Re: Programming?

[Adam Williams <adam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 From          : klug>klug-request
 To            : adam
 Subject       : Re: Programming?
 Date          : 12/09/99 08:31


>>>teaching to flowchart and all that kind of good stuff like the Boolean
>>>logic... or is that just something that most "good programming book" have?
>>Flowcharting and other techniques are useful, but it's along the lines of
>>learning "how" rather than "why". Different techniques are suitable of
>>different size problems (in terms of components, modules, functions, tables,
>>or in terms of complexity. number of possible paths, number of relationships
>>between tables, screens, fields, etc.)...
>>Flowcharting can be used up to a point. There are other things that can be
>>used, from the back of an envelope to a project management system, which in
>>itself is no mean feat of software engineering...
>I have a rather strong opinion about flow charts too.
>In college, a lot of classes required a flow chart to be turned in
>with a programming assignment.  I NEVER did the flow chart first.  It
>was always the LAST thing I did, and only to complete the assignment.
>I've NEVER done one since.
>They may useful for some people, but not me!

I despise flow charts, they usually end up bieng as complicated as the
problem, unreadable and a geniune pain to maintain.  I've only used them for
"user" documentation, and data relationship dialgrams (if those are really
flowcharts).~

Nothing beat good old fashined Psuedo code,  a program written first in
plain english on a fairly detail level.  With that you can develop a set of
functions and data models you'll need to approach a problem, compose
those first, and then build the "program proper" on top, so even if the data
model has to be changed or the "rules" change the program proper itself will
need little or no changing, as that is what usually really screws things up