3 ms·

I've seen Integer Programming used in many optimisation problems but this is the first time I've seen it used to maximise job security.

masklinn 5y ago
I guess the "program" makes sense as it was apparently supposed to be a 4GL (or is it 5GL?) where the entire thing would be designed through a UI: > BANCStar actually came with a "screen generator" that was supposed to be used to construct applications. But the 5.1c version of the generator was so limited that experienced programmers soon began to pry off the covers and modify directly the intermediate code that the run-time module actually executed. In that sense, they're basically editing the raw bytecode files, for something with less than great semantics but those semantics wouldn't really be visible / a concern if a generator program would be managing them.
- ashleyn 5y ago
  I was wondering how on earth anything like this could've been developed - now it's making more sense. BANCstar probably was intended to be something like Visual Basic or Hypercard, where the bulk of the development was done using a high-level visual designer, but for whatever reason the suite ended up half-baked. Devs then get forced to use the intermediate language directly, and no budget is ever allocated to finish the product because they actually seem to be managing with the half-baked version just fine.
  - masklinn 5y ago
    > and no budget is ever allocated to finish the product because they actually seem to be managing with the half-baked version just fine. TFA talks about BANKStar 5.1c but the wikipedia article mentions that BANCStar 10 switched the screencode (bytecode) to binary, so it looks like the thing kept on trucking for a while. And the programmer kept stretching the thing for purposes it was not really intended to (possibly because it was difficult to get approval for better techs), as reading between the line and other articles on the subject it looks like BancSTAR was really a glorified forms creator / manager, which makes some of the limitations make more sense e.g. 2000 labels, choices and fields in a single form (even across multiple screens) seems like a pretty generous limit at first glance.

masklinn 5y ago

I guess the "program" makes sense as it was apparently supposed to be a 4GL (or is it 5GL?) where the entire thing would be designed through a UI: > BANCStar actually came with a "screen generator" that was supposed to be used to construct applications. But the 5.1c version of the generator was so limited that experienced programmers soon began to pry off the covers and modify directly the intermediate code that the run-time module actually executed. In that sense, they're basically editing the raw bytecode files, for something with less than great semantics but those semantics wouldn't really be visible / a concern if a generator program would be managing them.

ashleyn 5y ago
I was wondering how on earth anything like this could've been developed - now it's making more sense. BANCstar probably was intended to be something like Visual Basic or Hypercard, where the bulk of the development was done using a high-level visual designer, but for whatever reason the suite ended up half-baked. Devs then get forced to use the intermediate language directly, and no budget is ever allocated to finish the product because they actually seem to be managing with the half-baked version just fine.
- masklinn 5y ago
  > and no budget is ever allocated to finish the product because they actually seem to be managing with the half-baked version just fine. TFA talks about BANKStar 5.1c but the wikipedia article mentions that BANCStar 10 switched the screencode (bytecode) to binary, so it looks like the thing kept on trucking for a while. And the programmer kept stretching the thing for purposes it was not really intended to (possibly because it was difficult to get approval for better techs), as reading between the line and other articles on the subject it looks like BancSTAR was really a glorified forms creator / manager, which makes some of the limitations make more sense e.g. 2000 labels, choices and fields in a single form (even across multiple screens) seems like a pretty generous limit at first glance.