Historical Perspective

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Historical Perspective

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1965

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1 Got Married2 First Computer Course

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Got Married

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Got Married

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Got M

arried

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Got Married

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Got Married

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ot M

arrie

d

10 Got

Mar

ried

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Got

Mar

ried

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Got Married

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First Computer Course Fortran

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Fortran Fortran was only 8 years old Already Several Versions

Fortran IV

HOW DO YOU GET THE PROGRAM IN THE COMPUTER?

One of the Big Issues

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Historical Computing

• Computers were very expensive

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• Could only run one program a time

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• Could only run one program a time

• So one object was to get the program into the computer as fast as possible

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A Good Media

• The Punched Card • Card Readers

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A Fortran Cardand Key Punch Machine

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IBM 7094

• Fastest Machine• .35 MIPS• 32K Memory (36 bit

word)• Very Expensive

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IBM 7094

• Fastest Machine• .35 MIPS• 32K Memory (36 bit

word)• Very Expensive• Over 3 Million Dollars

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Contract Programmer

• Go from Job to Job• Sometimes call

ourselves gypsies • Subject to technical

interviews

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Technical Interviews

• Contract programmers

• Level of questions are often quite simple

• Have to do a lot of technical interviews

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• What PROC do you use for printing?

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• What PROC do you use for printing?

• What manual describes the PROCs?

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SESUG 2012, Durham NC

• Once in a discussion about the quality of questions, a fellow contractor spoke up and said that the best he ever got was:

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• Can you describe the life cycle of a software system?

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• This fellow had just reviewed software • development methods.

• And answer was: Yes

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Needs analysis Systems analysis System design Unit design Unit coding Subsystem coding System coding System acceptance

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Needs analysis Systems analysis System design Unit design Unit coding Subsystem coding System coding System acceptance

Then it goes forever into maintenance

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WOW


That is what you might do for a Huge System

• With dozens of pages of documentation• If not hundreds

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That is not what we are doing today!

• For a small ad hoc program• ONE sheet (keep it simple)

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Needs analysis Analysis Design


The Request

• Usually an email • Stating what the requestor wants

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The Request – part 1

• The Marketing Group is planning to do a telephone survey to determine the interest level for using solar as part of an individual household electrical supply. Needed is a sample of 10,000 customers meeting for following qualifications:

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The Request – part 2Qualifications

• Residential• Household income of at least $75,000• Monthly power usage of at least 2500 Kwh• Live in the metro area

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The Request – part 3

• Needed for each person in the sample: Name Address Telephone number Age Solar user

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I build single sheet starting with three columns

• Item number• Flag• User request

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Spec Sheet

Item Flag User request

1Residential

2Income level

3Power usage

4Metro

5Name

6Address

7Phone Num

8Age

9Solar user


Note that in the items in the request fall into two categories:

• Selection criteria (items 1 - 4)• Needed information (items 5 – 9)

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I use the flag column

• S - selection criteria • I - needed information

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Spec Sheet

Item Flag User request

1S Residential

2S Income level

3S Power usage

4S Metro

5I Name

6I Address

7I Phone Num

8I Age

9I Solar user


As Programmers and Analysts Know

• Now the work begins – • Finding the needed items (data)

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Identification of data includes:

• Databases, • Tables, • Variables, • Values for the variables,

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And – Oh Yes

• Specialized routines if needed.

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More columns are needed in the spec sheet.

• Database (DB)• Table • Variable (Var)• Values• Footnote (FN) {to identify special routines}

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Spec SheetItem Flag User request BK DB /

LibTable Var Values FN

1S Residential

2S Income level

3S Power usage

4S Metro

5I Name

6I Address

7I Phone Num

8I Age

9I Solar user

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Data discovery time is a luxury that programmers don’t always have when starting a new project

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Large organizations have a lot of databases and tables to explore.

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A neophyte programmer or even a seasoned programmer new on the job can be challenged to find source locations for all of the data required on a new report.

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Imagine walking through the office trying to network with others about where to find data.

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Having a printed copy of a spec sheet will be helpful to use as a visual aid during conversations.


Fill in what you can on your own

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1S Residential CQ bill tartyp 1

2S Income level

3S Power usage

4S Metro

5I Name

CQ bill name as shown

6I Address

CQ bill serv_ad

7I Phone Num

CQ bill phone

8I Age

9I Solar user


Then Go get Help!

• Before going after help you might pencil in the names of the most likely people that would have the answer

• If you do not have a clue leave it blank and ask every one

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2S Income level BH

3S Power usage LG

4S Metro BB

5I Name


6I Address

CQ bill serv_ad

7I Phone Num

CQ bill phone

8I Age C

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I Solar user

Do not have a clue


As you go from person to person getting answers

• Pencil in the information

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2S Income level

MON monthly

income 7 or above

3S Power usage

Use usage kwh_nn ge 2500 1

4S Metro

CNTY cnty_cd county 2

5I Name


6I Address

CQ bill serv_ad 3

7I Phone Num

CQ bill phone 4

8I Age

MON monthly

age

9I Solar user

CQ bldg tariff u1,v1


You have a choice

• Use it as is or• Go back to your work station (computer) and

enter the new information into the sheet

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OOPs

• Some one slipped in an old frame• Were back on the dark ages

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• Put in the updated information and • Do not forget the footnotes

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Spec SheetItem

Flag User requirement

BK DB Table Var Values FN

1 S Residential CQ bill tartyp 12 S Income level MON monthl

yincome 7 or

above3 S Power usage Use usage kwh_nn ge 2500 14 S Metro CNT

Ycnty_cd county 2

5 I Name CQ bill name as shown

6 I Address CQ bill serv_ad 37 I Phone num CQ bill phone 48 I Age MON monthl

yage

9 I Solar user CQ bldg tariff u1,v110 I NO CONTACT CNT contact nocontac

tnc,nmnc

Footnote 1: average the past 12 months where nn=01…12Footnote 2: select only metro area countiesFootnote 3: %inc ‘parseAD’Footnote 4: %inc ‘parsePH’

Do You see any Advantages in Creating a Spec Sheet?

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• Structured guide in finding the data

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• Provides a visual when consulting with co-workers

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• Provides a visual when consulting with co-workers

• Provides a check list when writing the program

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Cross Reference Between Spec Sheet and Program

Wouldn’t it be good to link each item in the spec sheet to a location in the program

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Back in the days of Fortran

• We used statements numbers

• In SAS line numbers could work• Except that when • Adding or deleting a line • The line numbers change

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A Better Way

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Back in my teaching days


Three Block Postulates

• A program consists of blocks• A block must be entered at the top and exited

from the bottom• Blocks can be nested

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No Way!

• We are not going to be that rigorous today• SAS naturally is block structured• Data steps• PROCs

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Blocks in SAS

• A block can be as small as one data step or one PROC

• Or you and group a few together (think about one function)

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Blocks in SAS

• All you have to do is place a comment before and after the block (with a number)

• Blocks should be numbered in sequence

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*Block 1; lines of SAS code . .*End Block 1;

*Block 2; lines of SAS code . .* End Block 2;


Connecting Lines in the Spec Sheet to the Program

• Simple:• Just place the block number of the block that

satisfies the requirement in the Block column (BK) of the spec sheet

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*Block 1;Proc SQL; create table grump as select id, tartyp, name, add, phone from CQ.bill where tartyp = 1;quit;

*Block 2; lines of SAS code . .* End Block 2;

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Spec SheetItem



1 S Residential 1 CQ bill tartyp 12 S Income level MON monthl

yincome 7 or


Ycnty_cd county 2

5 I Name 1 CQ bill name as shown

6 I Address CQ bill serv_ad 37 I Phone num CQ bill phone 48 I Age MON monthl

yage


tnc,nmnc


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*Block 1;Proc SQL; create table grump as select id, tartyp, name, add, phone from CQ.bill where tartyp = 1;quit;

*Block 2; Proc SQL; create table inc as select id, income, age from MON.monthly where income ge 7;quit;* End Block 2;

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Spec SheetItem



1 S Residential 1 CQ bill tartyp 12 S Income level 2 MON monthl

yincome 7 or


Ycnty_cd county 2


6 I Address CQ bill serv_ad 37 I Phone num CQ bill phone 48 I Age 2 MON monthl

yage


tnc,nmnc


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Spec SheetItem



1 S Residential 1 CQ bill tartyp 12 S Income level 2 MON monthl

yincome 7 or

above3 S Power usage 3 Use usage kwh_nn ge 2500 14 S Metro 4 CNT

Ycnty_cd county 2


6 I Address 5 CQ bill serv_ad 37 I Phone num 6 CQ bill phone 48 I Age 2 MON monthl

yage

9 I Solar user 7 CQ bldg tariff u1,v110 I NO CONTACT 8 CNT contact nocontac

tnc,nmnc



You have a choice

• Use it as is or• Go back to your work station (computer) and

enter the new information into the sheet

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What are the advantages?

• Provides a guide for program review

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• Provides a guide for program review• Acts as an index into the program

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• Provides a guide for program review• Acts as an index into the program• Enables any programmer to quickly become

familiar with the existing SAS code

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• Provides a guide for program review• Acts as an index into the program• Enables any programmer to quickly become

familiar with the existing SAS code• Easier to work on program modifications

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Features Matrix


Features Matrix

• Have you every ask yourself the question: Where have I done this before?

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Features Matrix

• Have you every ask yourself the question: Where have I done this before? or

• Hmmm: In which program did I do this?

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Features Matrix

• There is a relatively simple solution

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Features Matrix

• There is a relatively simple solution• But you do have to spend a few minutes

during or after each program

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Features Matrix

• There is a relatively simple solution• But you do have to spend a few minutes

during or after each program• Build a features matrix

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Features Matrix

• Build a two dimensional matrix consisting of:• Major Features versus • Program Titles

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SOLARGREEN

BUS INESSSAMPLE

INDUSTRALSAMPLE

OUTDOORLIGHTING

AUTODEALERS

SINGLEFAMILYHOMES

WATERHEATERTYPES

PAPERLESSCAMPAIGN

CQ X X X X X X

MON X X

USE X X X X

CNTY X X X X X X X

CNT X X X X X X

%inc ‘parseAD’ X X X X X

%inc ‘parsePH’ X X X X X

No contact code

X X X X X X

Ave power code

X X X

PROC IMPORT X X

PROC EXPORT

X X X X X X X X

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Flower Box


Flower Box

• flower box (plural flower boxes)1.A container in which flowers or plants are

grown, usually affixed outside just below a window.

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Flower Box

flower box (plural flower boxes)1.A container in which flowers or plants are

grown, usually affixed outside just below a window.

2.(computing, programming) A comment in source code that spans several lines, each of which begins with an asterisk.

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\******************************************/ \****************************************/ \**************************************/ \************************************/ \**********************************/ \********************************/

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/********************************************//* */ /* *//* */ /* *//* *//* *//********************************************/

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/***********************************************//* *//* Program: Solar and Green *//* *//* Objective: Produce a survey list *//* *//* Program Path: S:\ad hoc */ /* \Solar and Green\Programs *//* *//* Author: Robert McCurdy */ /* Date: 25AUG *//***********************************************/

What should go into the Box

• Name of the program• Brief statement of

objective• Path where the

program is stored• Path where the data is

stored• Input• Output

• Prerequisite programs which need to be executed (if any)

• Hard coded dates or other parameters which may need to be changed (show block numbers)

• Author• Date written

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Continued

• Called programs (if any)• Data preparation (if

any)

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Take time to smell the flowers

• Go home and plant some flowers

• Or take some flowers to someone you care about

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The End

Contact Information

• [email protected]

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Historical Perspective