Re: DDS vs 'O' specs

[Vernon Hamberg <hambergv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wynn

At 01:18 AM 6/20/1998 -0400, you wrote:
>Is it just me or is RLU really hard to use?
>
>Any comments and alternative recommendations would be appreciated by the
>poster.
>
>Thanks for all you all's input. (BTW, any job openings in the Gainesville,
>Leesburg, Ocala area?)

I think RLU is rather anti-intuitive and unwieldy at first. It took awhile,
but now I'm very comfortable with it.

One difficulty is the large number of function keys. There are more than
24, requiring F22 to switch between 2 sets.

Another is the expectation that RLU will be the same as SDA. Unfortunately,
it's been marketed this way, but it's not really true. In fact, it can't be
very easily—SDA uses a single screen-long field to represent the screen
space, whereas RLU has to use separate records.

Another is those ugly format lines—yes, I do use them when necessary.
Fortunately, it's possible to suppress them. And when you do, the product
behaves a little more like SDA.

Having said all this, I do like to use RLU. Other people are more
comfortable in raw DDS—probably familiarity. Some of the same people don;t
like to use SDA, either.

Some object to all the comment lines that are inserted by RLU. Admittedly,
they do add some clutter when you try to look at the code generated, but
they provide some good functionality in regard to prototyping, etc.

A nice alternative, I think, is CODE/400's design environment. There, both
DSPF and PRTF are designed in one and the same graphical tool. Neat!

Cheers

Vernon Hamberg
Systems Software Programmer
Old Republic National Title Insurance Company
400 Second Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN  55401-2499
(612) 371-1111 x480


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