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On Sat, 20 Jul 2002 10:56:57 -0400, "Dick Margulis "
<margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> wrote:
>
>Doc <dlettvin -at- attbi -dot- com> wrote:
>>A simple example is the old line numbering system in BASIC:
>
>...
>
>>By jumping the numbering by 10s, you can add lines into the sequence
>>without renumbering.
>>
>
><aside>Hey, Doc, that system predates BASIC by about 50 years, maybe more. It was widely used in manual systems (such as giving customers or students or patients account numbers while keeping them arranged alphabetically) long before the advent of programming languages, and IBM promoted it for numbering Hollerith cards when the most advanced machine they produced was a sorter. Early compilers (symbolic languages like SPS and later FORTRAN and COBOL) reserved a sequence number field in columns 76-80 where all the books suggested the same system. BASIC is a johnny-come-lately.</aside>
I know ... I used to program FORTRAN on punch cards on a PDP-1. I just
thought the BASIC example was a more intelligible example.
>That's the key. You can set this up easily enough in Access.
Also, if you have it available, SourceSafe.
Another interesting and useful trick is to add Description and Comment
fields to the Explorer window and add identification information into
those fields from the document properties (assuming use of Windows).
-Doc
David W Lettvin
VerText
South Hamilton, MA
978-468-1105
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