Data Modeling

[Nancy Palmquist]

Shuman, Mike wrote:

> Just curious to know what are the favorite data modeling
> and documentation tools being used by the filePro
> community. If anybody uses such.
>  
> Michael L. Shuman
> Technical Support Specialist, ADP
> Plant Protection & Weed Control
> Kansas Department of Agriculture
> mshuman at kda.state.ks.us
> 785-862-2180
> _______________________________________________
> Filepro-list mailing list
> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list
> 
> 
Mike,

I may be just unschooled in the terminology you are using, but it might 
be helpful if you could define "data modeling tool".

Now I do understand about documentation but do you mean documentation of 
the code or End User Documentation to explain how to use the application 
developed.  I am guessing documentation for the programmers.

There are a number of tools in the fp community that will print the 
programming.  I have found that to be a bit worthless on a project that 
is dynamic. I might use paper for reference while I program but later I 
always fire up the code when I want to review something. A good backup 
will keep information safe and you should be able to read the code to 
see what was done.

It is clearly helpful to add comments to the programming to explain flow 
and variables.  I see many programmers use the same method they were 
taught for other languages to handle that.

I build User Menus for the end user, these are helpful to understand 
what programming is executed to accomplish a given task.  I base my User 
documentation around those menus.

As a fine filePro programmer once said, "The code does not lie." 
(Howie, I hope I remembered it correctly.) The meaning was that 
documentation can be out of date and misleading, but looking directly at 
the code will always tell you the real truth when it comes to programming.

I realize this is not real helpful, but I hope it did help a little.

MenuEase - great tool for managing menus.

Nancy

-- 
Nancy Palmquist 		MOS & filePro Training Available
Virtual Software Systems	Web Based Training and Consulting	
PHONE: (412) 835-9417		   Web site:  http://www.vss3.com