The *ART* of Computer Programming

[Sergio Aponte]

In article <1990Mar1.233732.22488 at elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> alan at george.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Alan S. Mazer) writes:
>In article <12533 at nigel.udel.EDU>, new at udel.edu (Darren New) writes:
>> In article <25eb63c7.6a42 at polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> jdudeck at polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) writes:
>> >If a program is worth >writing it is worth writing well.  
>> Have you never heard of a one-time program? Or were you not referring to
>> this kind of program?     -- Darren
>
>What is a one-time program?  Is that a program to solve a problem that
>will never come up again?  I don't think there's any such thing.  Either
>you rewrite it next time you need it, or you have to figure out your old
>code, or you write it well the first time.  I agree with the original
>statement.
>
>-- Alan				# "But seriously, what could go wrong?"
>   ..!cit-vax!elroy!alan
>   alan at elroy.jpl.nasa.gov


	On non friendly OS sometimes you need to modify data, to load it into
	a database, and it is easier to write a "filter" program to change
	or even load the data. Once the data is loaded, what do you need the
	program for? In UNIX, sed, awk and many other filters can help you
	do this, but the universe is bigger than UNIX. (Is it?)

	I replied to the original post thru e-mail (as requested), but there
	is something I would like to mention.

	The rules/procedures/style imposed many times has nothing to do with
	good programs. Companies don't want to depend on "joe" or "joan" to
	be around to maintain the code, so they want to make sure the next
	guy can read it and maintain it, and I don't blame them. But don't
	confuse that with them been concerned over product quality.

	Another place were this rules are applied is in college. Many teachers
	are not concerned with creativity. They want to be able to correct
	30 programs in one night. If they apply the right rules,structure
	and style they can make it so there is only ONE solution to the problem,
	and anybody that differs is wrong. I took an assembly language class,
	were the teacher wanted all routines in front, ala PASCAL, and the main
	code at the end, so he had us do a jump to a label (like a goto) to
	execute the main, but the listings looked great ! Doesn't this defeat
	the reason you are writing assembly in the first place?

	Sorry to go on... there are my 2 cents worth.. ;-)
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