Ever since I left the 650 behind I've gotten multiple debug shots per day. Desk checking for syntax is a waste of time. Desk checking the logic is not. The compiler only catches the easy errors.
That said, desk checking these days can and should involve tools to speed it up. -- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Binyamin Dissen [bdis...@dissensoftware.com] Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2021 6:02 AM To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Subject: Re: Programs that work right the first time. While that may have been much more important in the days of cards and 24 hour turnaround, nowadays it is a waste of human time to deck check the program over and over again when the computer can do it faster and more effectively. On Sat, 21 Aug 2021 21:30:58 -0400 Bob Bridges <robhbrid...@gmail.com> wrote: :>This part of the thread got me thinking. How often do you write a program that works right the first time, with no compile or execution errors? I'm not talking about two-liners, of course, or even ten-liners; let's say 30 or thereabouts. Please specify the language, too, since it seems to me they vary in error-prone-ness. :> :>I've done it occasionally, but by "occasionally" I mean "less than one time in twenty"; maybe much less, I'm not sure, and only once in my life when anyone was watching. That was in PL/C; mostly nowadays I write in REXX and VBA. :> :>In fact my REXXes typically start out with at least ten or fifteen lines of boilerplate, and any VBA/Excel program likely relies on a raft of common functions and/or objects that are part of my regular library, so when I say "30 lines", some of those lines don't really count. :> :>--- :>Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 :> :>/* The schools of ancient morality had four cardinal virtues: justice in human relations, prudence in the directions of affairs, fortitude in bearing trouble or sorrow, temperance or self-restraint. But they knew nothing of mercy or forgiveness, which is not natural to the human heart. Forgiveness is an exotic, which Christ brought with Him from Heaven. -F.B.Meyer */ :> :>-----Original Message----- :>From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Tom Brennan :>Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2021 13:41 :> :>....one of my other supervisors/teachers would tell me about her application experience. She said no matter how complex her COBOL programs were, they would not only compile first time but would run perfectly. This of course was due to her rigorous desk-checking which I assume took days. :> :>I remember thinking "that's crazy" but I just kept quiet. I'll give her a break because that could have been at the time of card punching where such desk-checking made far more sense. :> :>---------------------------------------------------------------------- :>For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, :>send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Binyamin Dissen <bdis...@dissensoftware.com> http://secure-web.cisco.com/1AYZeu483GyE1ECAVZx7Dz0ok9qp43HKhBLcfktZj8M4kJ1OjxTHw0Ns8Bc0IR1fIEaTc1FrtG37K-UM1uNljzzz7snG8tzWb_UScr_U8QnQpvORVdnyFyoHiv93vniBmvRVeBuH7tTO5t-3mQ9wNI-4VSE83UBGNbVtciufSRK-pNoLrOG0nVve6C9CKB4w2-72cYdHAGfSAHjF1jk2SXQ7CIaUILaSaAuqkrH46xzZH1at4VLAC4U3fz6IT3I1g3QSMtBHlpVXRtCNIFoUpPv802TAi5ReYHh1eMsXpTCgxxZfIGa6dT7dhSEqRzkSID0Cdw9zUFJ3qJiRVopzas_M1kQF44FRuAPOciI3D7DOFo001ZaWhesupT59XM0LqbfomzkoO3xoB3z16qOGO0wV5sXea6kzTJes4reEkw-9kmymB3YLh0O8rcbM4EDsf/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dissensoftware.com Director, Dissen Software, Bar & Grill - Israel ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
