Re[2]: Why paper books

[Virginia Krenn <asdxvlk -at- OKWAY -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>]

     One of the people I used to work with lost the entire on-line copy of
     his program. He had to reenter every line from the hardcopy printout
     that he had.

     I wonder if the elder programmer in the story might have worried about
     something like that happening. Or, maybe, he liked to be able to scan
     the entire printout rather than paging through screens of data.

     I hear some of you saying that my coworker should have had backups. He
     did, in fact, have a backup. But, he had forgotten to fill out
     authorization forms for the program. When file cleanup time came
     around, his unauthorized programs were deleted.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________

This, and the earlier statements on this topic remind me of an exchange I
overheard between two youthful programmers. They were discussing one of
their elders, and how hard a time they were having getting him separated
from his precious listings. He was known for always insisting on storing in
his cube hardcopy listings of every program he ever wrote, despite the fact
the programs were backed up from here to eternity.

"He doesn't think it's a program unless he can hold it in his hand!"

Is that where we're coming from? The value of documentation is best
measured in pounds or cubic feet?

Have Fun,
Arlen