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Date:	Fri, 13 Apr 2001 18:23:04 PST
From:	"Lynn H. Maxson" <lmaxson@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-sundialsig@scoug.com
To:	< "scoug-sundialsig@scoug.com" > scoug-sundialsig@scoug.com >
Subject:	SCOUG-SundialSIG: Lesson plan

Content Type: text/plain

"Does this programming SIG meet at the same time as the "other"
programming SIG?"--Peter Skye

Having opened this Pandora's Box on what constitutes
"programming", I will respond to the group instead of just Peter
(who speaks with understanding and tongue-in-cheek). The "other"
programming SIG it seems to me deals strictly in programming
languages and that not very well. Programming is not a mysterious
art form. It is an art form in search of scientific status.

In this group we have people who want to process structured data.
That means they have to do two forms of organization, data and
processing. Unless their use is static in the extreme, which is
highly unlikely, they will have to face the challenge of
maintenance of both forms. The choice then of spreadsheet,
relational database, or programming language makes a difference in
the ease of such maintenance.

I feel it important to take a problem state, analyse it, and
evaluate the solution state options based on that analysis. I
have no problem with considering solutions state options of MESA,
DBExpert, and APL as generic forms. We can consider the
similarities and the differences. Then the user can make a choice
based on which solution state most closely matches the problem
state.

Moreover I would like to overcome the fear that some have in
making a "wrong" or "not the best" decision. That means giving
them both the means and the confidence to shift solution states
with the least effort. Among other things that means
understanding "qualified naming conventions" of each.

These equations have operators and operands. Operands have
symbolic names as do operators. They differ in the various
solution states, but they do have a simple 1:1 mapping. I would
think it helpful to understand how to transition (or translate)
the informal names of the problem state to the formal ones of the
different solution states. Something that simple may act to
further encourage their exploration of other options.

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