TopCoder Direct

Making the Most of the Code
Neither end of the software development spectrum allows a company to get what they need at the price they desire. Packaged software is monolithic, difficult to integrate, and expensive to customize. Custom software development is costly and time consuming. Progressive companies have begun to take a new approach: Component Based Development (CBD). CBD gives a company the best of both worlds. Companies can use what are essentially pieces of applications that can be customized and tied together to form a unique solution that suits their needs. Cost savings are achieved through a market approach: Because each component is sold to multiple companies, the development cost for each component is shared among all the companies.

Standard Frameworks
At TopCoder, we develop all of our components using industry frameworks such as J2EE and .NET. This makes every one of our components more flexible and easily customizable. The use of frameworks-based software components also helps speed up the development cycle. These components can be extended and customized for additional functionality. They can also be bundled together to form more complex components and full-blown applications.

Increased Productivity
Use of TopCoder components drives down the cost of software development in two ways. The first is by introducing re-usable components to the development life cycle, which reduces the amount of software that must be built. The development team can focus on customizing and integrating these components into a business solution. The second way TopCoder drives down the cost of development is by lowering the cost of the components themselves. We utilize our member base of over 100,000 talented individuals as a distributed development resource. This way, the components themselves are developed at a lower cost, and that cost can be passed along to our customers. The end result is lower cost, higher quality software components, which leads to lower cost, higher quality software applications.

Unique Methodology
Learn more about TopCoder's Competition-Based Application Methodology.

Catalog Subscriptions
Subscribe to the Topcoder Software Component Catalog today. FREE developer subscriptions available.

Have a great idea for a component? Use our Suggestion Form to let us know.

Contact us today so we can get started developing your next application.