On 24/12/2009, at 6:40 AM, Scott Klement wrote:
It disgusts me that IBM would post a dreadful example like this on
their
web site. How many people will think this atrocity is proper code
just
because IBM posted it?!
It's simply a lesson in not always looking for an example but rather
using the documentation and writing it for yourself properly. The vast
majority of the APIs are not difficult to use and any competent
business programmer should have the skills necessary to write a
program to use them from scratch. Even if you do need an example to
shed some light then don't use the example as is--so many of them (and
not just the IBM ones) are crappy, ugly code--but rather rewrite it. A
beneficial learning experience will ensue.
I'll admit that some API documentation is obscure and some is
incomplete and some is wrong but most of those things can be resolved
via debug and examining the storage returned by the API. However, the
documentation for the bulk of the APIs is accurate and straight-forward.
If anyone thinks the public documentation for APIs is bad then they
should be grateful they don't need to use any "by permission only"
APIs. Some of that documentation is truly woeful: inaccurate,
incomplete, and doesn't reflect reality.
Regards,
Simon Coulter.
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