Procedural is bloated?

["Nathan Andelin" <nandel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Even with Nathen's comments about copying and pasting
> to solve each problem you still have to deal with redundant 
> maintenance so lose your single point of control.
> So I would argue it is procedural that is bloated.

Paul,

Did you miss something in the code I posted?  The code I referenced in the
/copy statement is fixed - offering a single point of control.  That code
doesn't change from application to application.  It's essentially an
"include" member.  OO languages use Include files too, right?

The search and browse model referenced in my sample uses a single Service
Program for all database access, by every application that implements the
model, thus offering a very significant point of control.

In comparing to an OO approach, one difference is the way the base model is
extended.  In my case, the model contained exit points referring to
application specific procedures and data definitions (shown in my code
sample).  Under a standard OO approach, application specific classes
override base class methods and are constrained by strict interfaces.

Under some circumstances a loose coupling of fixed base code with standard
exit points may offer advantages.  I suggested that an RPG module might
extend a "search and browse" model as well as a "record maintenance" model,
using two (2) include files, streamlining both base models, and offering
more flexibility than typical OO extensions.

The resulting program displays records on the screen.  But if you noticed,
there were NO database I/O statements coded in the application - just a few
simple data definitions identifying a table name, order by, record filter,
and other basic parameters.

Some programmers might wonder how to browse and search database tables
without coding specific I/O statements or using a code generator, but the
magic isn't too difficult to see given a little instruction.

I was half hoping that you might post an example of a Java class that
extends one of your search and browse, or file maintenance classes, for
comparison purposes.


HTH,

Nathan.