian Teeman

I am not a programmer or developer, in fact I think if I tried to write any sort of joomla extension I would fail miserably.

However I like to think that I am reasonably skilled at reading code and even if I don't understand it all I can get the general idea and make minor modifications if necessary IF the code is well written.

That's the beauty of Open Source

I don't think that I have ever installed an extension without first having a quick read of the code. If nothing else this has protected me from installing code which insisted on creating 777 directories and other nasties. But in most cases it has helped me to understand the developers intentions much more clearly.

(We all know how poor most developers are at documenting their extensions)

One trend that has really become apparent in the last 6 months is that the majority of "good" developers have started to create their own frameworks or groups of libraries. The theory is that by spending the time creating a framework they will be able to create extensions much more quickly.

This type of RAD (Rapid Application Development) tool for joomla has however been kept as a closely guarded secret by the developers. Of course you can see the framework but there is no, or very little documentation, for it and you are unlikely to be able to use it to create your own joomla extensions. And of course you don't have the opportunity to contribute to it's development.

This has all changed with the announcement of Koowa, the Nooku framework from Joomlatools.eu.

The aim of Koowa is to have an intuitive API, where every part of your code becomes reusable, extensible and replaceable, and all of that with writing just a fraction of the lines of code you need today.

I have been very fortunate to have been given early access to Koowa and even to someone like myself I can see it's benefits. Since the recent Koowa development day I can already see how rapidly the framework is developing and how excited other developers are about being able to use it.

If you, as a developer, don't have to rewrite he book each time you start to develop an extension then your life will be so much easier. You will be able to drastically reduce development time which will give you the time to:

• Provide increased power and flexibility in your extension
• Document your extension
• Spend time on creating a good UI (user interface)
• Create even more extensions

One developer who has had early access says:

Koowa's syntax is actually much simpler and more flexible than Joomla's native API in the mean time it doesn't take away what Joomla already provides.

Koowa also reduces the core redundancies dramatically so by following the DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) principal our methods have been reduced by 50~30% of what they used to be using Joomla's native API.

If you have got this far and are still wondering why there is a picture of 60's pop group Manfred Mann at the top of this post then just watch this video. Since the first time I heard the name Koowa I've had the song going through my head. I'm sure that Johan and Mathias never had this in mind as they are far too young.

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Song Lyrics - Do Wah Diddy Diddy

There she was just a walkin' down the street singin'
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Snappin' her fingers and a shufflin her feet singin'
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

She looked good (looked good) She looked fine (looked fine)
She looked good she looked fine, and I nearly lost my mind.

Before I knew it she was walkin' next to me singin'
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
Holdin' my hand just as natural as can be singin'
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

We walked on (walked on) To my door (my door)
We walked on to my door, then we kissed a little more.

Oh, I knew we was fallin' in love.
Yes I did so I told her all the things I've been dreamin' of.

Now we're so happy nearly every single day singin'
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
We're so happy and that's how we're gonna stay
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

Well I'm hers (I'm hers) And she's mine (she's mine)
Well I'm hers and she's mine, wedding bells are gonna chime.

Oh, I knew we was fallin' in love.
Yes I did so I told her all the things I've been dreamin' of.

Now we're together nearly every single day singin',
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
We're so happy and that's how it's gonna stay singin',
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do

Well I'm hers (I'm hers) And she's mine (she's mine)
Well I'm hers and she's mine, wedding bells are gonna chime.
Oh...Oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do (We're singin)
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do