Re: Re[2]: Regarding Synon

An alternate solution to code generators is to develop and maintain a core
set of template programs using your standard UI, command keys, error
messaging, and generic applications. Quite a lot of business applications
require extensive CRUD applications and I've found that starting with a
standard version leads to uniform and higher functionality across the
spectrum of an application and simplified maintenance (because all
programmers know how the templates are supposed to work). The actual
application logic ends up as half, or less, of the application code.
Junior programmers learn the right way to do things too. Why reinvent
display file and database management?

The downside of this approach is there's no easy way to upgrade the "child"
programs should a global update be necessary. However, updating
individual programs should be less challenging if the structure of those
programs is shared.

In addition to a good set of template programs, a library of useful utility
code (converting pounds to kilograms, centering a text field, spelling out
a dollar amount, and such)--which you already have,right?--should be part
of your templates. While there are terrific capabilities for massaging
date formats currently available, I abstract out the functionality and
expose a function with a meaningful name.
char_date = D10A({some_date})
is very clear when compared to a complex expression of %CHAR's and
%DATE's. And you can build additional useful features like returning
blanks for an empty date.

My utility programs (which don't change) are in a single source member and
bound at the source level so there's no external calling. This code is
owned by one person to ensure consistency in design and operation.

Use program and object naming conventions too!

On Thu, Dec 15, 2022 at 1:00 PM Nathan Andelin <nandelin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

When you develop broadly-scoped business systems consisting of hundreds or
perhaps thousands of database tables you'll need some form of code
generation with consistent user and programmer interfaces to handle basic
database inquiry and maintenance. That was a key for us, and made it
possible for us, a small company with just a couple programmers, to gain a
foothold into the public school software market. Although there may be some
really bad code generators out there, I doubt that's the norm.
--
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