Mea Culpa!
Thanks for a that reminder. Sometimes I forget that while an answer to 
a question might be meaningful in the short run to the person posing 
the question, they should also 'stand the test of time' for clarity and 
ease of adjustments. And of course commented too.
-Stu

On Jan 4, 2006, at 11:26 PM, maxclass@... wrote:

> To All,
>
> Just a few thoughts here from the new guy. If you could rewrite all 
> the code you have ever written would you do it differently knowing 
> what you know today? Most of you would probably give a resounding 
> "Yes". The point I'd like to make here is this. Since everyone that 
> reads these posts, from beginners to professionals, learns something 
> from them (including me) I feel that maybe using the best concepts we 
> know of can raise everyones skill level up a notch or two and light up 
> the way for those who are following in our footsteps. Novice users 
> tend to copy examples verbatim along with any bad old style habits 
> when we know that there are better ways to show good programming style 
> and examples. New users learn from what they see here and follow these 
> examples and their programming style, good or bad. Being cryptic and 
> obscure clearly is what "C" was all about and that's why we like using 
> FB. We have the ability to show great examples of the best ways to use 
> the tools we have at our disposal. Should we choose not to do so is 
> just being plain lazy when nothing more than a few extra keystrokes 
> and a little fore thought results in code that will last a lifetime 
> instead of being a one-night stand.
>
> Writing code that was not dynamic, when I had the chance, has probably 
> cost me more down time in the long run than any single thing I have 
> ever done code wise. Beginners don't always see it that way at first 
> so they have to learn the hard way. No one is perfect either, but if 
> we try our best to use well coded examples, even for small examples, 
> they will always stand the test of time. Even those who do not need 
> the examples see them and learn from them, good or bad.
>
> I realize that the point of code like the code below was to get the 
> point across and it does that job fine. I have no basic problem with 
> the code example given, it works, and I realize it was only 
> implemented to be an example of how to accomplish a specific task. I 
> sincerely do not wish to offend anyones code example here and this is 
> not meant to do that, but, a possible example of teaching good style, 
> as I see it, might be to start with something like the following and 
> then expand from there as needed. We are no longer bound by two letter 
> variables like the old days. Let's let the code tell us and everybody 
> else what it is doing. There are no losers when we do so.
>
>> ===== Example =============
>> dim gtotals(10) as double
>> dim x
>>
>> for x = 1 to 10
>>   print using "###.##  "; gtotals(x);
>> next x :print
>> ==========================
>
> becomes something like
>
> /* Setup an initial number of Array Elements
>     first using a constant. */
>
> _maxArrayElements = 10
>
> /* Dimension your variables next */
>
> dim gTotals( _maxArrayElements ) as double
> dim arrayElement as long
>
> /* Example code */
> ...
> for arrayElement = 1 to _maxArrayElements
>  print using "###.##"; gTotals( arrayElement )
> next arrayElement
>
> etc,
>
> Using good examples like "sizeof( double )" was a perfect example of 
> doing it right the first time. Not only does it say what it is doing 
> but it is also machine independent. Beginners take note. There is a 
> valuable lesson here.
>
> A novice might not program like this but they might be very interested 
> to see the benefits of using something as simple as this to make their 
> programming life easier, especially when they decide that they would 
> like to change _maxArrayElements to be 100, or 1000 or any other 
> number without having to change more than the number in one line of 
> code.
>
> Many of us started with systems with very little expensive memory 
> (mine was a TRS-80 w/4k of ram). We did not have constants and could 
> only use two letter variables. Lucky for us times have changed and we 
> can afford to write very meaningful code so why not. Beginners will 
> follow our examples. I only wish I had had such a coach when I started 
> out so I didn't have to learn things the hard way. Someone earlier 
> mentioned taking the time to think out and plan something before 
> diving in head first in response to some ones post. Sort of like the 
> old "ounce of prevention" thing. Years from now these examples will 
> still be here for others to see. I for one, think we will all benefit 
> by showing what we think is our best examples for everyone to see and 
> learn from. All code is a work of art, especially when it works 
> flawlessly. This is the museum where WE put our artwork on display for 
> the whole world to see.
>
> Thank you for your time,
>
> Max Taylor
> The MaxClass Guy
>
> --
>
>