Testing At Scale: ScribbleChat Relies On OpenGL & WebGL

Testing At Scale: ScribbleChat Relies On OpenGL & WebGL

There’s a part of app development that feels Sisyphean. You worked on a feature the day before, a small animation. You push code out to test, and wait as your device renders the code you just deployed.
 
What should happen is the blue circle, which will soon be a character rendering, knocks into a blue square. But, you’ve been waiting for 30+ seconds to see that blue circle pops up. When it does, you’re relieved. But you’re also drained. Tiny deployments, tiny waiting periods, and tiny bits of frustration add up when you’re constantly iterating and debugging an app.
 
CTO, Trey Stout has a different way of doing things. Namely, avoiding that Sisyphean process at all costs. He doesn’t push code up the hill over and over, constantly building for different devices. He tests ScribbleChat’s code faster using Open GL and WebGL.

ScribbleChat allows you to turn texts into handwritten messages. So instead of seeing “ROFLcopter” in the default text font, the person you’re texting sees that same message you typed, but in your handwriting, powered by Twilio Programmable Chat.

 
To a user, handwriting is an awesome personal touch to a conversation. To a computer (and Trey), handwriting is an exercise in geometric problem solving at light speed. OpenGL and WebGL make it easier to tackle those problems.
 
Sticking to web-based debugging and testing cuts down on ScribbleChatcut time to deploy. “Ask the questions in the right order and this process is a foregone conclusion,” says Trey. Having that confidence in a streamlined process enables ScribbleChat to iterate feature and ship updates regularly. Even community members can contribute.
 
Sticking to web-based development democratizes the ability to contribute to ScribbleChat’s app, and the ability to make money from building new widgets and features. Not every developer has a litany of iPads, tablets, and smartphones to test code on. But, if they’ve got a browser, they have a way to make income.
 
OpenGL and WebGL save ScribbleChat, and their network of contributors, from building the same feature on different devices with different code. The cycles ScribbleChat is spared, they invest into their work building new features and even new marketplaces for developers.
 
Trey’s decision to opt for web-based debugging is as much a strategic move as it is a philosophical one. Empowering developers to build into ScribbleChat’s ecosystem gives them financial independence, and delivers ScribbleChat’s users more value. Meanwhile, Trey’s team is spending their newly earned cycles to make their app better