Introduction of Calling Quick Screens as Functions

[Deskin, Bob]

Rick Soderstrom, QUICK's creator (and the author of "Rick's Handy Hints" for those of you who still have your very old QUICK manuals), once told me that procedures were his biggest mistake but that they were needed to create a product that would compete in the real world. He went on to say that procedures were a failure to fully realize the 4GL model such that (almost) anything should be written as a specification rather than a process. Whether that's possible or not is debatable.

QUICKBOL has been around since QUICK. By QUICKBOL I mean completely taking over QUICK's processing flow. It's comfortable to write for COBOL programmers. But much of it actually works against QUICK's underlying assumptions. Early on, we found that many of the best PowerHouse programmers never learned formal procedural programming. Either they dabbled or they were RPG or MARK IV programmers (early 4GLs).

QTP is a pure 4GL, as is QUIZ. QUICK is not because of the procedure language. But that's what makes it so flexible. I've always been a proponent of using the right tool for the job. If that means QUICK in batch, great. Even COBOL has its place :-) QTP's advantage, once one understands its subtleties, is developer productivity. If batch QUICK runs faster, then by all means use it for those time-intensive processes.

Bob Deskin              
Product Manager, Application Development Tools
Cognos Inc. 3755 Riverside Drive, Ottawa ON K1G 4K9 CANADA
bob.deskin@cognos.com (613) 738-1338 ext 7268

-----Original Message-----
From: powerh-l-admin@lists.sowder.com
[mailto:powerh-l-admin@lists.sowder.com]On Behalf Of Chris Sharman
Sent: May 26, 2004 3:56 AM
To: PowerH List
Subject: Re: Introduction of Calling Quick Screens as Functions


David Morrison - Corporate wrote:
> <rant on>
> 
> Well, now you see why the cost of running California's prisons has skyrocketed.  Here you have someone working for that department that refuses to use a better tool when it is available.
> 
> </rant off>

On the contrary: maintainability should be a major factor in assessing 
'the best tool available'.
Quick provides a lot of Cobol-like 3GL funtionality.
Luddites don't need to embrace its 4GL nature at all, if they're more 
comfortable with 3GL.
When we moved to Powerhouse, initially all was well, as we progressed up 
the learning curve, until one of our older programmers booked onto the 
advanced course.
Afterwards, he never again wrote a Quick screen without several hundred 
lines of procedural code.
He retired several years ago now, fortunately, but I still come across 
the odd 'dog's breakfast'.
QTP (and/or Quiz) is the right tool for the vast majority of batch 
processes.
I'm aware it's possible to use Quick in batch, but I've never needed to 
do it myself.

Chris

>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Penney, John [mailto:John.Penney@corr.ca.gov] 
> Sent:	Tuesday, May 25, 2004 12:14 PM
> To:	'Viet Nguyen'; Hodson, Paul M EDUC:EX; powerh-l@lists.sowder.com
> Subject:	RE: Introduction of Calling Quick Screens as Functions 
> 
> Dear Viet:
> <rant on> or whatever
> The majority, if not the vast majority of batch processing can easily or if
> not easily, with come forethought can indeed be accomplished via QTP. The
> tools, techniques and procedures alluded to in this thread reflect the
> leading edge of the most sophisticated users who have years if not decades
> of Powerhouse experience. I do not think that it would be in your best
> interest to learn how to program Quick to act just like a variant of Cobol-
> or am I missing something? I do realize that the Quick language provides you
> this type of functionality but, IMHO, it is to be used with caution and only
> after long reflection as to the consequences. QTP is a fine tool and looping
> constructs are there in the facility. YMMV IIRC IMHO
> <rant off> or whatever
> 
> JP in Sacto
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Viet Nguyen [mailto:VNguyen@wsboces.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 11:44 AM
> To: Hodson, Paul M EDUC:EX; powerh-l@lists.sowder.com
> Subject: RE: Introduction of Calling Quick Screens as Functions 
> 
> 
> Where can I learn more about using quick as batch programs? I am a
> newbie at Cognos QTP - it's very awkward for me without the looping
> constructs.
> Thanks.
> 
  
       This message may contain privileged and/or confidential information.  If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, you may not use, copy, disseminate or distribute it; do not open any attachments, delete it immediately from your system and notify the sender promptly by e-mail that you have done so.  Thank you.