'Enterprise Curl' Book Details Developer Mastery.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2003

Advanced-Level Handbook Joins Curl's "Pilots with a Purpose"

Promotion to Advocate Rich Client Development for Web-distributed

Enterprise Applications

Delivering its cost-cutting advantages of the X Internet, Curl Corporation today announced immediate availability of 'Enterprise Curl', published by Prentice Hall PTR, and available at Amazon.com and major book retailers. The 400-page, advanced level handbook supports Curl's recently announced "Pilots with a Purpose" promotion by targeting experienced programmers looking to develop full-featured enterprise applications using the Curl Client/Web Platform(TM). For cover artwork, see http://www.curl.com/html/developers/curl_enterprise.html.

Through a start-to-finish case study, author Paul Sheehan introduces powerful, effective design and development techniques that draw on his experience leading Curl consulting teams. Leaving Curl fundamentals to other primers, 'Enterprise Curl' delves into the concepts and design patterns that system architects, Web developers, and project managers need to create their first feature-rich, enterprise-ready Curl applications.

"Curl's enterprise promise is to deliver Web-enabled, rich-client applications that increase usability and cut costs," said Bob Hoyt, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Curl. "Paul is a master at harnessing the power of Curl client-side computing to extend desktop application functionality to the Web and put the power where the work is done. His new book puts that mastery at the reader's fingertips."

The release of 'Enterprise Curl' follows Curl's recent launch of its "Pilot's with a Purpose" promotion for enterprises seeking the cost-cutting advantages of rich client computing. Partnering with companies on their first rich client project, Curl enables enterprises to begin realizing the immediate benefits of a rich client environment by jumpstarting the migration of their legacy and client/server applications to the Web, as well as spearheading new rich client developments.

Particularly attractive to financial services, life sciences, utilities, and retail organizations, the "Pilots with a Purpose" promotion is designed to be a rapid introduction to building rich client applications using the Curl Client/Web Platform(TM). At the core of the promotion are the Curl Starter Kit, combining source code and tools, and intensive training. Through June 30, 2003, the "Pilots with a Purpose" promotion will add 20 days of rapid application prototyping services to the Curl Starter Kit, further ensuring success with the Curl platform. For more information on the "Pilots with a Purpose" promotion, see http://www.curl.com/html/about/pressreleases.jsp?id=341.

'Enterprise Curl' Exposed

'Enterprise Curl' takes the form of a case study, showing developers how to build both a framework that consists of powerful, reusable modules of typical application functionality, and then a working application based on that framework. Each chapter builds on the previous chapter, resulting in a fully functional system.

Section 1: Getting Started - Discusses the case study application developed throughout the book and introduces a number of design and development ideas specific to Curl. These recommendations and guidelines are based on Sheehan's experience of working on a number of Curl development projects in large organizations, and might be considered best-practice approaches when working a first Curl project.

Section 2: Main Application Components - Works through the development of a number of key application framework elements, such as the logon process, the application frame, and the menu.

Section 3: Presenting Data - Moves on to discuss how to create a typical search criteria interface that sends a user-specific query to the application server and accepts a returned XML response. It then discusses how to extract data from the XML message and display it within an Excel spreadsheet-like grid, which has client-side sorting, column re-ordering, and filtering capabilities.

Section 4: Presenting Data Graphically - Describes another mechanism for showing data within 2D or 3D graphs. It also introduces an approach to data mining, linking multiple graphs together to drill down for a more detailed view of the data.

Section 5: Web Services - Concludes with an illustration of how to make use of the built-in Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) support in Curl, by illustrating the code required to make calls to a complex third-party SOAP interface.

For more information on Curl, please call 617-761-1200, email [e-mail] or visit www.curl.com.

Related News Announcements and Background

-- 'Enterprise Curl' cover artwork http://www.curl.com/html/deve lopers/curl_enterprise.html

-- Curl Programming Bible Promotes Client-Side Cool; a definitive guide to industry's first Client/Web platform supports groundswell of Curl adoption, Web-enabled enterprise http://www.curl.com/html/abou t/pressreleases.jsp?id=339

About the Author

Paul Sheehan ([e-mail]) has been working with distributed applications for the past five years as a developer, architect, analyst and project manager. He was recognized as part of the development team that won the Sybase Internet Application Division Innovation Award for the year 2000, and currently is the manager of the Curl Practice at SI International and is a regular contributor to the CurlExamples.Com community website. Paul has 10 years of IT experience, working in leading edge object-oriented component architectures at Intel, Chase Manhattan Bank and now at SI International, an IT consulting firm based in McLean, Virginia.

About Prentice Hall PTR

Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference (PH PTR) (www.phptr.com) is the most respected source of computer science and engineering books and software for technical professionals featuring products developed and authored by the world's leading technology developers. PH PTR is a unit of Pearson Technology Group, the world's largest provider of consumer and professional computer, information technology, engineering and reference content. Pearson Technology Group is an operating unit of Pearson Education, the world's leading publisher.

About Curl Corporation

Curl Corporation delivers the cost-cutting advantages of the X Internet through the Curl Client/Web Platform(TM). By combining the desktop power of client/server processing with Web-based efficiencies, the Curl platform enables Global 2000 enterprises and Independent Software Vendors to achieve large gains in business productivity and profitability. As the industry's first rich client software suite to deliver Web-distributed enterprise applications, the Curl Client/Web Platform is complementary to server-side platforms, such as Sun's J2EE and Microsoft's .NET. Founded in 1998 and privately funded, Curl Corporation is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More information on Curl can be found at www.curl.com.

Curl Client/Web Platform is a trademark of Curl Corporation. All other names, brands or products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.