From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,4b06f8f15f01a568 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: adam@irvine.com Subject: Re: Software landmines (loops) Date: 1998/09/02 Message-ID: <6sk4h5$7j7$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 387193738 References: <6sbuod$fra$1@hirame.wwa.com> <35f51e53.48044143@news.erols.c <6set0b$oa@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com> X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x14.dejanews.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 192.160.8.44 Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Sep 02 18:58:44 1998 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/3.0 (X11; I; Linux 2.0.18 i586) Date: 1998-09-02T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <6set0b$oa@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com>, Richard D Riehle wrote: > The talk about spaghetti code is colorful but unproductive. By this > analogy, perhaps we should call the modular code, "ravioli code." > Now we have this little plate of raviolis, each representing a software > module. Oh, and then we could thread them together with one long strand of > spaghetti. Yes, I do know what that implies. Actually, I like this metaphor. Ravoili has all this good stuff hidden inside the pasta where you can't see it, which fits nicely with the "black box" theory of programming, in which the parts of the program outside the module can see just the parts of the module that it needs to see, i.e. the pasta part, while it doesn't have to know anything about the inside part except that it tastes good when you bite into it. However, there aren't any holes in ravioli, which makes it hard to thread them together with spaghetti. Therefore, I'd like to suggest an alternative metaphor, mostaccioli code, which I think also fits nicely. Mostaccioli comes in nice firm parts, so that it can't wind up all around itself the way spaghetti code can. Also, mostaccioli has one entry hole and one exit hole, suggesting the desirability of writing code with a single entry point and a single exit point, as well as providing a way for a lot of mostaccioli to be strung together on a piece of spaghetti (although I have never tried to cook it this way). Macaroni also has one entry hole and one exit hole, but mostaccioli is nice and straight, suggesting straightforward code that's easy to understand, while macaroni tends to be bent, except for those little salad macaroni things, which might be a good metaphor for a very short one-line procedure. My motivation here is, of course, to make sure all the other forms of pasta don't feel left out of the discussion. I'm working on figuring out appropriate meanings for "rotelle code", "lasagne code", and "farfalle code", and will follow up when I figure out something good. But I have to quit now, because I'm hungry. -- Adam -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum