We already wrote about updates on TamsPalm a few months ago-in case you can’t remember our coverage, here are two links to an user’s experience about software updates:
Update wisely and be loved-Part 1
Update wisely and be loved-Part 2
Updates-a User talks about his experiences Part 1
Updates-a User talks about his experiences Part 2
Anyways, Binary Clock-the Binary Clock for Palm OS currently gets updated to version 2.0(registered users celebrate, free upgrades coming your way) to include a few new features(silent alarm, fullscreen without statusbar)…and it looks like a painless bit of work for me. A bit of coding is involved, yes, but no major burn action. Why? Isn’t updating an existing code base considered one of the worst jobs? Yes, it is-but it was easy for me for a few reasons:
Binary Clock is ‘designed’
BinaryClock was designed(at night, because I was bored), not gung-ho coded. Countless minutes and cents worth of parker ink were spent on algorithms and the arrangement of the program. So, the parts fit together logically, and the file and function names explain pretty well what happens where.
Binary Clock is “modular”
BinaryClock consists of hundreds-yes, hundreds-of little functions, each doing one tiny task and fitting on a A4 sheet or two. So, whenever an update is necceccary, all you need to do is modify the little function that does the task that you wish to modify. For example, to add silent alarm functionality, all I had to do was edit the sound playing routine. The smallness of the routines makes their structure easy to understand-and thus, it becomes easy to edit them!
Binary Clock is “clean”
When BinaryClock was programmed, my C skills were very low. I had barely left Guido Krüger’s excellent Programming in C book behind me, and began flying solo. In addition, I wanted to demonstrate some graphic techniques for the now defunct german beam magazine, so the code was really as clean as I possibly could have made it. And since I was programming in OnBoardC, constructs had to be simple to fit onto the Palm’s screen.
Tune in soon for a few things that make updating difficult! Or, even better, what about telling us about how your own code base ranks on the maintainability scale?
P.s. Binary Clock is a really great desk clock-you may feel like trying it out for free here!
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