Hi Mike!

Is OT again. :)

On Mon, 17 Mar 2003, Mike Singer wrote:

> Was [OT]:

TPTB have -decreed- that we "must" use a subject prefix. As silly as I
might think that is, if I expect to be allowed the privilege of playing in
their sandbox I don't mind following a few rules. Or maybe you just forgot
to change it to something else.

> Try Olin's opinion about drawing algorithm paths.
> (Is he subscribed to [OT]: ?)

I've seen this mentioned a few times this way. PIC, SW, AVR, EE, OT, BUY,
and AD are not 'lists to which one subscribes' or anything like that.
They're just text that the user might choose to filter and throw away, or
note flag for 'first attention,' but everyone subbed to piclist@ gets
every message regardless of subject prefix.

In any case, the topic. :)

> I found he was very much right on code documenting.
> (no sarcasm intended)

You bet!

> Personally, I find drawing flowcharts a useless business. Properly
> structured, well commented code with meaningful names is much better.

Yeah, but need to make decisions about how to start writing the code, and
keep very accurate track of those design decisions.

I think it's a matter of scale. I find a paper/pencil sketched flowchart
to be very useful for the small stuff I do. 'Visual notes' so that when I
-do- get to writing code I have some reminders of critical details, signal
names, required functions and such. Simillarly, a tiny two transistor
circuit generally isn't even worth schematic capture except for personal
archive purposes, or for porting to a PCB layout program. Anything with a
dozen wires or more than just a couple of functions is worth a few written
notes.

If I needed a true presentable flowchart I'd use ExpressSCH, just whip up
a few handy dandy shapes. I used to do full engineering level detailed
mechanical, sheet metal, front panel, cases etc. dwgs. with Tango, Orcad,
and Cadstar -PCB- packages. They were great for making sure all the
dimensional ducks were lined up in a row. Anyone -could- have done it in
Acad or something more serious, but it wasn't difficult at all with an
appropriate set of library definitions.

Have a :) day!

jb

--
jim barchuk
jb@jbarchuk.com

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