goto, cls, wait commands

[jean-michel]

But an automatic translator is certain to be imperfect. One can no
more translate mechanically between computer languages than one can
translate mechanically between human languages -- and we've all seen
the fun that can be had by machine-translating from language A ->
language B -> language A, right? What do you think the effect of that
sort of meaning-drift would be on application code?

In other words, any translation from one language to another will
require significant human attention, by someone familiar with both
languages, to ensure that the original meaning is preserved as close
as possible. You're going to have to rewrite chunks of code by hand
no matter what you do; it'd be silly to *not* take that opportunity to
purge things like GOTO.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International

The automated translations are very commonly used actually in computing
industry. If you want an overview, you can try "legacy migration" in google
for instance (or "as400 automated migration" or anything of that kind).
Translate a computer's language is not the same at all than to translate a
human language. In the first case, you have a good chance to know all the
rules. Even if the work is not perfect, it can offer you a chance to
continue to use a 10000 programs application without having to rewrite all
(several years of work indeed).
The last time I did that, I converted arround 6000 cobol programs in a
couple of months, which is obviously not possible by hand (thanks to python
;-). And it was not possible to remove GOTO, because that would really need
to rewrite manually the programs, that means to entirely redo the
application (probably a 20 human years work !).

Regards,
jm

 

[Fredrik Lundh]

And it was not possible to remove GOTO, because that would really need
to rewrite manually the programs

really? converting GOTO messes to structured programs has been a solved
problem for many years (you can buy commercial products that does this, and
I don't think they come with programmers in the box)

</F>

 

[Mike Meyer]

That depends on

A: What type of display device you're using
B: What type of interface is being rendered on that display (command
line, GUI, IDE, etc)
C: Perhaps what operating system you are using.

D: Whether or not you have a display device at all. I run Python
scripts from Cron whose sole output functionality is via email. I run
Python scripts as daemons whose sole output functionality is syslog.

"Clear screen" doesn't make sense in thsoe two contexts.

<mike

 

[Fredrik Lundh]

D: Whether or not you have a display device at all. I run Python
scripts from Cron whose sole output functionality is via email. I run
Python scripts as daemons whose sole output functionality is syslog.

are you the original poster? if so, can you explain why you asked
how to clear the screen if you don't have a screen?

</F>

 

[Erik Bethke]

At least I thought this was funny and cool! -Erik

 

[Lars]

You sir are a troll for sure. QBasic?! When was the last time you did
any programming, 1989? Gave me a laugh though.

Lars

 

[Michael Hoffman]

At least I thought this was funny and cool! -Erik

Thanks.