The practice of abbreviating commands is nearly universal in the MUMPS community. Anyone taking up the language is well advised to acclimate to it. It doesn't take long.
I too find it easier when the commands are a single character and the variables are longer. I would liken single character commands to abbreviations in written English, or acronyms. Certainly spelling them out is better for someone that is not familiar with the shortened version, but for those that are, it's easy to read. There are many other practices that are much more important to making code readable. Most are common to all languages. In my opinion, well written code would benefit little from spelling out the commands, and poorly written code would not benefit at all. The concept of the command is what is important. To the novice $PIECE is equally meaningless as $P. Both are a token for the concept. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Gray Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2005 12:24 PM To: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Command abbreviations/Re: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M programmers. I will also add one more comment on the use of command abbreviations. When programmers put multiple commands on the same line and avoid the use of one letter variable names, the code is easier to read for me if the commands are just one letter as it is easy to quickly sort out the commands and arguments through a process of pattern recognition. The code is actually easier to read if programmers put one command per line as a rule. If that was SOP then the advantage of one letter commands would go away. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roy Gaber" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 9:04 PM Subject: RE: [Hardhats-members] Re: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M programmers. >A note of interest is the reason: > > Older systems were quite limited on memory so it was necessary to use the > shortened versions of the commands. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kevin > Toppenberg > Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 10:44 PM > To: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [Hardhats-members] Re: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M programmers. > > M is made more visually complicated because people love to use "F" > instead of "FOR", "S" instead of "SET" etc. > > I code all in full command names and make code that looks quite > similar to other languages. > > Kevin > > > On 8/12/05, Alberto Odor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I have been able to link it to my GT.M installation and open the .m >> files. >> They look terribly complicated. IHAVE TO LEARN MUMPS. >> >> Alberto >> >> -----Mensaje original----- >> De: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] En nombre de Greg >> Woodhouse >> Enviado el: Viernes, 12 de Agosto de 2005 03:50 p.m. >> Para: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> Asunto: RE: [Hardhats-members] Fw: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M >> programmers. >> >> Well, kernel32.dll has to do with thread management. It's most likely a >> Windows issue, and not a problem with the product. >> >> --- Alberto Odor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > I can't tell. This is the output to the error log: >> > >> > <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?> >> > <DATABASE> >> > <EXE NAME="mpsEdit.exe" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY"> >> > <MATCHING_FILE NAME="mpsEdit.exe" SIZE="1752576" >> > CHECKSUM="0x640C2BE4" >> > BIN_FILE_VERSION="4.5.0.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="4.5.0.0" >> > PRODUCT_VERSION="4.5.0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS >> > programmers." COMPANY_NAME="mSoft Group" PRODUCT_NAME="mpsEdit - IDE >> > for >> > MUMPS programmers." FILE_VERSION="4.5.0.0" >> > ORIGINAL_FILENAME="mpsEdit.exe" >> > INTERNAL_NAME="mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS programmers." >> > LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="mSoft >> > Group" VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x4" >> > VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x0" >> > LINKER_VERSION="0x0" >> > UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="4.5.0.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="4.5.0.0" >> > LINK_DATE="06/19/1992 22:22:17" UPTO_LINK_DATE="06/19/1992 22:22:17" >> > VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" /> >> > </EXE> >> > <EXE NAME="kernel32.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY"> >> > <MATCHING_FILE NAME="kernel32.dll" SIZE="930816" >> > CHECKSUM="0xF60887C3" >> > BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560" >> > PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Windows NT BASE API >> > Client >> > DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="MicrosoftR >> > WindowsR >> > Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560 >> > (xpsp2_gdr.040517-1325)" >> > ORIGINAL_FILENAME="kernel32" INTERNAL_NAME="kernel32" >> > LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="C >> > Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" >> > VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" >> > MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xEC3A9" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" >> > UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560" >> > UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.1560" LINK_DATE="06/17/2004 >> > 17:58:35" >> > UPTO_LINK_DATE="06/17/2004 17:58:35" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United >> > States) >> > [0x409]" /> >> > </EXE> >> > </DATABASE> >> > >> > Alberto >> > >> > -----Mensaje original----- >> > De: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] En nombre de >> > Greg >> > Woodhouse >> > Enviado el: Viernes, 12 de Agosto de 2005 03:29 p.m. >> > Para: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> > Asunto: RE: [Hardhats-members] Fw: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M >> > programmers. >> > >> > >> > >> > --- Alberto Odor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> > >> > > I installed it in two different workstations. In Windows XP Pro + >> > SP1 >> > > it >> > > crashes on startup. >> > >> > What happens? Is it a DLL issue? >> > >> > In Windows XP Pro + SP2 it runs OK. >> > > Now I have to see how to connect it to the linux GT.M box to open >> > > some >> > > programs. >> > > >> > > Alberto >> > > >> > >> > >> > >> > === >> > Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > >> > "Design quality doesn't ensure success, but design failure can ensure >> > failure." >> > >> > --Kent Beck >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------- >> > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO >> > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle >> > Practices >> > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing >> > & QA >> > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * >> > http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Hardhats-members mailing list >> > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > ------------------------------------------------------- >> > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO >> > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle >> > Practices >> > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing >> > & QA >> > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * >> > http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Hardhats-members mailing list >> > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members >> > >> >> >> >> === >> Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> >> "Design quality doesn't ensure success, but design failure can ensure >> failure." >> >> --Kent Beck >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------- >> SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO >> September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle > Practices >> Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & >> QA >> Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf >> _______________________________________________ >> Hardhats-members mailing list >> Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------- >> SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO >> September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle > Practices >> Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & >> QA >> Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf >> _______________________________________________ >> Hardhats-members mailing list >> Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members >> 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