Structured Programming

[Orn E. Hansen]

In article <1348 at ubu.warwick.UUCP>, mirk at warwick.UUCP (Mike Taylor) writes:
> In article <234 at jarthur.UUCP> wilkins at jarthur.UUCP (Mark Wilkins) writes:
> >
> >      IN SHORT:  If you don't need structured programming because your
> > program is really small, then great.  But very little is that easy to
> > program in an unstructured way.  Ever try writing 10,000 line program
> > that works in Applesoft BASIC?  THAT will make you a believer.
> 
> Hmmm ...  A few years ago BASIC was all I had, structured programming
> was a closed book to me, and yet I seemed to get by without any of the
> sorts of problems that Structured Programming is supposed to alleviate.
> I will admit I never wrote a 10000-line BASIC program, but I certainly
> got into the 1000s.  I think that you get by with what you have, there
> is a danger (maybe) of people being "spoiled" by having environments
> that do it all for them.
> 

I agree with Mike, but in those days it was very common to include
a lot more then a single instruction on a single line.  You don't do that
in a C program (or any other structured language).  But have you ever
wondered how long your BASIC programs would have been Mike, if you'd
put a single instruction on a single line???????

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think programs and programmers have become
sluggier by time.  A program doing "wery little" needs at least 256K
to run!!! Pheew!

Orn Hanen @ National Hospital of Iceland, Computer Department.
Internet: orn at rsp.is
UUCP: ..!mcvax!hafro!krafla!rispa2!orn