[AccessD] Operating Systems, Progress, The Illusion of Progess, etc.

Having worked for a number of oil firms, I put it down to
something attributed to Red Adair an oil well firefighter
(in the form, "I can do the job, Good. Fast or Cheap. Pick any two.")

Just remember most computer salespeople are out hunting elephants and have
no interest in the squirrels, the SMB's.

Jim Lawrence wrote:

>OT:
>
><rant mode on>
>The speed at which code is now expected to be produced, tested and shipped
>to market is the real issue. So many of my fellow coders; find themselves
>continually being prompted to produce more, better and faster. There seems
>to be little concern about the tightness, documentation or strict
>classes/top down modular. 
>
>A number of years ago clients were just happy to get operational code and at
>the prices they had to pay they expected and got top quality work. Now the
>emphasis is on speed and price and as long as its functions that is
>acceptable. I think MS is culpable for much of the current atmosphere. 
>
>They are excellent salespeople and they have sold the general public that by
>'buying-up' they can get complex solutions with no more than some drags and
>drops and few quick hacks. Now we are being expected to live up to that
>dream.
></rant mode off>
>
>Still on OT Friday mode:
>
>Art gallery Curator to an artist:
>
>Great news; all your paintings have sold! 
>The show is completely sold out!!
>
>Interestingly, the lady who bought them all says she is your doctor.
>
>
>... You may be 59 but I am slowly gaining on you.
>
>
>Have a good Christmas all
>Jim   
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of artful at rogers.com
>Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 7:09 PM
>To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
>Subject: [AccessD] Operating Systems, Progress, The Illusion of Progess,
>etc.
>
>I confess my age. I turned 59 about a month ago.
>
>I started out in 1982 using a Commodore 64 to which I had access once a
>week. The first program I wrote was a game of craps. It could accept 4
>players and side bets in every direction. There was something very good
>about having to print out the source and not be able to modify it for a
>week. It caused one to think very carefully about one's revisions. 
>
>In these modern instant-compile IDEs, that is gone. One simply writes code
>and clicks the right arrow to see if compiles correctly (not the same as Is
>it correct). I wouldn't wish the old days on young graduates, but there is
>something important that is gone: reading one's listings and deducing the
>flaws and not being able to adjust the code for a week, which causes one to
>rethink and revise and rethink and revise. 
>
>Back in the old days, we had a term, "Cowboy coders". This meant code and
>load, no standards, load and go. Some of these people were fabulously
>brilliant (Brian Russell, Rob McConnell, Denny Diaz, Tom Rettig, Russell
>Freeland, Robert di Falco and some others that I knew personally). Brian and
>Rob were exceptional in their devotion to documentation, and no slight upon
>the others, but they were much more interested in getting it done than
>documenting it.
>
>One of my many computers runs DOS 6.22 with Clipper and Artful.Lib. Yes it
>was machine-specific, but yes, it was way way faster than any Windows
>equivalent, even with 2GB of RAM and 2GZ of speed. Granted, we were dealing
>with somewhat smaller problems back then (tables with only 5M rows rather
>that 100M rows), but we made do and it worked.
>
>It's fun to work on that old DOS 6.22 box now and then. Clipper was a
>fabulous program and I made a living using it and writing about it for about
>a decade. I benchmark it against modern things like Access or SQL 2005 and
>it holds its head proudly.
>
>I realize that the market has moved elsewhere, but to dismiss these previous
>achievements is equivalent to saying there is no value in Vivaldi or Bach.
>Only a complete idiot would say that.
>
>A.
>
>
>  
>

-- 
Marty Connelly
Victoria, B.C.
Canada