× The internal search function is temporarily non-functional. The current search engine is no longer viable and we are researching alternatives.
As a stop gap measure, we are using Google's custom search engine service.
If you know of an easy to use, open source, search engine ... please contact support@midrange.com.



Hi, Jon:

Thanks for that.

This whole thread reminds me of some of the tricks people used to do on IBM mainframes (360, 370) back in the day with instructions like the "TR" (translate) and "TRT" (translate and test). You can do some very similar things by reversing the operands of those instructions, but it would always create a real "gotcha" for the next poorfellow to come along and try to maintain that code.

Mark S. Waterbury

> On 5/24/2016 5:10 PM, Jon Paris wrote:
That’s a polite version Mark - yes.

Having spent most of my 45+ years maintaining/modifying other people’s code I am _very_ sensitive to the havoc that tricks like this can cause.


Jon Paris

www.partner400.com
www.SystemiDeveloper.com

On May 24, 2016, at 4:54 PM, Mark S Waterbury <mark.s.waterbury@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi, Dave:

I think, if anyone did use this "technique" with %xlate, they should certainly include ample comments in the source code, immediately preceding this usage, explaining what is going on. Otherwise you risk creating a "pitfall" for future unwary maintenance programmers who might come along later and need to modify that code. (I suspect this is what Jon was alluding to, with his "never in a million years" remark.)

HTH,
Mark S. Waterbury


As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...

Replies:

Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.