Tools Of The Trade

by Charlie Rider

This is the start of a continuing newsletter column. Permission to copy this column is freely granted to any user group newsletter.

Since the development of dBASE ffl+ for XT class Personal Computers, and especially since the later development of the Clipper compiler in the winter of 1985, the PC database market has been flooded with a wide variety of aftermarket products. These products have extended the Dbase language into a full-blown and extremely powerful database management and development system for microcomputers.

There is always much discussion about future products and too little information about good products that are available right now. We just have a hard time finding out about these good products and we surely don’t have the time or money to try them all out.

Developers and other users are steadily moving away from products that promise “the complete database solution in a single box” to stand-alone products that take full advantage of the open architecture, for both hardware and software, so that we are free to pick and choose to build our own development or application environment.

What Tools for Which Trade? The Trade

Let’s address the trade aspect first. The particular trade in question is what used to be called a programmer in the early days - because there was just that one job that did just about everything in the computer business.

Today the trade should probably be called Software Developer or just Developer, because in the aerospace view, a programmer is now a catch-all title that covers too much territory. Programmer may now mean a system engineer/analyst (working on the requirements - the WHAT - specification), a system architect/ designer (working on the design

- the HOW - specification) or an individual who translates detailed pseudo-language to a particular target language (who is now generally called a coder, a target language specialist).

The wheel is seldom re-invented any more; at least it doesn’t need to be. Very good algorithms (procedures to follow to solve a particular problem) have been developed for almost every contingency; you just have to know which is the best one to “steal” and where to find it.

You, as a developer, now primarily develop specific applications either for some client or yourself. The particular applications areas to be addressed in this column are those dealing with various aspects of the database arena - managing the storage and retrieval of data.

In earlier times young men (sorry about that ladies) were apprenticed to skilled craftsmen to perform menial tasks at very low or non-existent wages until they learned the trade by observation of the master at work (or were sent away in disgrace).

There were no books or classes available to teach these skills. There are still many skills that continue to be learned this way in Europe and the Far East.

After an individual (both men and women) is accepted to work in a particular Dutch china

factory, they must follow the lead of the master craftsmen for 20 years or so until they are deemed capable of proper design before they are allowed to design even non-product pieces on their own.

In Detroit prospective automotive designers still work for many years before any of their efforts actually find their way to the finished product. We developers are extremely fortunate because we do have so many readily available examples of proper code and good training opportunities to guide us in our endeavors.

The Took

Every skilled craftsman has a toolbox of favorite, and generally very specialized, tools that have been collected over the years of performing the tasks associated with the craft. Some of the tools may appear strange to an outsider but they are perfectly suited to the particular task at hand.

Remember the days before the “pop-top” can when a very specialized tool called a piercing can opener was used to open canned beverages? Or you may remember it as a “ church key.” It was really only good for that one task, but it did that task very well and you were lost without it.

Another special tool was the folding can opener that came packed in the C Ration boxes - every good field soldier had a “P38” on his or her dog tag chain.

It doesn’t stop there, rookie players continue to learn “moves” from the regulars, just like they started doing in the sandlots after elementary school. The regulars also learn new things from the rookies (even if they are reluctant to admit it). Continued on Page 9.

The Newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, October 1990

Page 8