James Cameron wrote:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You're a great filmmaker - why are you switching to programming? :)
Hi I'm developing a program and the client is worried about future
reuse of the code. Say 5, 10, 15 years down the road. This will be a
major factor in selecting the development language. Any comments on
past experience, research articles, comments on the matter would be
much appreciated. I suspect something like C would be the best based
on comments I received from the VB news group.
Thanks for the help in advance
James Cameron
(I'm a regular poster in comp.lang.cobol )
You really need to have them define what they mean by "code reuse". In
general, if the design of the system is done using components, this
really doesn't have to be an issue. A component could be written in any
number of languages, as long as it adheres to a standard interface (such
as COM).
And, 5 to 15 years down the road, what are they going to be "reusing"?
Seems to me, if they're interested in reuse, they'd use whatever
language you use on this project. At that point, the only decision you
need to make is, what language best supports the business logic you're
trying to automate?
Once you make this decision, structure the system in such a way that it
resembles a collection of building blocks (whether it's broken out by
component, by a collection of common subroutines, copybooks/macros,
whatever). Then, using your rationale for your language choice, and the
modularity design you've chosen, formulate a point paper for your client
detailing why the language you've chosen is the best for their needs,
and how you're posturing them for future code reuse.
Personally, I work on a large aircraft maintenance program for a major
military branch ;) . The system is written in COBOL, and we mostly use
copybooks (similar to macros in C) for our reuse. Each copybook has
comments that define the input parameters expected, and the output one
can expect from it. That way, if the process changes, we change the
copybook. The disadvantage to this technique is that it requires each
program that copies it to be recompiled (rebuilt).
I'm working on a few initiatives to convert this to common subroutines,
that can be modified and "switched out" without having to modify the
underlying programs. This is showing a lot of promise, and I know that
there are other regular posters here who have not only done this
successfully, but have also utilized C, VB, C++, even .NET classes and
components from within COBOL.
Of course, the bottom line - decide what language would be best, then
convince your client of your genius. :)
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ / \ / ~ Live from Montgomery, AL! ~
~ / \/ o ~ ~
~ / /\ - | ~ AIM: LXi0007 ~
~ _____ / \ | ~ E-mail:
LX*****@Netscap e.net ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ I do not read e-mail at the above address ~
~ Please post if you wish to be contacted privately ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
