From: alaric AT abwillms DOT demon DOT co DOT uk (Alaric B. Williams)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: An idea for the next version of RHIDE...
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 21:02:28 GMT
Lines: 60
Message-ID: <849128528.20170.1@abwillms.demon.co.uk>
References: <199611261528 DOT KAA15499 AT delorie DOT com> <329B2DBC DOT F6D AT cornell DOT edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: abwillms.demon.co.uk
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

"A. Sinan Unur" <asu1 AT cornell DOT edu> wrote:

>this is all presuming wizards are a good idea. personally, i don't think
>so.

Indeed. I have found that beginning programmers seem to always use the
same libraries and things - somebody I taught C++ to always used a
mode 13h graphics library, the original 16 bit version of libhw to
handle the keyboard, etc. Every program he wrote started with:

#include "mode13h.h"
#include "chips.h"

void init() {
   init_13h();
   mode_13h(1);
   init_keyb(NULL);
}

void done() {
   mode_13h(0);
   done_keyb();
}

int main() {
  init();
  done();
  return 0;
}

And, sure enough, he was having problems with reading strings from the
keyboard when, if he'd stuck to the command line, he could have used
'gets()'!

The fact that he was 'familiar' with one view of the system (a 320x200
array of pixels and an array of flags for which key was down) was
preventing him from using the best model for his task. Since he has
escaped that, his programs never have any particular starting
structure; every program is structured around the task it has to
perform...

The moral is, wizards for this kind of thing are a crutch IMHO.
Systems that convert from a more appropriate language to C, such as
flex or bison, or those visual class builders, are another matter
altogether!


ABW
--

"Simply drag your mother in law's cellphone number from the
Address Book to the Laser Satellite icon, and the Targeting
Wizard will locate her. Then follow the onscreen prompts for
gigawattage and dispersion pattern..."

(Windows for Early Warning and Defence User's manual P385)

Alaric B. Williams Internet : alaric AT abwillms DOT demon DOT co DOT uk
<A HREF="http://www.abwillms.demon.co.uk/">Hello :-)</A>