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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2432)	8/21/1998 5:52:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

' Ed Yourdon is booked for Art Bell next Weds/Thurs (Aug 26/27) From: Dave F <viddie123@yahoo.com> 7:31 Subject: Ed Yourdon is booked for Art Bell next Weds/Thurs (Aug 26/27) Art just announced this...Mark your calenders! -Dave

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2432)	8/21/1998 5:59:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

'Missing Source Code? asked in the TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Q&A Forum I read some time ago that many organizations do not have complete source code listings for their systems and applications. Also, I understand that large systems are built upon many different computer languages. These facts lead to several questions: 1. Does anyone know the approximate percentages of missing source code in the public and private sectors? 2. Since so many languages have been used over the decades, have the compilers for the various languages been kept up-to-date? 3. If remedial programmers must resort to disassembled code rather than working with documented source code, how much more difficult is their job? Thanks in advance for any answers! Asked by Ken Davis (kendavis@lookingglass.net) on August 20, 1998. Answers I have worked for a mainframe shop in the UK (well-known US company) where they had 'mismatched' the source and object code. You normally have test libraries and production libraries for source and object. There should be a foolproof procedure to implement test versions into production when required. Version control is essential. This company had managed, through lax or inappropriate release procedures to get themselves in a situation where they did not know whether the production source matched the object, a similar problem to losing it. This had happened on quite a substantial number of programs which although rarely changed in the normal course of program maintenance when y2k came along obviously this situation changed. When I was there they did not have a solution, there may be a way of reconstructing the source by using a de-compiler, though that would produce incomprehensible source code. I'm not sure what products were available and how good they may be. They were talking about reconstructing the source by taking what they thought was the latest version then going through all the change specifications over a period of time. This would take AGES to just get a source program, could be days/weeks, then you could never be sure you had reconstructed the correct version. You would also have to test the program for its full functionality as if you were implementing a brand new module. This company did not have a testbed either, I left shortly afterwards. Answered by Richard Dale (rdale@figroup.co.uk) on August 21, 1998. greenspun.com