On Tue, 13 May 2014 02:31:14 -0400, Gene Heskett wrote: > People who write buggy self-modifying code aren't paying attention. [...] > IMO, people who bad-mouth self-modifying code are folks who don't have > the patience to do it right, because stable self-modifying code CAN most > certainly be done.
Many things *can* be done. The question is, is it worth the effort to do it? The simplest code that meets the functional requirements is usually the best. > Stable, dead reliable self modifying code CAN be written, I have done > it. And that code was still in use at the tv station that I wrote it > for 15 years later. Yep, and people have written stable, dead reliable unstructured code using GOTO and possibly even COMEFROM too. Nevertheless, nobody serious uses unstructured code these days. It takes much more effort to get it stable and reliable in the first place. Maintenance is ten or a hundred times harder and therefore more expensive. Chances are good that the software you wrote 15 years ago is now a black box: it damn well better work, because no-one knows how it works well enough to debug problems or add new functionality. And after 15 years, I daresay that includes you. -- Steven -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
