=> => It's a decade old, but a very well-written piece: => => http://www.fastcompany.com/online/06/writestuff.html => => Ted Roche =>
It reminds me of the way we did things 40 years ago. Nothing online ... everything was batch. During a good week, you could get 4 turnarounds. You wrote code and bench-checked it at least twice. Then you keypunched the code and you spent a lot of time looking at all the little holes in the cards to make sure that you punched it right and did not get a used card (with someone else's punches) in your deck. Then you submitted it and rested a bit. Then repeat the process. Write, bench-check, review the last run. Slow. Methodic. And now that you have a clean compilation, a decent object module, and an executable (no, Microsoft did not invent all those things; they can't even steal them without screw-ups), you tested your program. You used a carefully assembled collection of data that blew the program in the past (regression testing) and new data that exercised whatever you were coding new. And when the reporting was done, half-a-dozen of your co-workers got to rip it apart (or try to) just for the fun of it. And when it went into production, you were justifiably proud and everyone in the organization knew how much effort went into making it good and appreciated your effort. You were the star of the day (or week) because you did everything by the book. And then somebody said ... OLTP ... instant gratification! ... and that was the beginning of the age of "progress." B+ HALinNY _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.