Re: Cobol work?

"Judson McClendon" <judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:TTN8f.16242$_31.8441@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "Joe Zitzelberger" <joe_zitzelberger@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
snip

> I sometimes build systems with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of
> lines of code and many files. In such a system, I create name and
> abbreviation dictionaries so that every word used in data/paragraph names
> is spelled or abbreviated in *exactly* the same way in every use.

I'm not sure what "build" means, but in my language that means
compile/link-edit but in context here it means more than that - given that
you create dictionaries and update/create code.

I recently read a book on SAP deployment in which the author had
successfully worked on deploying over 100 instances over 7 years which is
remarkable considering that this is more than one ENTERPRISE software
deployment a month....I thought the same thing of his statement as I did of
yours.

> Data names for the same field never vary, except for a prefix that
> designates the record (or "WS-" for 77 levels) containing the field, or
> when the sense of the field changes (e.g. Current Balance -> Previous
> Balance). My systems are crafted as carefully as I can build them. Nothing
> is left to chance that I can prevent, and I go to great lengths to make
> them understandable and maintainable.
Every author thinks that their novel is great. Turns out it depends on the
reader. I happen to think Citizen Kane is a great movie - but I can find
hundreds who find it tedious. I applaud your efforts - and I do think it
probably results in easier to understand code, but nothing will make a
million lines of code easily maintainable. I also believe that the hardest
bugs to find are the ones that create systematically incorrect but
consistent results. Bug Free code does *not* exist even if you are Phi
Kappa Gamma Six Sigma Black Belt with a CMM level 5 arm band development
organization.
These you never find...they become "business rules" by accident after they
are propagated to the regression test basis.

> In my whole career (since '68) have never once delivered a system that a
> client was less than very happy with, and typically, after three or four
> weeks eliminating the few final bugs, I don't hear from the clients for
> months or years, until they want something new.
I've never seen a client that was anything but less than happy. It's NEVER
cheap or fast enough. Your clients are negotiating weenies :-)

> Two weeks ago I fixed a bug in one of my systems that another programmer
> put there, and that's the first bug in a deployed system I've fixed for
> over a year, and that one was by the same programmer. If you have
> programming methods that produce better results than this archaic,
> out-of-date methodology that I use, then please tell me about them. :-)
> Just because the reason for something isn't obvious to you, doesn't mean
> there isn't a reason, even a good one. The real world is messy and
> chaotic. Programming real-world applications so that they are clear and
> understandable takes hard work, discipline, and careful adherence to
> practical methodology, things we see too little of these days. :-)
> --
> Judson McClendon judmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (remove zero)
> Sun Valley Systems http://sunvaley.com
> "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
> whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
DU


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