RE: Reinventing Code

I became a programmer as the result of a mid-life crisis.  (I couldn't
afford the mistress or the sports car and needed an easy job that didn't
involve heavy lifting.)  I started in a shop that had almost no cycle code
in production.  Never having used the cycle, and having had "conventional
programming language training" at a junior college, writing level breaks
using logic seemed simple and natural to me.   

My point is that there are people out there (maybe a significant number)
who, for one reason or another, have no experience with the cycle at all.
Is it useful?  Probably.  Is it hard to do without it? I don't think so.
Remember, it's easy for me to say that, 'cause I've never used it. 

I think points a - d are valid reasons for avoiding the cycle providing that
you can write programs that are comparably efficient.  One of the benefits
of not using the cycle is that people who have never used it can read and
maintain the code.  For them, cycle code is "your snazzy way of writing
code."

###########################################
The above is my personal opinion and is not intended to represent good
programming practice or the product of a sound mind.

Joel Fritz 


-----Original Message-----
From: Pat Barber [mailto:MBOCEANSIDE@postoffice.worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Monday, April 05, 1999 10:29 AM
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
Subject: Reinventing Code


Not using a feature that the language has had for over 30 years
is foolish and wastes company time reinventing a "new" method
just to say you can do it. L1(et al) & and for that matter M1(et al)
have a place in the big picture.. I have heard the ranting & raving
over bad coding practices for years... some even have a valid point,
but to ignore somthing because:

(a) you don't understand it 
(b) you don't like it
(c) it's not structured code
(d) that's not the way you were taught
(e) it uses the "cycle"

is a serious oversight....

I don't care for some of the newer "features" because I think it 
just clouds the picture for people who have to follow your snazzy
way of writing code, but that doesn't mean I won't try to learn the
new method for the sake of some future project that would require
that particular feature... A good bit of the "new" features are very
handy & strangely enough, "they" replace things programmers have been
doing for years(the hard way)...I have been writing programs for a good
mamy years now and the methods I use are out of habit, not "style",,,

I was taught(at a service bureau) you "will" write code that "anybody"
can follow or you will no longer have a job here... That was years ago,
and I have used that "style" ever since..

Just my ranting & raving.. Not pointed at anyone in particular...
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