RE: IBM pushing Java

[Colin Williams <Williamsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry, but I've have never used JAVA, so I am putting my hand up as the
volunteer sceptic. What is it about JAVA that makes documentation so
easy? And where did this librarian appear from?

                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Buck Calabro/commsoft
[mailto:mcalabro@commsoft.net]
                Sent:   Wednesday, March 24, 1999 2:33 PM
                To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
                Subject:        RE: IBM pushing Java

                On 03/24/99 04:35:51 AM Colin Williams  wrote:

                >What happens when you get to mybean10,000 and the
application is poorly
                >documented? 

                Writing modular code isn't an excuse to ignore the
documentation!  You got 
                to MyBean10000 because you had 10000 business tasks to
perform.  How do you 
                know that?  Because your librarian tells you that your
new business 
                function isn't represented in your library of beans yet.
The librarian 
                knows because each bean is simple enough that the
documentation clearly 
                describes it's behaviour.  Because the documentation is
easy to write and 
                easy to understand, you'll be able to actually read it
and use it when you 
                need to use a bean in your application.  What the
modular programming model 
                did for you was to let you construct a more robust
application than the 
                monolithic model allows for.

                The funny thing is that we're even having a debate over
the merits of 
                modular programming.  If the computer science graduates
are surprised to 
                see our monolithic code, the experienced PC programmers
we hire to work on 
                the client/server GUI stuff are in shock.  They've never
seen anything like 
                it on any other platform.  We're too insular, too
isolated from mainstream 
                computing.  What we're really debating here is the
question of how soon do 
                we in the midrange community want to utilise more modern
programming 
                concepts in our work. 

                Will my shop trash RPG and do everything in Java next
week?  Nope.  But if 
                I learn Java, I advance my knowledge of the science of
computing, making my 
                RPG code better in the process.  Knowing that the
midrange community is 
                traditionally slow to adopt new concepts, it's pretty
much up to me to 
                advance myself; if I wait for my employer to teach me
Java (or most any 
                modern computing concept!) I could wait a long time.

                Buck Calabro
                Billing Concepts Inc (formerly CommSoft), Albany, NY
                mailto:mcalabro@commsoft.net
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