This is my entry for the Weeping Horse award for the most boring blog post of the year. Another item stuffed in the back of the drawer of things I didn’t know what to do with.
We were told to buy one of these when I started my Computing Masters course in 1980. Except for the square and rectangular boxes, I never used it.
What is it? I don’t really know, other than to say it is a template for drawing symbols used in computer flowcharting. I hardly gave it a second glance until now. It relates to an approach to programming that was becoming outdated before the course began. I think it was used for designing COBOL programs that took ages to run with no human input once started. I have no idea how to use the symbols. What is an auxiliary operation, a terminal interrupt, or a transmittal tape? And there were even more symbols on the packet it came in, on both sides.
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| The packet it came in, and an example of how the symbols are used |
The course taught us a different technique called Jackson Structured Programming (JSP) which was more suited to programs that interact with the user, as in most of today’s software. JSP defines programs as combinations of sequences, selections, and repetitions. It uses a notation consisting only of rectangles, plain for sequences, marked O for selections and * for repetitions. If you adhere to its rules for putting them together, you avoid the unintelligible, spaghetti-like tangle of code that defeats most novice programmers. I found it invaluable.
Later, I used something called Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM). This employed a further set of techniques with names such as Data Flow Diagrams, Logical Data Structures, and Entity Life Histories. It organised data into the most flexible and efficient form, which was helpful in systems that handle complex information, such as customer orders, stock control, or bus timetables. This figure shows some of the notations. I could probably just about remember enough to explain them further, but it would be gobbledygook.
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| Jackson Structured Programming example from my Masters Dissertation SSADM Logical Data Structure and Data Flow Diagram |
I know it is off the end of the autistic spectrum, but I enjoyed this kind of stuff and took great pride in it (and in what I was paid to do it). If the design is right, software works as intended without bugs that need fixing all the time. At the computer company I worked at, our large and complicated service management system did what it was supposed to do. It was used throughout Europe and elsewhere. The design was right. I would say that, today, companies like Amazon and Ebay largely have it right. So why don’t government systems such as for the DSS Carers Allowance? Why didn’t the Post Office? There used to be a saying based on the quality-time-cost triangle which was that you can have it good, you can have it quick, and you can have it cheap, but you can’t have it all three.
To come back to the template, it was not used. Like with books, do not buy anything a university or college recommends until it is needed. It might not be.
What to do with it? It takes up little space. It is back in the drawer with all the other useless rubbish.
I must show this post to my husband. I'm sure it will make him sigh and smile and swear!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, but some of these shapes are still used to describe certain processes at the insurance company that is my main employer.
ReplyDeleteI know I have a nerdy and/or autistic streak, which was much more prononunced when I was younger; like you, I enjoy such kind of work that uses logically understandable rules (sometimes I am in the position of making the rules myself) and yields orderly, reliable results when applied correctly.
Oh dear. Memories of my time as a Business/Systems Analyst and the OU SQL course I struggled with (although I somehow managed to pass).
ReplyDeleteI wonder how old our mobile phones, tablets and computers will look in fifty years times? Not that we will be around to know.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least you got your money's worth out of it by keeping it all these years! Hahahaha!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of these which I used for art purposes, largely embossing shapes into paper. And my late husband's set of French curves which had some scientific purpose, have been great in my embroidery practice! These things aren't useless, they just need a new application.
ReplyDeleteI agree about commercial websites working well. They don't cheap out. Municipal and county etc do, with sad results that affect people's lives. One big exception: US social security has worked flawlessly for me for decades, likewise Medicare. Credit where due.
I just found my son's old cell phone from when he was in high school. An old flip phone. When my son upgraded, he passed his old phone on to Tim. Tim used it for probably 10 years, and it was a sad day when that gadget died. He's kept it though. It serves no purpose. I will drop it in a used phone bin the next time I go to the store. My suggestion? If you have no use for that, I'd put it up on a 'free' site. If it goes, you've done your part. If it doesn't, well, chuck it.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of my time writing software for a lab data system. Get the design right and the software will do what it says on the tin with minimal maintenance. The biggest problem was mission creep, we had to be ruthless over stopping management adding bells and whistles - I think that this is one area where public sector systems really suffer, too many fingers in the pie.
ReplyDeleteAs I said to my son-in-law's father at the Christmas table - "That's not how my brain works". He had just been disentangling a metal puzzle that he found in his Christmas cracker.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a decent straightedge.
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