Re: GRASP (was Re: This is a simple question)

[James Rogers <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net>]

Simon Wright wrote:
> 
> James Rogers <jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net> writes:
> 
> > That is one of the reasons I like to use GRASP from Auburn University.
> > (www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp).
> >
> > It is as easy to learn as AdaGide. It has a decent integration with the
> > debugger, and it allows the user to generate Control Structure
> > Diagrams right on the source screen.
> 
> And it also has (well, had last time I came in contact) an
> idiosyncratic view of how code should be formatted. Made it a total
> pain to use for development under any sort of source code control
> system, I thought ..

This is somewhat controllable. The automatic fomatting can be
customized to an extent. Formatting only happens when you generate
CSDs. The source file is only changed if you save after reformatting.
If you do not save, you do not suffer source code control confusion.

> 
> .. though perhaps I was just put off by the fact that my work was done
> in emacs, and a potential co-worker used GRASP. It was quite
> impossible to see where his changes were.

This might have revealed a limitation of the process you used.
I have found it both reasonable and helpful to document all changes
in comments. Source code control systems may be able to 
identify many changes. They cannot identify the reasons for the
changes. The changes should be a response to a documented 
requirement.

> 
> Do you find the CSDs useful? I recently wrote a 200 line procedure
> with no LOOPs, two IFs and a CASE (since removed into a dispatching
> operation). The loops went into closed iterators -- so they were
> _there_, of course, just not at the application level.

In general, yes. Most code does contain some combination of loops,
conditionals, type definitions, variable definitions, exception
handlers, and possibly multiple return statements in a subprogram.
CSDs do help identify these features without causing you to carefully
read the code. I find CSDs helpful when preparing for code
reviews.

Jim Rogers
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA