Jack Welch, in his book Winning, said: “Prevention is by no means a perfect science, but it’s your first line of defense against a crisis. Don’t rely on hard experience to build your immunity unless you have to.”
That’s great advice for anyone and even better for a programmer. In programming, a little bug can cause a big problem, even crisis sometimes. Say “No” to the “Bugs”
Some of the lessons I’ve learned: Say “No” to the “Bugs”
1) Test fully and test everything related, not just the part updated.
2) Avoid pushing out code to sites in the last minute of a Friday afternoon if possible. Sometimes it’s tempting, but it’s better to wait until a Monday. So you’re around if anything happens.
3) Document or comment the code adequately. Well documented code helps to reduce bugs, especially for the code used far less common.
And it helps to have super rock support stars who act quickly!
New Tendenci Version Alert! The latest version of Tendenci, 15.3.1, is now available! 🐾🤓 As an Open Source platform, all of the code is fully visible and accessible to everyone. Developers, please ensure your Tendenci projects are upgraded to take advantage of the latest features, improvements, and security updates.
Tendenci’s updates boost security, streamline reporting, and add valuable features, ensuring a smoother and more efficient experience for all users!
All of the code is located on GitHub. The ChangeLog serves as the repository where you can find all software versions and their corresponding details. Open Source also signifies that it requires a collective effort to make significant changes in the world. The TedenciDEV Team (the creative women-led team behind the software) holds immense respect for everyone contributing to the improvement of Tendenci software. We wouldn’t be here without you.
Tendenci is a gift to the world. And during this month of love, we want to share with you six reasons why you should switch your proprietary software and LOVE the open source with Tendenci AMS.
You have a lot of options when choosing an MMS or AMS. But if you need to scale to support hundreds of thousands of members, have recurring individual and corporate level memberships, and need the full features of a seasoned large scale enterprise AMS, it’s possible you might hit some limits with the new kids on the block.
Proprietary vendors are companies first and communities second. Tendenci is a community first, and though there is a small company behind it, with the support of the Open Source community, Tendenci software has grown far bigger than we ever expected. And given it started in 2001, when you switch from a proprietary solution, it’s an upgrade!
Open Source is the voice of the people – a shared language that brings everyone together.
Think Free In Terms of Freedom with Tendenci AMS
Free Software, Free Society – In the selected essays of Richard M. Stallman Second Edition ‘Four Freedoms’ he wrote “A program is ‘free software’ if the program’s users have the four essential freedoms:
The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Thefreedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
Tendenci Software Means Greater Functionality and Usability on a Global Scale – Tendenci is a very large project with robust functionality. But it’s still a great low-cost AMS solution for small Associations too! You can easily disable modules you don’t need and keep it simple. Functionality will be there as YOUR small association needs to expand in the future! Freedom is actually pretty cool. Pay less with Tendenci and get greater functionality.
Tendenci Is Community First – Open-source is in line with our core values at Tendenci. Our mission is to Connect and Organize the World’s People. Do good. We are change makers who understand the power of associations, which is why we built a software to help NPOs anywhere with any budget to further their cause both nationally and internationally.
Freedom to Choose With Tendenci AMS – Looking to make real changes in the world? Host your site and your data on your own server if needed. We dig that! Tendenci, however, is not just for hosting websites. Tendenci is an investment that results in a financial gain to our clients. And while you can certainly host with us, you don’t have to. It’s okay to support local open source developers in your own country and community as well. Or even get started with our Tendenci AMI and grow!
Freedom to Customize Tendenci To YOUR Associations Needs – You have innumerable ways to customize Tendenci. Association Management Software is complex because associations are complex! So if you are looking to make some minor changes, do it! Looking to write an entire app specific to your organization that integrates with Tendenci? We love it!
Tendenci scales to support large national and international organizations with multiple chapters, who may also benefit from a custom server configuration.
Need even further customization for your organization’s unique needs? You can fork Tendenci AMS on GitHub at https://github.com/tendenci/tendenci/. Every Tendenci site lets you pull down and customize existing templates as well. You can try that out on our free Demo site.
Tendenci Is Accessible To The World – Languages, languages, languages! Translation and localization of your AMS is possible because the community uses the amazing Django Project web framework and thanks to the people at Transifex who support open source. The world is anxious for growth and because your organization needs to communicate with different constituents in the language of their choice, Tendenci allows each individual user to specify the language of their choice.
Lastly, our CEO Ed Schipul has attended enough board meetings to understand your organization is likely made up of volunteers and the rules for nonprofits are different. Tendenci – The Open Source AMS software is a relationship marketing application that fully meets the needs of large organizations. Have any doubts and concerns? Contact us today. We are here to serve you. Join us?
We want to say THANK YOU to all of the developers out there who are contributing, translating, updating and maintaining a very complex piece of software. Tendenci AMS software is inclusive of other languages and cultures, and run by a team that believes in security and privacy. We love and very much dearly appreciate you all. Let’s continue to do good today, and tomorrow even more, together.
So why did our team choose to rewrite TendenciOpen Source and in the Python Programming language? It is a question I get asked a lot. We’ve never been a company that likes to talk in the negative if at all possible, yet it is important to talk about the megatrends going on given we work with associations and nonprofits.
Popularity of a language is a trend, and what you want is as many developers familiar and liking the language of your open source project as possible. This means you have a better chance to have a secure web site and therefore a more secure future.
To be fair – as Disraeli said – “lies, damn lies and statistics” – so there is no one perfectly secure language any more than there is a perfectly “safe” hammer. There will always be operator error and programmers make mistakes.
So we’re not saying Python is perfect, and all of us have used most of the other languages on those charts at some point. We’re just saying we are pleased so many other programmers also like Python and Open Source. THAT is the best that can be done to secure your future online. Secure code that you can examine yourself and even host yourself!
Addendum: As I post this on the Tendenci Blog. Given we focus on non-profits, associations, memberships, education, medical, religious – basically the do-good cause-based organizations, I believe it is particularly important that the project is as transparent as possible. Sometimes it is healthy to inform everyone of WHY we made a decision seven years ago. Python was the right call.
