Re: (not entirely...) OT: OPINION... chicken entrails, runic stones, and crystal balls... WAS CoBOL moved to OO

From: Howard Brazee (howard_at_brazee.net)
Date: 01/02/04 

Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 16:20:15 GMT

On 1-Jan-2004, "Peter E.C. Dashwood" <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:

> 3. Modern managers have grown up with spreadsheets and databases and are
> used to visualizing information in the form of graphic models. Lines of
> "print" are not as informative for summarized data. Colour and graphics are
> becoming a necessary part of modern Management Information Systems.
> EVERYTHING is on a screen; if hard copy is required, it can be obtained at
> the touch of a button. The concept of Batch "listings" will progressively
> disappear as more immediate forms of information presentation replace it.
> (Think about the last time you used a quill pen...Now think about the last
> time you retrieved information from the Internet...)

As with your objection to "printed checks", it doesn't matter that the form is
different. People want snapshots of the data at a particular time. Money
flows from the payroll account to the workers' accounts at the end of the pay
period. This month's spread *** needs to reflect the end-of-month data.
Batch processing says "do everything at this point".

Sure there's a need to know whether John Doe paid his bill five minutes ago.
But decision makers also want to know what the total picture was Friday midnight
- and compare that to the total picture a week earlier. Broad based snapshots
are useful - even if they are saved in forms other than printed listings.

Heck, I do batch processing under Windows. I have .BAT files that find
particular selected data that I want to back-up to the LAN and/or copy to a
memory card for me to take home. I put my card in the reader, click on the
icon, and this batch program runs. I know exactly when the data are
synchronized to.