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From: gmcgary@eagle_snax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Basics of Program Design
Message-ID: <315@eagle_snax.UUCP>
Date: 30 Jun 88 23:56:15 GMT
References: <900@td2cad.intel.com>
Reply-To: gmcgary@eagle_snax.UUCP (Greg McGary - Sun ECD Software)
Distribution: na
Organization: Sun Microsystems - East Coast Division
Lines: 38

Pick up a copy of _Programmers_At_Work_(1st_Series)_ by Susan Lammers
published by Microsoft Press.  This is a collection of interviews with
famous and not-so-famous programmers such as Dan Bricklin, Gary
Kildall, Bill Gates, etc...

The person whose work habits I most identified with was Gary Kildall.
I don't know if he produces good software, since I've never seen his
work, I only know that his statements in the interview echo my own
feelings about the programming process.

In the early phases of a project, I tend to think about the problem
a lot at odd moments such as while commuting, or showering.  I also
haunt the research libraries of my local major university starting
the Computer and Control Abstracts and then tracking references once
I find some good papers initially.  If I get stuck on something, I
just let go of it and concentrate on something else.  I trust my
sub-conscious to figure things out.

I spent a number of my formative years reading program-design books,
particularly Glenford Myers's _Composite/Structured_Design_ which I
still re-read every couple of years.  Although this book presents
a design methodology using boxes and arrows and stuff like that, I
rarely use it except when I get stuck.  By now, I know these
design principles intimately, so I can tell as I am coding whether or 
not I am creating modules that have the desirable design properties
(low coupling, high strength/cohesion)

I seldom bother with pseudo-code.  I find that legal C-code with long,
descriptive identifier & function names with occasional comments
express algorithms as readably and straightforwardly as pseudo-code.

I could go on and on, but this should give you a feeling of what works
for me...
-- 
-- Greg McGary	
--						 gmcgary@sun.com
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