Do you remember Neat/3 on the NCR? An interesting language. On third shift at a local bank, I remember setting up card-driven operation "control decks" where we "dialed" HDDs back and forth to keep from having to move the disks.
Bill Hitefield Dino-Software Corporation 800.480.DINO 423.878.5660 www.dino-software.com > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On > Behalf Of Pommier, Rex > Sent: Monday, August 23, 2021 12:48 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: [External] Programs that work right the first time. > > Bob, > > No politics, no braggery. :-) I have written a total of 1 program that > compiled and ran clean first time. Early '80s, NCR mini computer and Cobol. > Hardware failures due to environmentals had caused us to lose the computer > and all our A/R transactions for the day. NCR hobbled enough of the > machine back together so we could start recovery late in the day. We had 2 > master files but no transactions. Running on caffeine and adrenaline, I > wrote a compare program as I was keying it to build the transaction list from > the 2 (rather convoluted) ISAM files with a coworker standing behind me > catching my typo's and offering suggestions as we were going. Got the > program keyed and ran the compile and it compiled clean first try. We > looked at each other and said there's gotta be something wrong with the > logic because that doesn't happen. It was late so we put together the run > JCL (or whatever NCR called it) and submitted it, knowing it would crank for a > few hours and we went home to bed. Came back in the next morning to see > a good transaction file and everything balanced. Neither one of us to this > day knows how we managed that. > > Rex > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On > Behalf Of Bob Bridges > Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2021 8:31 PM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: [External] Programs that work right the first time. > > This part of the thread got me thinking. How often do you write a program > that works right the first time, with no compile or execution errors? I'm not > talking about two-liners, of course, or even ten-liners; let's say 30 or > thereabouts. Please specify the language, too, since it seems to me they > vary in error-prone-ness. > > I've done it occasionally, but by "occasionally" I mean "less than one time in > twenty"; maybe much less, I'm not sure, and only once in my life when > anyone was watching. That was in PL/C; mostly nowadays I write in REXX > and VBA. > > In fact my REXXes typically start out with at least ten or fifteen lines of > boilerplate, and any VBA/Excel program likely relies on a raft of common > functions and/or objects that are part of my regular library, so when I say > "30 > lines", some of those lines don't really count. > > > > The information contained in this message is confidential, protected from > disclosure and may be legally privileged. If the reader of this message is > not > the intended recipient or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this > message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any > disclosure, distribution, copying, or any action taken or action omitted in > reliance on it, is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have > received > this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this > message and destroy the material in its entirety, whether in electronic or > hard copy format. Thank you. > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to > lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
