> Dave Cole wrote: > Thank you Kirk for reposting by "The Pointlessness of handwriting > 'efficient' code" article! Sometimes I put these things out there and > am deafened by the silence. It's nice to know that someone is listening.
Sorry about the silence but your posts are most definitely read, especially those who know your product. The silence was because we realized several years ago that "efficiency" is overrated except when necessary. ISV code reviews focused more on solving problems before they occurred and ensuring code is maintainable. Bit twiddlers soon learn it's futile to argue. We did however use their skills when bit twiddling was absolutely necessary. > From Dave Cole's discussion: > If you are an Assembler programmer, how many > of these do you use more than just for special occasions? (In my > case, its maybe a couple of hundred at We soon forget the real power of HLASM in an established product. Write a new product from scratch and you'll soon remember it is incredibly extendable (macro's, non-linear programming and full language integration). E.g. How useful is XDC without DIE? The version I used, displayed a short description and issued commands to display data at the label. C has a limited macro language so it possible but what did you use for cobol? I'm sure you have several useful macro's that probably make the program more manageable. I think Kirk is saying we should use C instead of HLASM because HLASM is not an efficient language and that your article somehow supports that. I think your article says don't make efficiency your primary concern because there are better methods of obtaining it. C programmers will not code HLASM for a reason. C's __ASM( ) does not handle HLASM line continuations. First, column 72 floats so you must compile and locate where to put the continuation character (change the C code and it might have moved). Second, you must code /N on each line. Third, you are limited amount of lines in each __ASM( ). To program C, it's imperative to have a good IDE. It helps you remember functions and the positional parameters. Maybe I've been unlucky with my C projects because they would have been far easier in HLASM. Regards, Jon.
