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  4. The first time, and the first time 2.

The first time, and the first time 2.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Weird and The Wonderful
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  • R Offline
    R Offline
    Rob Grainger
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    From the classic VB project I'm porting...

    ' Module-level variables
    Dim FirstTime As Boolean
    Dim FirstTime2 As Boolean

    ' ... and in some event handler

    If FirstTime = False Then
    If FirstTime2 = False Then
    ' ...
    End If
    End If

    There's nothing like good clear variable naming.

    "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

    OriginalGriffO Sander RosselS 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • R Rob Grainger

      From the classic VB project I'm porting...

      ' Module-level variables
      Dim FirstTime As Boolean
      Dim FirstTime2 As Boolean

      ' ... and in some event handler

      If FirstTime = False Then
      If FirstTime2 = False Then
      ' ...
      End If
      End If

      There's nothing like good clear variable naming.

      "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      ...and that's nothing like good clear variable naming. Did you string the coder up by his thumbs? ;)

      You looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary, between sympathomimetic and sympatric (Page 1788, if it helps)

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

      R F P 3 Replies Last reply
      0
      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

        ...and that's nothing like good clear variable naming. Did you string the coder up by his thumbs? ;)

        You looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary, between sympathomimetic and sympatric (Page 1788, if it helps)

        R Offline
        R Offline
        Rob Grainger
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I wish I had the option - developed by an external party, I'm glad to say we've moved development in-house. Actually, in spite of all these horrific examples I keep posting, I'm charged with redeveloping from VB6 to .NET MVVM architecture - I'm lead developer on the project, so have tried (as far as possible) to introduce good practice. There are still issues - the database we have to access is as bad, if not worse, than the VB code (many tables with no PKs (at least until I add them the first time I have to touch it), triggers doing insane things, and tables with names TCMPCOMMABSOLUTE (which stores insurance policies), but at least we can slowly get things working in a sane manner.

        "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

        D 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • R Rob Grainger

          I wish I had the option - developed by an external party, I'm glad to say we've moved development in-house. Actually, in spite of all these horrific examples I keep posting, I'm charged with redeveloping from VB6 to .NET MVVM architecture - I'm lead developer on the project, so have tried (as far as possible) to introduce good practice. There are still issues - the database we have to access is as bad, if not worse, than the VB code (many tables with no PKs (at least until I add them the first time I have to touch it), triggers doing insane things, and tables with names TCMPCOMMABSOLUTE (which stores insurance policies), but at least we can slowly get things working in a sane manner.

          "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

          D Offline
          D Offline
          Dave Kreskowiak
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Do you have database tables that are called something like "ZZZZZZ_tblYNManualDELETE"? I have no idea what this table held because it's contents are a bunch of gibberish, but I can say that the application never touches it. I think... Or touches the 35 or so other tables with similar naming "conventions".

          A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

          Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
          Dave Kreskowiak

          Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK R P 3 Replies Last reply
          0
          • D Dave Kreskowiak

            Do you have database tables that are called something like "ZZZZZZ_tblYNManualDELETE"? I have no idea what this table held because it's contents are a bunch of gibberish, but I can say that the application never touches it. I think... Or touches the 35 or so other tables with similar naming "conventions".

            A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

            Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
            Dave Kreskowiak

            Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
            Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Offline
            Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Lucky bastard... We just finished the porting of an AS400 DB, where table names were T123P3 and column names were C23A1. The one designed it dead years ago and we had to read table-table to figure out what the table for. We got some help from an application we could run against the DB, but took over 8 months to identify all tables and columns...And just for the fun - the DB was as far as it can be to be normalized...

            I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)

            "It never ceases to amaze me that a spacecraft launched in 1977 can be fixed remotely from Earth." ― Brian Cox

            D 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

              ...and that's nothing like good clear variable naming. Did you string the coder up by his thumbs? ;)

              You looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary, between sympathomimetic and sympatric (Page 1788, if it helps)

              F Offline
              F Offline
              Forogar
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Quote:

              Did you string the coder up by his thumbs?

              Only the First Time ...and then again on the First Time 2.

              - I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • Kornfeld Eliyahu PeterK Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

                Lucky bastard... We just finished the porting of an AS400 DB, where table names were T123P3 and column names were C23A1. The one designed it dead years ago and we had to read table-table to figure out what the table for. We got some help from an application we could run against the DB, but took over 8 months to identify all tables and columns...And just for the fun - the DB was as far as it can be to be normalized...

                I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)

                D Offline
                D Offline
                Dave Kreskowiak
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Maybe not so lucky. A lot of data is in columns with names that may be worse than cryptic. These names are just downright deceiving, like "LpkEngineeringPeerReviewName". Seems like it would hold the name of someone doing some kind of peer review, right? WRONG! It stores the type of installer a piece of software uses, in plain text, like "Automated MSI w/MST". Nearly half the fields in the entire database are like this. It took me about 6 months to map every field to what it really contains and write importers for everything I needed.

                A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

                Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
                Dave Kreskowiak

                R 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • D Dave Kreskowiak

                  Maybe not so lucky. A lot of data is in columns with names that may be worse than cryptic. These names are just downright deceiving, like "LpkEngineeringPeerReviewName". Seems like it would hold the name of someone doing some kind of peer review, right? WRONG! It stores the type of installer a piece of software uses, in plain text, like "Automated MSI w/MST". Nearly half the fields in the entire database are like this. It took me about 6 months to map every field to what it really contains and write importers for everything I needed.

                  A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

                  Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
                  Dave Kreskowiak

                  R Offline
                  R Offline
                  Rob Grainger
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Ah, that's something an old colleague called "repurposing" - rather than change a column name, the column is "repurposed" to be used for something entirely different. What could go wrong?

                  "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                  D 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • D Dave Kreskowiak

                    Do you have database tables that are called something like "ZZZZZZ_tblYNManualDELETE"? I have no idea what this table held because it's contents are a bunch of gibberish, but I can say that the application never touches it. I think... Or touches the 35 or so other tables with similar naming "conventions".

                    A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

                    Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
                    Dave Kreskowiak

                    R Offline
                    R Offline
                    Rob Grainger
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Yep, that's dire. We've some godawful excrement here, but not that particular flavour.

                    "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                      ...and that's nothing like good clear variable naming. Did you string the coder up by his thumbs? ;)

                      You looking for sympathy? You'll find it in the dictionary, between sympathomimetic and sympatric (Page 1788, if it helps)

                      P Offline
                      P Offline
                      Paul M Watt
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      They should be strung up by their index fingers. I have a feeling they peck-type :)

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • R Rob Grainger

                        Ah, that's something an old colleague called "repurposing" - rather than change a column name, the column is "repurposed" to be used for something entirely different. What could go wrong?

                        "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        Dave Kreskowiak
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        Rob Grainger wrote:

                        What could go wrong?

                        Let me count the ways... :-D

                        A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

                        Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
                        Dave Kreskowiak

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • R Rob Grainger

                          From the classic VB project I'm porting...

                          ' Module-level variables
                          Dim FirstTime As Boolean
                          Dim FirstTime2 As Boolean

                          ' ... and in some event handler

                          If FirstTime = False Then
                          If FirstTime2 = False Then
                          ' ...
                          End If
                          End If

                          There's nothing like good clear variable naming.

                          "If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough." Alan Kay.

                          Sander RosselS Offline
                          Sander RosselS Offline
                          Sander Rossel
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I wish there was a second first time for a lot of things in life... :sigh:

                          It's an OO world.

                          public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
                          {
                          public void DoWork()
                          {
                          throw new NotSupportedException();
                          }
                          }

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • D Dave Kreskowiak

                            Do you have database tables that are called something like "ZZZZZZ_tblYNManualDELETE"? I have no idea what this table held because it's contents are a bunch of gibberish, but I can say that the application never touches it. I think... Or touches the 35 or so other tables with similar naming "conventions".

                            A guide to posting questions on CodeProject

                            Click this: Asking questions is a skill. Seriously, do it.
                            Dave Kreskowiak

                            P Offline
                            P Offline
                            PIEBALDconsult
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            A database I access where I am has a bunch of DONOTUSEblahblahblah tables. :sigh:

                            1 Reply Last reply
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