Amen. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Richardson Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 6:58 PM To: hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Re: Command abbreviations/Re: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M programmers.
Folks; The nice thing is that it is not one or the other. Both abreviated and unabreviated forms work. I find it amazing that people who have conquored Linux/Unix with all of its non-sequiter commands and the zillions of arguments would have this much trouble with MUMPS and its measily 23 commands. ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Gray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 1:05 PM Subject: Re: [Hardhats-members] Re: Command abbreviations/Re: mpsEdit - IDE for MUMPS GT.M programmers. > I really think that for anyone new to Mumps that having the commands spelled > out would be easier. I doubt we need the study for that. I think the only > question is whether somebody who is fairly good at Mumps programming can > actually read and understand the logic of unfamiliar code faster if the > commands are spelled out or abbreviated. Perhaps it is just what we are > used to. > Jim Gray > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Kevin Toppenberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net> > Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 7:59 AM > Subject: [Hardhats-members] Re: Command abbreviations/Re: mpsEdit - IDE for > MUMPS GT.M programmers. > > > The only way to "prove" which is better would be to do some sort of > controlled study of persons new to M and asking which way is easier to > learn. > > But as a newcomer myself, I think that making M as similar to other > languages as possible is desirable. And I don't know of any other > modern language that uses single letters for its commands. > > Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... :-) > > Kevin > > > On 8/15/05, Gregory Woodhouse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I suspect that one problem is that since MUMPS is not highly regarded > > in some circles, we MUMPS programmers have a tendency to be overly > > defensive at times, and respond negatively to suggestions that would > > tend to dilute what e perceive as MUMPS' distinctiveness. This is > > unfortunate for a number of reasons. One, of course, is that it > > doesn't "play well" outside the community. But a more serious issue > > is that it stands in the way of properly appreciating what MUMPS has > > to offer and, to be honest, it has a tendency to lead us to > > (unintentionally, of course) undersell ourselves. > > > > If I were teaching programming, would I use MUMPS? No. But are there > > features of the language that I think could make it valuable both > > pedagogically and as a research tool? Yes, absolutely. There are > > simply concepts that are both difficult to teach and difficult to use > > in languages such as C. I like C very much, and it is a language I > > would encourage everyone to learn, but MUMPS includes facilities not > > present in languages like C that can be extremely valuable. It is no > > accident that dynamic languages like Perl and Python have remained so > > popular -- they include language features that have proven to be > > extremely valuable in some situations, and the same is true of MUMPS. > > === > > Gregory Woodhouse > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > "A practical man is a man who practices the errors of his > > forefathers. -- Benjamin Disraeli > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle > > Practices > > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA > > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > > _______________________________________________ > > Hardhats-members mailing list > > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO > September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices > Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA > Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf _______________________________________________ Hardhats-members mailing list Hardhats-members@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members
