RE: Strange behavior w/%editc()

Joe,

I've read, and believe, that 80% of a program's cost over it's lifetime
comes from maintenance, not initial writing (it may not be 80%, but I do
remember it was over 50%).

That being the case, if there is no noticeable degradation in speed, and you
can make a program easier to modify in the design phase, you just brought
down the cost of the program in the long run.  And most businesses are in
the business of making money.  If it takes me 10% longer to write a program
to make it more maintainable, and if that makes it 20% faster to maintain,
I've just saved the company money.

If, on the other hand, my goal is to write a quick program fast that is a
pain to maintain, that program is going to cost my company a lot more in the
long run.

Regards,

Jim Langston

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Pluta [mailto:joepluta@PlutaBrothers.com]

> My point here wasn't that the code above was necessarily that good, or
> even the best it could be, but simply to suggest that careful layout of
> code can greatly improve readability.

It's really little wonder that bloatware has taken over the industry.  It
seems that people have entirely forgotten that programming is about writing
good, fast programs, with an eye toward maintainability, as opposed to
writing good-looking, easy-to-read source code.