Re: Assembly programmers do it a byte at a time

Greg,

I think you're really trying to learn two types of programming.  The first
is to 'structured programming' - break the code down into pieces and how do
you organize those pieces.  The second is 'object oriented programming' -
structure your data as well as your code.  Structured Programming is more
80's technology which Object-Oriented Programming is more 90's technology.
ILE deals more with structured programming but OS400 does have objects so
it's an odd mix of structured and object oriented technology.  You can apply
object oriented concepts to structured programming so it's worth studying
both even though ILE RPG isn't an object oriented language.

Structured programming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming)
had a lot of different proponents back in the 80's - James Martin, Edward
Yourdon & Michael Jackson were authors I read.  I personally liked Jackson's
method for designing a program
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Structured_Programming) because it was
a data oriented approach.  The program structure was derived from the format
of your data inputs and outputs.

Object-Oriented Programming
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-oriented_programming) goes further than
structured programming.  Instead of having a program that reads in data,
does something with it then spits out data/reports you have objects which
wrap the data with code.  Then you put the objects together into systems.
The concept of a program separate from the data disappears.  Booch,
Rumbaugh, and Meyer are all good authors on this topic.

The Code Complete book already mentioned is more about Software Engineering
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development).  You can look a
programming from three different points of view - a trade, an art, or a
profession.  Software Engineering is working towards turning programming
into a profession.  I.E. you must know x, y, z and follow specific
guidelines to be a Software Engineer.  Right now we're not sure what x,y & z
are so don't let someone masquerading as a Software Engineer intimidate you.

There is another topic called Patterns with a different view on designing
systems.  Patterns are a way to describe how objects work together to make a
system.  They are techniques you can use to solve more specific problems in
a design.  They are sort of templates you use to write your code.  The
Design Patterns book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns) by
Gamma, et.al. (nicknamed the Gang of Four) is the first and best book on
patterns.  I wouldn't recommend this book until you understand something
about object oriented programming.  Patterns might be the x,y & z of
Software Engineering.

You know more about object oriented programming than you might think.
You've been working on a successful object based (everything is object
oriented except there is no inheritance) operating system so a lot of the
concepts will be familiar.  You have a leg up on a mainframe, unix or PC
programmer trying to learn about object oriented technology.  Learning will
never end so don't be concerned if you don't know everything - you never
will.

Paul