RE: Adoption of new RPG techniques -- RPG400-L

Well then the phrase has been over used.  I've been called a 'code cowboy' at 
times for not continuing the mess of naming variables "@@@CN1" and making it 
something readable like "customerNbr".  Or not continuing the insanity of 
creating 105 data structures to work with strings and using that 'cutting edge' 
%SUBST built-in function.  I think I've probably worked with the extreme then 
because I'm such a rebel to take a subroutine that is in 85 programs and turn 
it into a service program.  How dare I because programmer J. Doe wrote that 
subroutine back in 1994 and it's working just fine ... in all 85 programs!

Mind you I'm not going to go into an existing program and throw /free all over 
the place.  I do maintain the general look and idea of existing programs, but 
in a new program ... let'er rip!  It can still be hard to write and easy to 
read, which you know because you write some complex stuff.  Some would say 
using data structures to move characters around is more readable then using 
$SUBST (especially if you do on the left side of the equal sign).  Nothing 
bothers me more than having go from the bottom of the program up to the top to 
see how a DS is defined.

Comments and thoughtful spacing can do wonders towards making the complex 
understandable.  And now with being able to indent the /free code.  Maintenance 
is a breeze!  <vbg>



-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Pluta [mailto:joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 9:44 AM
To: 'RPG programming on the AS400 / iSeries'
Subject: RE: Adoption of new RPG techniques


> From: Mike Haston ** Data
> 
> >In fact, a lot of code cowboys use the extra real estate just to make
> long, illegible lines.
> 
> I love it how programmers that try to continue to learn and aren't
> buckling down for retirement at age 40 are called "cowboys".  Giddy up
> lil' feller!

The phrase "code cowboy" has nothing to do with age, or learning.  I
know lots of code cowboys who are in their 40's and up.  They continue
to write code with no concern for the people who have to maintain it
after them.  They ride in off the range, hack in something that works
for the next 20 minutes, shoehorning in the latest coding trick they've
learned whether it fits or not, and then ride off, oblivious to the fact
that the next time someone needs to modify the code, it takes them
longer to figure out what's going on then it took to write in the first
place.

Code cowboys don't believe in comments.

Code cowboys don't follow standards.

Code cowboys believe in the maxim: if it was hard to write, it should be
hard to read, and impossible to debug!

Code cowboys basically don't think about anybody but themselves.

Unfortunately, it's something some people never grow out of.

Joe

P.S. I know these things well, because I was one.  It took years of
writing code for an application vendor before I realized that one minute
saved in maintenance for a hundred end users more than made up for the
hour I spent writing it correctly the first time.

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