home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: venus.roc.csci.csc.com!csci
- From: tottinge@csci.csc.com (Tim ottinger)
- Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: Moving from C to C++
- Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 16:23:39 GMT
- Organization: Computer Sciences Corporation
- Message-ID: <4d61q9$o60@venus.roc.csci.csc.com>
- References: <4cs44p$3pk@ixnews8.ix.netcom.com>
- Reply-To: tottinge@csci.csc.com (Tim ottinger)
- NNTP-Posting-Host: pccom1-155.csci.csc.com
-
- Moving from C to C++.
-
- Been there. Done that. Doing it again with different groups now.
- Here's how the first one succeeded:
-
- We had a few OO mentors and a staff of programmers who knew only C.
- Having OO mentors, real ones, good ones, is the most important thing
- you must do. Hire them. Contract them. However, you must do this.
- We had one staffer and one contractor as mentors. I was the staffer.
-
- We started with a non-critical project. It was a subsystem which had
- rather low "customer delight", so it was a good candidate for a re-
- engineer. It did work, so it wasn't under real time pressure.
-
- We took a small team (6 people). Two were object mentors. It was the
- right mix. One (non OO) was a subject matter expert (nay, genius). One
- was a non-programmer (and remained so) who supported the old product
- in the field.
-
- We went for an OO architecture first, then worked out how the parts
- would work. This turned out to be very wise. The architecture was
- stable from "go".
-
- We used primitive tools (vi, emacs, gnu g++, gnu gdb). By not pulling
- in fancy and chancy tools, we saved ourselves a lot of learning and
- integration woes. Being primitive isn't always a bad thing. A lot of
- tool-based projects have failed in our company.
-
- We later added Purify. If you don't you're cutting yourself off at the
- knees. You'll need it.
-
- Start your staff reading now. Booch '94 is good, but RobertMartin's
- bookis even better. If you don't do this, you'll suffer quite a bit.
- The C++ FAQ book is indispensible. Buy several copies of it. We did,
- and it saved us a lot.
-
- Get them introduced to OO concepts and patterns ASAP. The Gang of Four
- book saved us much headache, and helped to get us back on schedule.
-
- Finally, a bit of biblical advice: Don't muzzle the oxen which tread the
- grain. In modern terms, don't be afraid to give your staff a little
- self-indulgence in the technology. Let them all share in what they're
- creating. If you don't allow them to enjoy it and learn a few things
- they can't use, if you don't allow them to research and scrounge, if
- you insist they work autonomously, the project will almost certainly
- fail.
-
- Tim Ottinger
- Sr Tech Consultant
- CSC Communications Industry Services
-