Sowinski, Richard J. wrote: >When did everyone get so dumb ? You learned M. I learned M. When did it all >of a sudden get so difficult to learn it ? >Are you saying we were smarter than the upcoming generation ? I don't think >so.
I agree. MUMPS was the easiest to learn programming language of any of the two dozen or so languages that I was once acquainted with. Of course that was before Macintosh and GUI toolkits came into fashion. >The real problem with Vista right now is not the language. It is the shear >size of it, and the rat's nest of poorly documented code >under the hood, which is the result of years of patching already patched >code. I liken it to a huge wad of gum. > >A redesign in M is as valid as a redesign in any other language. In fact, it >would be much simpler. VA already has the installed base, >and the in-house expertise. I think the biggest advantage to such an approach would be conservation of human resources and more effective use and retention of in-house expertise. I would also think that a certain amount of redesign in MUMPS would be required in order to facilitate the transitional development of the VistaLink project or any other comprehensive reworking of VistA. One of the reasons why I keep trying to get VA developers and other MUMPS programmers interested in working with M2Web is that it can provide them a pathway for incrementally upgrading their programming skills and capabilities that is fundamentally easier and more manageable and at the same time more productive than other alternatives that I am aware of for moving beyond a dumb terminal interface. Programmers don't have to forget their knowledge of MUMPS while they attempt to fill their heads with volumes of new knowledge about Java or C# or even HTML and Javascript. To start with, if they know how to produce reports for a printer, they can do basic output for the web with only the definition of a simple device type for HTML. Then with use of a small number of additional functions they can produce more richly formatted documents with hyperlinks and from there they could then very quickly make all existing reports available on the web - working primarily with skills and knowledge they already have. Of course, if you want to move beyond programming dumb terminals, there is a lot to learn any way you go, but developing web applications, as with M2Web, gives you a relatively smooth path forward of working with existing skills and knowledge while developing new ones. >We'll find out 10 years from now (maybe) when the current redesign is >finished, how well it works , and how many people it takes to >support it. > >Oh yeah, by the way, outsourcing has worked really well. CoreFLS was a grand >success. --------------------------------------- Jim Self Systems Architect, Lead Developer VMTH Computer Services, UC Davis (http://www.vmth.ucdavis.edu/us/jaself) ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by Microsoft Mobile & Embedded DevCon 2005 Attend MEDC 2005 May 9-12 in Vegas. Learn more about the latest Windows Embedded(r) & Windows Mobile(tm) platforms, applications & content. Register by 3/29 & save $300 http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6883&alloc_id=15149&op=click _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
