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  • Subject: RE: Legacy code.
  • From: Buck Calabro <mcalabro@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 14:47:34 -0400

Charlie,

>Buck Calabro wrote:
>>
>>Sooooo... The questions of the day to the group are:
>>
>>1. Who pays you to learn new stuff (as opposed to writing
>>    deliverable product?)
>>2. Who pays for your learning curve as you come up to speed
>>    with new techniques?
>Whether you are a consultant or a customer the answer is the same - you do..
>Who pays for the new operating system?  Who pays for new hardware?  Again,
>the answer is the same - you do..

During working hours?  After work?  While on a project?

>You have to decide whether the time required to learn the "new stuff" is
>code justifiable.  What happens if you decide it is not cost justifiable but
>your competitors decide it is?  Your company, again whether a customer or
>consultant is irrelevant, will be at a competitive disadvantage..

But that's a difficult argument to make to people who are overworked
because they do things the hard way as it is.  They're already stuck
taking 5 hours to do a 2 hour task because they don't know a better way.
How do you convince them to spend a few hours MORE to learn something
that MAY help them (remember-they're tired from overwork and not thinking
quite right...)


>As a consulting firm, you have a problem beyond the expense to acquire the
>new software and hardware.  You will lose billable hours while you learn new
>techniques.  To miminize the lost hours, we have purchased a small AS/400
>for our senior programmers to keep at home.  This permits them to "play" and
>learn new techniques on their own time. It is a "win-win" situation.  We
>miminize the expense to send them away to education and the cost of losing
>billable hours.  They get to play at home and learn without having to travel..
>
>With the cost of a model 150 including operating system, Client Access, PDM,
>and RPG around $9,000 (less if you qualify for a developer discount), I
>think every company using an AS/400 should consider buying an AS/400 for
>their programmers at home.  If you amortize the cost of the machine over a 5
>year period, how many free hours to you have to get from someone who
>probably earns $50,000 or more including benefits to justify that expense?
>Not many..

Not a bad idea... perhaps I can pass this one along for consideration...


>>3. How do you deal with the maintenance issues surrounding
>>    several incompatible ways of performing the same function?
>>    At issue here is having to re-engineer each application because
>>    one can't simply pick up code designed to find the difference
>>    between 2 dates and put it into another application UNLESS
>>    the two applications have the same data format..
>
>We don't re-engineer an application unless there is a reason for doing so..
>If you have a Fixed Assets system you converted from a System/36 or
>System/38 which you have not modified at all in the last 5 years, what does
>it buy you to do anything to the system. It's not cost justifiable to
>re-engineer the application..

Exactly.  


>But if you are making major changes to your order entry system, there might
>be an incremental cost increase to re-engineer the system instead of trying
>to patch a system which has already been patches hundreds of times over the
>last 10 years.  If you consider the reduced maintenance cost of a highly
>volatile system, it will probably be less expensive in the long run to
>re-engineer than substantially modify the system..

The problem lies in the skill level to do the re-write.  If your people are 
green
AND they've been doing incremental mods to S/36ish code AND they're not
familiar with new techniques, there's a lot of inertia for them to copy the
old code they've been looking at all this time.  One less thing to have to 
learn.


>As far as converting to RPG IV, before we touch an RPG/400 (or RPG III if
>you prefer) program, we first convert it to RPG IV.  Then we make the
>modifications in RPG IV.  Even if we to not re-engineer the program, the
>productivity improvements in RPG IV can potentially save a tremendous amount
>of time weighed against the minimal time required to run the code throught
>CVTRPGSRC.  Of course you have to have already invested some time (and
>money) in education to be able to use RPG IV..

Therein lies the rub.  It's a vicious circle: lack of education brings on extra 
hours
to do the job which makes one too busy to get educated.



>>4. Do you have a rigorous process in place to analyse the cost/
>>    benefit ratio of adopting new techniques, or do you use things
>>    like "L" data types because you just want to?
>
>We adopt new techniques when there is a potential savings in development or
>maintenance times and costs.  You may also have to adopt new techniques to
>stay competitive.  You may have the best A/R system on the face of the earth
>but if it's still written in S/36 environment RPG II, very few people will
>even consider it..

If the client doesn't see the source code, you'd be surprised at what they'll 
consider.  That's another problem.  If we can sell the "same old" software,
with a few mods added for new functionality here and there, what's the harm 
in doing it the "same old" way?  (tongue firmly planted in cheek)


>>5. How do you train all your staff in the use of the new techniques?
>>    ILE is a perfect example.  I don't know ANY /400 programmers
>>    who can just step into the ILE paradigm and run with it.  ILE is
>>    much more OO than the Midrange world is used to seeing.  For
>>    that matter, I'd love to use RPG IV in my new code, but the folks
>>    who may have to maintain it after I'm gone will have a tough
>    time with it.  Should I say "to heck with them... they'll catch on 
>>    sooner or later?"
>>
>Training someone in RPG IV is very simple.  There are many sources of RPG IV
>education, e.g. Midrange Computing, News/400, COMMON, The 400 Group, and our
>own seminars to name a few.  Many of these also offer books, video tapes,
>audio tapes, and computer based education.  There are also a number of
>companies who offer education in their offices locally and at customer sites..
>
>The time required to use RPG IV effectively is minimal.  A one day seminar
>will give you the basics you need.  You could also use books, videos, etc..
>Learning ILE is another matter.  If you have only an RPG background, it will
>take you substantially longer to effectively use ILE..
>
>There are many ways to make the time to learn RPG IV and other new
>techniques.  Keep an RPG IV book in the bathroom.  Read it when you travel
>(hopefully as a passenger).  Spend just an hour a week learning something
>new.  It is amazing what you can learn at the end of 6 months..
>
>The extent to which you do learn to take advantage of new capabilities will
>make your company more competitive and you personally more valuable to your
>existing employer or to a new employer..

I'll have to suggest some of these ideas.  What I've been doing is to get the
most eager new staffer interested in some new technique.  When they've
learnt it, they'll spread the word...  ("Wait, check this out: you can do it 
like
this and it'll be so much faster...")

I completely agree with you about knowledge=value.  My problem is how to
motivate others to believe it.

Buck Calabro
Commsoft, Rensselaer, NY

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