[Info-vax] Whither VMS?

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <78Czm.16533$4Y3.13328 at newsfe25.ams2>,
	ChrisQ <meru at devnull.com> writes:
> Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> 
>> 
>> The compiler is pretty good at spotting syntax errors.  Logical errors 
>> or multiplying when you should have added are not something a compiler 
>> can recognize as an error.
>> 
>> Testing must find the logical errors.
> 
> The problem is the process. The number of programmers i've seen who, 
> given a problem to solve. sit down and start editing code. Even for 
> trivial programs, you should always design a solution on paper first, 
> then the code just falls into place and often works first time. All the 
> compiler should find should be missing semicolons etc.
> 
> Think first, code later :-)...
 
Which brings us back to my other rant. The sorry state of what people
today try to call Software Engineering (yes, I watch our SE Grad Students
run straight from the classroom to the keyboard when given a programming
assignment!)  maybe the main reason I have never had the problems with
C that others are constantly lamenting here is because the development
model I was taught in the very beginning of my career (which pre-dates
the term Software Engineering by more than a decade) was just plain better.

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>