Re: Changes in Programming Practices

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 2395

Posted by sub
2004-12-30 16:45:07

[It looks like developers are buying sets of features and porting them into their products.]

Yes, this is true, though hardly new. What is new is the extent to which this is happening.

Windows has been the main catalyst for this; in DOS days, programmers coded everything from algorithms to User Interface, graphic or not. (Remember Framework?) At best, they would copy paragraphs of code, as Open Source programming communities still do.

Windows provided a standardised GUI and opened the way for SDKs (Software Development Kits), Toolboxes, and then integrated programming environments such as Delphi. In between came Visual Basic, a programming language that does not require hand-coding. Nowadays you can use Runtime Revolution to build a program from ‘stacks’ of almost-plain-English commands. All these tools are based on hundreds of ready-made routines and procedures, covering everything from searching strings to converting to HTML, to producing the modern “XP look and feel”.

On the plus side, all this means that amateur programmers like me, as well as people from other disciplines can have a go at their own software ideas. I read about a program that recomposes scanned pieces of ancient scripts, created by an archaeologist.

At the end of the day however, any piece of software efficient enough to have commercial value, must be at least optimised, and this is hard work. You can easily see the difference in efficiency and speed by trying out Brainstorm, which is hand-coded and Ideaspad which relies heavily on Microsoft’s .NET and MDAC frameworks.

I have the impression that programmers from Central and Eastern Europe (i.e. Milenix, DataLandSoftware, RiskSoftWorks) rely more on traditional coding and less on ready-made-tools, many of which are quite expensive.

alx

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