Re: IBM pushing Java

Colin--

One of the tangential components Java offers is a thing called JavaDoc,
which reads Java source (with strategically delimited comments) and
generates cross-linked HTML help files. The Java Toolbox documentation was
all generated with JavaDoc.

Now, this isn't rocket science and an RPGDoc program could easily be
written. So, don't anyone start a rant about  the concept of
self-documenting code not really being specific to Java. The point is, Java
_does_ include it and it is very useful. And, yes, the generated docs are
only as good as the comments you embed in your code. JavaDoc isn't
Nostrodomus and can't read your code's mind!

Even if you aren't going to write Java for a while, it's worth downloading
(www.as400.ibm.com/toolbox)
the Java Toolbox just to install and read the documentation. You'll be
amazed what you can do with it.

rp



-----Original Message-----
From: Colin Williams <Williamsc@technocrats.co.uk>
To: 'MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com' <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 11:35 AM
Subject: RE: IBM pushing Java


>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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