Author Topic: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...  (Read 9988 times)

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Offline Pete

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What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« on: September 14, 2018, 02:53:26 pm »
They go back to see all the stuff they coded... and try to figure out what the hell they were thinking when they coded it! Well, mostly what the program actually does. Maybe that is more just on me, as I tend to create many utility programs. I went through 3 years of saved projects yesterday and found 138 that related to HTML projects. I do have to thank Rob for making QB64 file names longer than the 8.3 MSDOS naming system that QB45 was married to. It was very hard back then to tell what a program did by name. Although the longer names are so much better, there is a bit of a problem with the current IDE in that it displays paths and names, so that makes actual name get cut off. Of course you can see what you need in explorer or another file viewing utility, so...

Anyway, in my 60s I think I'm OK and I should be able to start adding some REM notes in the code or maybe make an index file to explain my projects before I hit my 70s and can't remember the alphabet. Hey, there's like what? Nearly 20 letters? it's not that easy. :D

You know, I actually admire Steve for being able to comment profusely throughout his projects.  I wish I was that full of myself sometimes. My wife tells me she wishes that too, instead of me being full of myself all of the time. Truth be told, I really can't understand how I bother with all the statements you need to write to get a program to do anything, but hate so much to narrate how the projects work and what the variables and code blocks do.

Well, back to the grindstone. Remember, youth is only wasted on the young if you're wasted while you're young.

Pete
« Last Edit: September 25, 2018, 09:26:42 pm by Pete »
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Offline RhoSigma

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2018, 03:31:14 pm »
Truth be told, I really can't understand how I bother with all the statements you need to write to get a program to do anything, but hate so much to narrate how the projects work and what the variables and code blocks do.

Don't worry about that, read a slogan/comment somewhere:
Good coders do not comment, because what was hard to write should be hard to read too...

So, what does it mean in your case? - You're a good coder!
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Offline Pete

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2018, 04:26:06 pm »
I love that, thanks!

When I coded in QB45 I never comment anything. I typed in ALL CAPS and never indented. Thankfully, I had already detached from the even older days of using GOTO statements and line numbers. I used a lot of sub-routines, instead, but I hardly ever gave them any descriptive labels. In fact, I used as few letters as possible to save memory. On one of my larger office projects, I would have a cheat sheet that would tell me hate MS1, MS2, etc. would stand for. Same with variables, which were almost all just one letter, and never more than two letters long.

Today I have abandoned the caps lock, indent, use descriptive names for subs but many times I'm still not descriptively naming variables, and I do at least some remarks, especially at the beginning of a program. I guess I learned that from a remark I placed at the bottom of an old program I ran, something about REM Caution, running this code will wipe your hard drive but please enjoy the SCREEN 0 screen saver while the task is being completed.

Pete
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Offline RhoSigma

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2018, 04:40:14 pm »
... When I coded in QB45 I never comment anything. I typed in ALL CAPS and never indented ...

... Today I have abandoned the caps lock, indent, use descriptive names for subs ...

Ahh, now finally I do understand the meaning of the word "development" ... :)
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Offline Pete

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2018, 05:27:30 pm »
I think you meant evolution. Evolution is the most important factor in all cases of survival. I realized this after losing way too much money placing bets on things like a 3-legged zebra. Speaking of wild animals, what do you get when you cross an elephant with a rino?

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Offline bplus

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2018, 08:26:35 pm »
A very cross elephant!

Offline SMcNeill

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2018, 09:58:52 pm »
A well hung horny beast!
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Offline Pete

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2018, 10:21:55 pm »
Well Steve and Bplus, I'm not sure which of you is right, because all I can say is, "Eleph-ino."

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Offline TerryRitchie

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2018, 11:25:57 pm »
*facepalm*
In order to understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.

Offline Pete

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2018, 11:59:21 pm »
No, no no. That's what you get when you cross an elephant with an optometrist... Eleph-i-care.

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Offline Cobalt

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2018, 12:23:49 am »
"What old coders do when they aren't busy coding..."?

'They' read this sh*t. :|

I think you meant evolution. Evolution is the most important factor in all cases of survival. I realized this after losing way too much money placing bets on things like a 3-legged zebra. Speaking of wild animals, what do you get when you cross an elephant with a rino?
Pete

A well hung horny beast!
No, no no. That's what you get when you cross an elephant with an optometrist... Eleph-i-care.

Pete :D

*sigh* :)

wheres the booze?
« Last Edit: September 16, 2018, 12:10:22 am by Cobalt »
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Offline RhoSigma

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2018, 06:28:33 am »
Well Cobalt,
at least nobody of us was required too use the word "sh*t" or similar bad language, you should think about that!
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Offline Petr

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #12 on: September 15, 2018, 06:41:38 am »
I have little children. What is this the "free time"? :-D

Offline SMcNeill

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2018, 10:36:05 am »
Well Steve and Bplus, I'm not sure which of you is right, because all I can say is, "Eleph-ino."

Pete :D

I still think I was right.  It'd be a beast with a large hanging nose, with a horn above that, making it a well-hung horny beast!   

I don't know what Cobalt was imagining, but it seems his thoughts might've been a little more perverted than my purely innocent one warranted.  :P
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Offline Pete

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Re: What old coders do when they aren't busy coding...
« Reply #14 on: September 15, 2018, 12:11:52 pm »
I'm pretty sure my puns were the reason Network54 shut down; however, I still do 2 shows nightly. Please be advised you have to come early, and make it all the way to the 9th Circle for really good seating.

Pete :D
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