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  3. December 2005

Re: Compiled Programs stuck in QBATCH/WDSc and Productivity Improvement.

Tom Jedrzejewicz wrote:


 I would like to know because of what people state that using WDSc actually 
improves productivity
I don't have any metrics to back it up, but I'm sure WDSC does make me more productive, because it does so much to help me concentrate on the problem and not worry about the mechanics. If I need to look at the parameters for a method, I just click and there they are. If I need to go to a different method or subroutine, one click does it. Need to look at the subfields in a structure? Click. Look at an indented view of an old clunky RPG2 program? Click. It takes a while to get comfortable in any new environment, and I don't pretend to know how to use half of what's there. I work in other environments too, so there are just too many differences for everything to be too automatic. I never memorized a lot of the more esoteric things I could do with SEU either.
There are some warts. WDSC compile messages frequently aren't much help. SQL support needs a lot of work (I think that's a compiler issue though.) Local source validation is more trouble than it's worth. The LPEX commands are way too hard to figure out. Every once in a great while the IDE still crashes. (That might not be WDSC though. There's no way to tell.) I can't get the debugger to work. I have to turn McAfee off during IDE start-up to get the icons to load. (I can turn it back on once the IDE is running though.) Some things are just not worth the time and effort to figure them out. As with most IBM PC software, WDSC is a bloated, enormous and overly complicated solution that's indented to do everything for everyone, and consequently can seem like using an earth mover to empty a cat box. I understand why that is, but it can be annoying.
In spite of all that, WDSC is still a big improvement, especially with large or complex projects. Many of the programmers where I work still use SEU. I can sympathize. It takes some determination to get started, but it's worth it. We're supposed to be professionals right? It's what we have to do if we want to remain competitive. I'd rather not become Bob the Dinosaur.

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