On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:57:05 -0500, pa...@quillandmouse.com (Paul M Foster) wrote:
>On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 04:17:26PM -0800, Daevid Vincent wrote: > >> >> I'm not looking to start a holy war here or re-hash the tired debate. >> I just want some hard cold numbers to look at. >> >> "Do you use a public framework or roll your own?" >> http://www.rapidpoll.net/8opnt1e > >I voted, but like others, my "framework" is more a collection of home >grown tools which seem to have generic applicability. > >Some of this may be because I worked for many years in construction. You >get used to certain tools and the way they operate, and you prefer them. >For example, I won't use screwdrivers whose handles aren't covered with >rubber over the plastic of the handles (Stanley and Klein brands). > >What I like about programming is that you get to build your own tools, >just the way you like them. ;-} I totally agree. I started programming in the 60s on the CDC 3200/3600 series, which had an incredibly primitive version of Fortran. Then I started my own business and didn't program again until the late 70s, when I purchased a North Star personal computer running CPM under N*Dos. I started writing programs in assembler for instruments using microprocessors. The first thing I did was to develop a library of useful functions to do the sorts of things you need to do in an instrument. I started with some early microprocessor I never actually used, then progressed through RCA1802, 8080, 6800, and finally 80X86. Once I had got my library working, I found it relatively simple to update it from one microprocessor to the next. In the early 1980s I got a job as a lecturer in instrumentation and assembly language programming at a College of Advanced Education. I used my library to show the students how to program simple instruments, and in the process I learned a lot about how to design programs that students could use. In 1989 the computer labs were invaded by an accidentally lethal virus, which rendered the (non-standard) computers useless. Because I understood assembler, I was able to disassemble the boot sector, and work out how to remove the virus, and because I knew how students thought I could write a program which they could use to disinfect their computers at home. Because my library had nearly all the necessary functions I was able to write my program (which removed that particular virus) in a couple of days. I gave it to the students as shareware and at the end of the year I was able to resign. Nine years later we sold the program to Computer Associates, and I retired. I am back into programming because Microsoft (and many other software firms) insist on writing programs which make you do what they think you ought to do, not what you want to do. It used to be quite simple to use Mailmerge to manage a mailing list, but a couple of updates of Windows ago it became virtually impossible. I suspect that many of these public frameworks will do the same. And if you have written your own tools, you can easily change them if you don't like them. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
