So I am not the last survivor of the Osborne 'laptop' age! I am a coding addict - I still get a kick out of having things work and seeing others work with it.
the root of my gripe is actually stuff like php and mysql which most isp's over here (south africa) use. when i attacked these things, it was a step backwards (probably many steps). it was like dealing with random access records from flat files (but with built in filters and indexing). I thought I had died and this was hell. i am getting into xml (slowly) and am searching for a way to deal decently with many to many's. any ideas out there? On Oct 21, 8:16 pm, Glenn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ah, someone else that remembers that era!! > > I guess there are still enough of us out here that still like to write > code. Unfortunately, most of the "code generators" out there don't do a > very good job or don't have the ability to generate all the possibilities > that we need. Therefore, we use them to get close and then fill in the > blanks with actual coding. > > By doing actual coding I think we can achieve the level of re-use if we code > it properly. After a bit of coding, we find that we collect a large enough > library that we can start re-using what we have already written. However, > many students out there that frequent this group only accomplish what they > can with the code generators (a.k.a., wizards) and don't go beyond that > stage. > > I think it will be long after we're out of here that someone will be able to > sit down at a computer, tell it what type of program it wants and have the > computer create it for them. However, that only seems to exist in science > fiction right now. > > ...Glenn > > On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 1:16 PM, flatfilehater <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > as reply to mails, i am from pre-ms generation. > > > when ms arrived the things had to be ibm compatible - it worked by > > creating a relatively common denominator (lowest maybe) for making > > mass software feasible (lotus 123 was the spreadsheet of the era but > > visicalc was the first; ashton tate's dbase became the database entry > > level later). > > > the paradigm shifted with borland turbo pascall - libraries of code > > were applied to cut down repetitive coding (i think borland was the > > first to use the term window - the mouse arrived with ventura > > publishing). > > > this shift was a breath of fresh air and we all said that we were well > > on the way to a new generation which would automate even further and > > almost interpret things into plain english. > > > now about 25 years on, we are still tick-ticking in code via a babel > > of languages - analyse the repetitive nature of the info being sought > > in the group and it seems that most are reinventing a wheel. > > > of course i am getting old and cranky but not without reasonable cause > > - the very attainable things and logical progress have not happened. > > > time for coffee and a smoke!
