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Better to move this thread on OT-list!

Jody wrote:
  > NoteTab is programmed with Borland-Delphi.  Eric saw they were
  > planning to add support for Linux.  If that happens, Eric will
  > make a Linux version.  I cannot give you any type of date range
  > of when that might happen at this time because we do not know.

So everybody here must mail Borland!

  > I've heard it runs pretty good under Wine.

I try this, but after the 3rd bottle I was unable to type :-)

BTW, if the 30% of car crashes is caused by drunken drivers, the 70% is
caused by sober drivers. So it's safer to drive after some bottles!

Lotta wrote:
  > What? Don't you want the free hat you get if you buy it from Redhat?

I'm thinking to install SUSE, because here there is a lot of flies, and I
hope to have a free chameleon :-)

Bye!

Marco Bernardini

Jody wrote:
>
> Hi Harvey
>
> >> This method does a job about equal to the registry utility in
> >> Norton SystemWorks 2001.
>
> ...but, that cost money, right?
>
> Id the following an alternative method?
>
> >If you have Win98 with scanreg.exe somewhere in the Windows
> >folder that's all you need.
> >
> >        Backup the registry
> >        Do a clean boot into DOS
> >        At the c:\ prompt type
> >
> >                scanreg/fix
> >
> >        The program may take several minutes to complete
> >        When complete type;
> >
> >                scanreg/opt
> >
> >        This will take several seconds
> >        When finished reboot into Windows
>
> Thanks!
> Jody
>
Hi Jody,

Sorry I didn't answer sooner, I was away for Thanksgiving.

Yes, you are exactly right, this is a very good alternative to
the commercial registry cleaning utilities and - it's free with
Win98.

hrs

Hi All,

I recall seeing in Borland e-mail that the Pascal version for Linux will be
ready next year and the C-Builder version will be one year later.  The code name
is 'Kylix'.  The project is well underway and requests for the beta copy are
already being made.

One of many Kylix sites:  http://www.drbob42.com/linux/

DA

Marco Bernardini wrote:

> Better to move this thread on OT-list!
>
> Jody wrote:
>  > NoteTab is programmed with Borland-Delphi.  Eric saw they were
>  > planning to add support for Linux.  If that happens, Eric will
>  > make a Linux version.  I cannot give you any type of date range
>  > of when that might happen at this time because we do not know.
>
> So everybody here must mail Borland!
>

Hi All,

Do any of you registry (?) folk know where to find the
location of a CD on any computer?  I want to do something
like the following.

Open a file in NoteTab or execute it from CD, path/files will
change, but the spaces will approximately be the same depending
on partial path length - file sizes are aligned in a column out
to right.

Helps\ReadThis.txt                                            2.74kb
Screen Savers\Shareware\Abosolute Europe\Setup.exe            3997.81kb

^!Set %cd%=^$GetRegValue("[BaseRoot\]Key[:Name]")$
^!Find "   " S
^!Jump Select_Start
^!Select Bol
^!Set %pPath%=^$GetSelection$
^!Jump Line_Start
^!IfDiff "^$GetExt("^%pPath%")$" ".txt" Skip_2
^!Open "^%cd%\^%pPath%"
^!Goto End
^!"^%cd%\^%pPath%"

Here is the GetRegValue stuff if you want to fill in the options
above for me. <g>

GetRegValue

^$GetRegValue("[BaseRoot\]Key[:Name]")$
Returns the value stored under the specified key in the Windows
Registry. If BaseRoot is not defined, then HKEY_CURRENT_USER is
used. If no value is specified for Name, the "(Default)" name is
used. Returns an empty string if the key does not exist. Example
based on ^!SaveRegValue example:
  ^$GetRegValue(HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Beta:UserName)$  -> Raymond
  ^$GetRegValue(Control Panel\International:sDate)$  -> /
  ^$GetRegValue(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.386)$  -> vxdfile

Happy Topics,
Jody

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Alle 18.24 Saturday 25/11/2000 -0600, Jody ha mandato a Marco questo messaggio:


>Do any of you registry (?) folk know where to find the
>location of a CD on any computer?

I remember there was a tip for VisualBasic.
Must look around...

Bye!

Marco

Hi Harvey,

Thanks for the procedure!  I don't know how good Windows does it,
but if you look in Help under scan registry, they sure sound like
they take care of it all automatically with up to 5 old known good
backups. :)  In it is a section called "Replacing your registry
with the backup copy" but they do not tell you what the backup is
called should you need to manually restore it from DOS, nor the
procedure.  It does have a Registry Checker and asks if you want
to back it up if it has not been backed up "today."

I think it was Eb that gave me the following.  Are you sure your "opt"
is correct and not standing for "option" and perhaps restore is what
you wanted?

H=DOS Help /?
^!Set %command%=^?{Type the bare DOS command for help}
^!SetWizardTitle ~^$StrFill(" ";66)$www.notetab.net^$StrFill(" ";66)$~
^!Info [L]^$GetDosOutput(^%command% /?)$

Your wrote:

To backup the registry (in Win98)
Do a clean boot into DOS
At the c:\ prompt type:

    scanreg/fix

The program may take several minutes to complete
When complete type:

    scanreg/opt

This will take several seconds
When finished reboot into Windows

Happy Topics,
Jody

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Jody wrote:
>
> Hi Harvey,
>
> they take care of it all automatically with up to 5 old known good
> backups. :)  In it is a section called "Replacing your registry
> with the backup copy" but they do not tell you what the backup is
> called should you need to manually restore it from DOS, nor the
> procedure.  It does have a Registry Checker and asks if you want
> to back it up if it has not been backed up "today."


> Are you sure your "opt" is correct and not standing for "option"
> and perhaps restore is what you wanted?

Hi Jody,

At the DOS prompt when you type;  scanreg/?  the following lines
are output without the dashes.
----------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Checker

Usage: SCANREG [/<option>]

<option>
   ?          : Displays usage.
   BACKUP     : Backup the registry and related system
configuration files.
   RESTORE    : Choose a backup to restore.
   FIX        : Repair the registry.
   COMMENT="<comment>"
              : Adds the specified comment to the CAB file while
backing up.
----------------------------------------------

You're right about the default setting of 5 copies but, that can
be modidied in scanreg.ini, here is mine;
----------------------------------------------
;
; Scanreg.ini for making system backups.
;

;Registry backup is skipped altogether if this is set to 0
Backup=1

;Registry automatic optimization is skipped if this is set to 0
Optimize=1

ScanregVersion=0.0001
MaxBackupCopies=5

;Backup directory where the cabs are stored is
; <windir>\sysbckup by default. Value below overrides it.
; It must be a full path. ex. c:\tmp\backup
;
BackupDirectory=

; Additional system files to backup into cab as follows:
; Filenames are separated by ','
; dir code can be:
;       10      : windir (ex. c:\windows)
;       11      : system dir (ex. c:\windows\system)
;       30      : boot dir (ex. c:\)
;       31      : boot host dir (ex. c:\)
;
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3
----------------------------------------------

Change MaxBackupCopies to the desired number and save.

Windows backs up the registry into a .cab file.  These are stored
in this folder; C:\windows\SYSBCKUP\rb00X.cab.  The 'X' is a
number assigned by the OS.

If I recall correctly, Windows will automatically replace the
registry upon booting if it detects a problem and it uses the
last copy that booted cleanly.  This must be done by file date
because the last good one is not, necessarily, rb001.cab.

If you want to change the registry manually, boot to DOS, cannot
be done from Windows, and type; scanreg/restore.  At this point
you are presented with a list of the copies to choose from.

For the question about "option", [/restore] will only replace
with a good working copy.

The [/<option>], [/fix] is to Repair the registry.  I guess I
don't know everything it does but, it does check all the file and
path references and deletes those that are invalid.

The first time I used this method - my registry is extra large -
my system.dat  shrank close to 500kb and the user.dat shrank
about 50kb to 100kb.

The second part of this procedure, [/opt] is to optimize or,
compact the registry.

This is all to say, no, /restore is not the proper </option> to
clean the registry, /fix is the one you need followed by /opt.

Sorry about the lengtn of this.

hrs

Hi Harvey,

>At the DOS prompt when you type;  scanreg/?  the following lines
>are output without the dashes.

Yep, just wanted to say thanks for the keeper. ;)  nite...


Happy Topics,
Jody

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Hi All:
I have a question ... and I can never seem to get an answer for it

bear with me for a moment....

the proceedure for framing a wall is ....

pour the slab foundation
bottom and top plate the foundation
mark the stud locations, doors and windows
cut the cripples and headers
lay the plates on the slab
distrubute the studs on the layout marks ect ect ...
then nail the studs,cripples and headers  to the plate ...
wall ahhh ... a wall

My Question :
is there a systemmatic way to start a computer programing project
...
I cannot seem to find a" how do you design a programing
project" book or tutorial  ... anyone know of such an animal
every perl tutorial I have read starts out with .. Hello World
and the next thing you know we are doing scalar or hash arrays
with curly brackets and such ... I want to know how to decide
what I want to do first and flow chart it and then figure out
whether to use a stud or a cripple ...

Bill




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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Alle 01.54 Tuesday 28/11/2000 -0800, Bill Scott ha mandato a Marco questo
messaggio:


>My Question :
>is there a systemmatic way to start a computer programing project

My Answers:

1) mail askbill@... ;-)

or

- look for a user needing a program
- be sure he can pay
- explain him the job is more expensive he thought
- ask him which input and which output he need
- guess his common mistakes (capital letters, dates and so on)
- ask him some money *before* to start
- write the program (the easier thing)
- check a beta version with the user
- ask other money
- debug the program
- write the manual
- cash your bill
- tell the guy to subscribe an assistance contract in a way you can take
directly money from the guy's bank
- upgrade the program every 2 months, even with minor upgrades, so the user
is always happy

At the bottom there is a long useful price list, found on Usenet.

Bye!

Marco Bernardini

***********************

Calling me with a question $10
Calling me with a stupid question $20
Calling me with a stupid question you can't quite articulate $30
Implying I'm incompetent because I can't interpret your inarticulate
problem description $1000+punitive damages
Questions received via phone without first trying help desk $10.00
Questions where answer is in The Manual $10.00
Questions during Quake 3 Arena session $20.00
Calling me back with the same problem *after* I fix it once $100
Insisting that you're not breaking the software, the problem is on my end
somehow $200
Asking me to walk over to your building to fix the problem $5/step
Asking me to drive to another town to fix your problem $50/mile+gas
If you interrupt me while I was reading news $25/hr
If you interrupt me while I was trying to actually fix somebody else's
problem $45/hr
If you try to hang around and get me to fix it now $50/hr
If you expect me to tell you how I fixed it $60/hr
If you've come to ask me why something isn't working that I'm currently
working on $70/hr
If you're asking me to fix something I fixed for you yesterday $75/hr
If you're asking me to fix something I told you I fixed yesterday, but
never did fix $85/hr
If you're asking me to fix a quick patch that I made that didn't work $95/hr
If you're bugging me while there's another admin in the room who could have
done it for you $150/hr
Making me trek to your office to fix your problem then leaving immediately
after hanging up the phone $1500.00
Calling up with a problem which "everybody" in the office is having and
which is "stopping all work." Not being there when I rush over to look at
it and nobody else in the office knows anything about it. $1700.00
Explaining a problem for 1/2 hour over the phone BEFORE mentioning it's
your personal machine at home $500.00
Self-diagnosing your problem and informing me what to do $150.00
Having me bail you out when you perform your own repairs I told you not to
do $300.00
Not telling all of your co-workers about it $850.00
Figuring out you mean floppy drive when you say hard drive $50.00
     BEFORE I order your replacement hard drive $250.00
Fixing your "broken" mouse with a mousepad $25.00
Fixing your "broken" optical mouse by rotating the mousepad 90 degrees $35.00
Fixing a "broken" mouse by cleaning the rollers $50.00
Fixing your "broken" printer with an ink/toner cartridge $35.00
Fixing your "broken" ANYTHING with the power button $250.00
Fixing the "crashed" system by turning the external disk back on $200.00
Fixing the "hung" system by plugging the ethernet transceiver back in $375.00
Fixing the crashed nameserver by plugging back in the SCSI cord someone
accidentally yanked out on Friday afternoon when the 'real' sysadmin has
just left for a two week vacation $400
Visiting your old university and fixing the broken PC by plugging the
monitor lead back in $50
Explaining that you can't log in to some server because you don't have an
account there $10
Explaining that you don't have an account on the machine you used to have
an account on because you used it to try to break into the above server $500
Forgetting your password after it was tattooed on your index finger $25
Changing memory/disk partitions without informing me first $50
Installing programs without informing me /getting permission first $100
Technical support for the above programs $150/hr
Spilling coke on keyboard $25 plus cost of keyboard
Spilling coke on monitor $50 plus cost of monitor
Spilling coke on CPU $200 plus cost of motherboard swap plus hourly rate of
$150 per hour spent reinstalling the system
Leaving files on desktop $5 per file
Cleaning the mouse with spit and sleeve $50 plus cost of sleeve
Bringing in your own copy of the original Norton Utilities v1.0 to fix a
brand new machine $200
Chewing on the end of the graphic tablet stylus $25
Putting feet up next to workstation after ten mile jog through NYC streets $50
Spending 30 minutes trying to figure out what your problem is, and another
5 explaining how to verify and fix it, only to hear you say... "So that's
what the little box that popped up on my screen was telling me; to do!" $40
Listening to your network troubles, suggesting that you check to see if you
are plugged into the network jack, hearing yes, trying five other things,
asking you to identify your plug type, listening to you drag furniture, and
hearing a sheepish, "Oops. Never mind." $35 (including discount for polite
apology)
Dealing with tech support requests for obviously pirated software $25
Dealing with "How can I get another copy of [obviously pirated software]?
Mine just died." requests $45
Having to use the "We're really not the best people to talk to about that;
why don't you try calling the number on the box in which you bought it?"
line $55
Actually needing to explain copyright law to you after you failed to get
the hint in the previous response $95 (includes instructions for getting
freeware replacements from the public file server)
Having to point out anything that's on the wall in a typeface larger than
18 points $15
     If I wrote the sign $45
     If it's in a 144 point font and taped to the side of the monitor facing
the door $75
Reporting slow connection by passenger pigeon packets to MPEG archive in
Outer Slobavia as a Mosaic/Netscape/Gopher/FTP client problem $25.00
     Reporting it more than once $50.00
     Reporting it more than once and implying slothfulness on tech support's
inability to solve problem $200.00

Beeper Prices:

Beeping me when I'm out with the significant other $50
Beeping me when I'm out of town and I took pains to insure that help files
were left all over and that diagnostics had been run on all machines before
I left $100
Beeping me more than once to tell me that the printer's offline and the fix
is to press the On Line button $200
Beeping me more than once while I'm asleep $50 per beep
Beeping me and not identifying yourself within the first 5 seconds $25
Beeping me and then changing your story / denying you placed the call /
hoped I would forget who caused the problem $500

Special Rates:

Dealing with user body odor $75.00/hour
Dealing with user not familiar with the primary language spoken at site
$50.00/hour
Dealing with user who is (self-proclaimed) smarter than you are, but still
calls every other day for help $100.00/hour
Dealing with computer hobbyists $125.00/hour

Questioning the other prices ........... $50

Hi Marco ... the big kidder ... *||:^)

Glad to see you don't hold a grudge ... ha ha ...

but the most important thing is to cash the cheque ...

Bill

Hi All,

Anyone know of a mono spaced font that retains its character spacing when
changed to bold?  Courier does this, but I don't like the look of Courier.

I am using Andale Mono and I like it except that when bold each character takes
up more space and columns are no longer aligned.

DA

Hi DA,

Try Letter Gothic MT, they grow taller, not wider.

>Anyone know of a mono spaced font that retains its character
>spacing when changed to bold?  Courier does this, but I don't
>like the look of Courier.
>
>I am using Andale Mono and I like it except that when bold each
>character takes up more space and columns are no longer aligned.


Happy Topics,
Jody

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Try Lucida  Sans Typewriter.

-----Original Message-----
From: DA [mailto:daoki01@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 7:05 PM
To: NoteTab Off-Topic
Subject: [NTO] Mono spaced fonts


Hi All,

Anyone know of a mono spaced font that retains its character spacing when
changed to bold?  Courier does this, but I don't like the look of Courier.

I am using Andale Mono and I like it except that when bold each character
takes
up more space and columns are no longer aligned.

DA

Hi Jody/Michael,

Thanks for your suggestions.

Do you know of a source for Letter Gothic MT?  I thought I had it but I've
searched all my computers and the 'MT' version can't be found.

Lucida Sans Typewriter I have found.

I'll try them as soon as I get a chance.

The behavior of the fonts seems to vary depending on the application.  Word
makes a heroic effort to keep the spacing the same when the characters are
bold.  Other applications don't do this.

Any insights regarding this?  I'm beginning to think that it might be related to
the text control that the developer of the application used.

DA

> Try Letter Gothic MT, they grow taller, not wider.
>
> >Anyone know of a mono spaced font that retains its character
> >spacing when changed to bold?  Courier does this, but I don't
> >like the look of Courier.
> >
> >I am using Andale Mono and I like it except that when bold each
> >character takes up more space and columns are no longer aligned.

Help!

One of the clients of the company I work for has a corrupt database that
the database program cannot access. The company that makes the database
(Solid, an SQL database) said that the error message indicates it is a
problem that they cannot help us with.

I have downloaded some trialware and freeware binary/hex editors, and can
see some of the data, but have not been able to pull it out in human
readable format.

They do not have a good backup on tape as far as we can tell, lonnnnng
story.... We are still trying a few long shot ideas. If we cannot get the
data, it means re-entry of a year or so of data. :(

Does anyone know of some sort of file reader that can pull out the data in
a useful format that could at least be cleaned up by NoteTab?

I can open it in NoteTab, but of course it has 100's of thousands of binary
characters converted, and it does not show all of the data that is in the
database.

The file is about 20 MB.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Larry H.

Hi Jody,

Do you know where you got the Letter Gothic MT from?  I only have Letter Gothic
without the "MT".  Are you sure that Letter Gothic MT is a fixed space font?

I just wrote a small program to test the fonts.  I am able to select a font
then display it and click on a button to make it bold/unbold.  I just went
through every font on my computer and the only mono spaced font that did not
change size was Courier.  Century Gothic also didn't change size but it is
a proportional font, not a fixed space font.  There was a Castello MT that
also didn't change size but it also is a proportional font.

I am convinced now that the application is somehow forcing the bold fonts to be
the same size.  This would explain why the same font in different applications
show different behavior when they are bold/unbold.

DA

DA wrote:
> I just wrote a small program to test the fonts.  I am able to select a
font
> then display it and click on a button to make it bold/unbold.  I just went

There's lots of good freeware and shareware font management software that
will do this for you.  I use Font Lister, there's a freeware version and a
shareware version ($5) and it will show the type of font (variable, fixed),
family, style, etc.  It will also install and uninstall fonts for you.
There's a preview window to view sample text and a button to make it bold or
italic or underlined or any two or all three settings.

Font Lister is here:
http://www.theill.com/fl/main.htm

and here's a website with lots of font info, font search, links to font
pages and font management software:

http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/

> I am convinced now that the application is somehow forcing the bold fonts
to be
> the same size.  This would explain why the same font in different
applications
> show different behavior when they are bold/unbold.

It might have to do with the kerning, they may have set the kerning for bold
text differently.

alice ttlg

http://www.alicettlg.com/
~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~
(On a VW being pulled by an RV) Don't honk, I'm pushing as hard as I can.

Thanks Alice,

I downloaded Font Lister.  It might be useful.  The websitetips site looks good
too!

DA

Hi DA,

>Do you know where you got the Letter Gothic MT from?  I only have
>Letter Gothic without the "MT".  Are you sure that Letter Gothic
>MT is a fixed space font?

It shows up in NoteTab Pro's font dialog for the edit window and
displays in the edit window but neither Window's font view of
FontLister says anything about fixed width.  Font type = Vector
/True Type.  It is copyrighted by the MonoType Corporation and
normally appears on my drive on a new install after loading a
number of programs. ;)  It is hard to tell the difference between
bold and regular because the text just gets taller, not darker
and wider, at least that was the way I saw it.

>I just went through every font on my computer and the only mono
>spaced font that did not change size was Courier.

Pro says it is fixed width in that it displays it in the edit window.

Happy Topics,
Jody

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Hi DA,

>I downloaded Font Lister.  It might be useful.  The websitetips
>site looks good too!

I use the older freeware one myself. :)


Happy Topics,
Jody

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After reading recent posts about fixed and variable spaced fonts, I
thought this might be of interest as a source. I bookmarked it recently
after I found it in an ezine:

http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/

PK

> Thanks Alice,
>
> I downloaded Font Lister.  It might be useful.  The websitetips site looks
good
> too!
>
> DA

You're welcome, it's run by a web designer who does wonderful work.  I
particularly like the info she gives on each link and she keeps it up to
date and weeds out dead links often as well.

alice ttlg

http://www.alicettlg.com/
~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~
(On a VW being pulled by an RV) Don't honk, I'm pushing as hard as I can.

> After reading recent posts about fixed and variable spaced fonts, I
> thought this might be of interest as a source. I bookmarked it recently
> after I found it in an ezine:
>
> http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/
>
> PK

GMTA!  :-)

alice ttlg

http://www.alicettlg.com/
~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~
(On a VW being pulled by an RV) Don't honk, I'm pushing as hard as I can.

At 04:25 PM 11/30/00 -0600, you wrote:
> > After reading recent posts about fixed and variable spaced fonts, I
> > thought this might be of interest as a source. I bookmarked it recently
> > after I found it in an ezine:
> >
> > http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/
> >
> > PK
>
>GMTA!  :-)
>
>alice ttlg
>
>http://www.alicettlg.com/


Hi Alice:

Am interesting site, yours.

I now see I have repeated your tip on http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/
Fortunately, it was worth repeating and I urge others to bookmark it.

PK

*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*

Alle 11.54 Thursday 30/11/2000 -0600, Larry Hamilton ha mandato a Marco
questo messaggio:


>Help!

Hi Larry!

Try HexView - freeware at http://www.funduc.com/text/index.html along with
a lot of other interesting things.

Bye!

Marco Bernardini

*This message was transferred with a trial version of CommuniGate(tm) Pro*

Just a note: more fonts you install less free memory you have!
I move all fancy fonts from windows\fonts to a separate folder, leaving
just system ones and other really useful (approx 100...), and now I've 102
Mb free on 128 Mb RAM.
For "just in case" occasions I reinstall the one I need, use it and then
uninstall again.
BTW AcDsee is good to browse TTF files!

Bye!

Marco Bernardini

PK wrote:
> Am interesting site, yours.

thank you!

> I now see I have repeated your tip on http://www.websitetips.com/fonts/
> Fortunately, it was worth repeating and I urge others to bookmark it.

Yes, definitely, I know the site owner from a web design list, she's very
good and her tips site is very useful.

alice ttlg

http://www.alicettlg.com/
~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~     ~ * ~ * ~
(On a VW being pulled by an RV) Don't honk, I'm pushing as hard as I can.

Thanks, Marco. Unfortunately, it showed less than the other hex viewers I
tried.

The conclusion we have reached is that it is beyond hope to recover any
data from this DB. I was grasping at straws, just in case.

Oh, well, maybe they will learn that when the tape backup log says aborted
everyday for 6 months, that they do not have a good backup. Some people
learn the hard way. ;-0

Larry

At 12:55 AM 12/01/2000 +0100, you wrote:
>Try HexView - freeware at http://www.funduc.com/text/index.html along with
>a lot of other interesting things.

Bill,

At 01:54 AM 11/28/00, you wrote:

>Hi All:
>I have a question ... and I can never seem to get an answer for it
>
>bear with me for a moment....
>
>the proceedure for framing a wall is ....
>
>pour the slab foundation
>bottom and top plate the foundation
>mark the stud locations, doors and windows
>cut the cripples and headers
>lay the plates on the slab
>distrubute the studs on the layout marks ect ect ...
>then nail the studs,cripples and headers  to the plate ...
>wall ahhh ... a wall
>
>My Question :
>is there a systemmatic way to start a computer programing project
>...
>I cannot seem to find a" how do you design a programing
>project" book or tutorial  ... anyone know of such an animal
>every perl tutorial I have read starts out with .. Hello World
>and the next thing you know we are doing scalar or hash arrays
>with curly brackets and such ... I want to know how to decide
>what I want to do first and flow chart it and then figure out
>whether to use a stud or a cripple ...
>
>Bill






Some thoughts regarding your query.

Bear with me for a moment too <G>

Your wall building example is typical of the way most people learn to write
programs (and maybe even clips).

If I may also use your example then it wouldn't surprise me if the finished
wall was 12 feet high, 133 feet long, with 4 x 12 studs, 17 windows and 5
doors (or some other such foolishness).

In other words, what might be the most important part seems to be missing here.

That is the results of the Planning and Engineering phase.

Examples of the questions that one needs answered to build the correct
wall, in the correct manner, the first time, might be (among many others):


What is the purpose of this wall (why do we even need to build it?)

Is it for a house, a barn, a garage, a shed?

Is it a single story wall, or a double story wall
( for a 10 story barn perhaps?? <G>)

Is it a bearing wall or a partition?

Is it a fire wall

Is it to be insulated


etc. etc.



Good Programming requires good Planning and Engineering too.

Just as there needs to be tools (drawings and bills of materials) to
communicate the wall specifications to the person who is going to build it,
so too should there be tools to communicate the Program Specifications
(General Description, annotated flow chart, list of defined Variables,
annotated coding, help files, perhaps a tutorial) to the person doing the
coding and also to the seller/buyer/user of the program.

Now it is true that a person can write a program to perform a desired task
without creating these communication tools, if.....

The person codes it themselves, uses it themselves, and never needs to go
back a year later and try to remember what it was they did.

Perhaps one should think of a "PROGRAM" as simply a human readable list of
specific tasks to be performed by the computer, to a specific list of
things, using a specific list of temporary names/values in the process plus
some human UNreadable text added on at the bottom (the code).

A major mistake is to get so involved with the coding & programming
language that we forget to actually WRITE the program, THEN code it.

This means that we try to WRITE the program WHILE we code it and that is
just like trying to dig the footer ahead of the guy pouring the concrete.

A well written program can be coded in several different languages by
several different people, and ran on different platforms on different types
of computers and still come up with the correct value for the sum of 1 + 3.
(Or perhaps correctly print "Hello World" to the screen)

I believe that a well written program should include (but by no means be
limited to) all necessary tools (regardless of format) to accomplish the
following.


List and define for the person who is going to code the program (even if it
is yourself) as well as for the person who is going to maintain and perhaps
later revise the program :

The specific reason(s) for the existence of the program

What specific task(s) it is supposed to perform

How specifically it is to do it.

What specific Constants are to be used and for what

What specific Variables are to be used and for what

What specific Parameters are to be used and for what

What additional files are needed


(The person(s) selling /buying/using the program also need to know some of
these things.)


Generally all of these (and more) are the ";COMMENTS" at the very beginning
and throughout the source code for the program.


Usually there is other information included such as:

Creation Date

Copyright date/info

Revision date/info

Disclaimers and other legal info

List of participating programmers

etc. etc.



Now we all know that a Stud is just another name for a long cripple (don't we?)

In programming, we can often use either a long routine or a short routine
to accomplish the same thing.

We can also make a "Subroutine" or maybe a "macro" (user defined command)
which will work as both a stud and a cripple (adjustable height jack)
depending on a given set of circumstances and not have to have a routine
for each.

Knowing that there is a short/quick routine/command instead of the long
version or when it is best to create a macro, are tricks of the trade
learned only by hitting your thumb/forehead with the hammer/mouse enough
times to know that it hurts.

They come with experience.

The one thing unique to computers that is different from all other trades
(save perhaps medicine) is that it IS OKAY to ask for help and to admit
FREELY that you don't know what to do (or what you are doing).

Since we have all been taught from birth to never show our ignorance, this
goes against our natural grain and requires some definite attitude adjustment.

There are just too many applications/languages/platforms/computers for any
one person to know them all so........

If there is something about computers/programming that you don't know, you
look in your code book (e-mail address book entries under "Guru") and see
who does and ask them.

I don't know if I answered your specific question in a specified manner or
not but hopefully I have provided you with some specific food for thought.

After thought.

Maybe a more specific answer would be:

Step 1. Take a pencil and paper (NoteTab Pro and NoName01.txt) and start
PLANNING/ENGINEERING/WRITING your program.

Step 2. CODE Your program

Step 3. DEBUG your program

Step 4. BETA TEST your program

Step 5. REVISE your program

Step 6. USE/SHARE/SELL/SUPPORT your program

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Jim