Chapter 4
Designing Structured Applications
At one time, in the early days of computer programming, applications didn't have much, if anything, in the way of structure. These older applications were incredibly hard to write and even harder to maintain. In fact, some of them were so hard to maintain that the best thing most companies could do was to throw them out and start from scratch. Using the structured application development techniques of today is important for a number of reasons, but the reasons you need to consider as part of this chapter are that these applications are easier to:
- Write
- Maintain
- Understand
Note
Application is a term used to describe a process—one or more tasks packaged together. An application can be comprised of IDEAScript, Visual Script, or a combination of both.
Fortunately, IDEAScript makes it incredibly easy to write structured applications. In fact, you have already been introduced to some of the basics of designing structured applications. Simply using subroutines and functions adds structure to your application. Of course, you need to know how to use them correctly, which is the purpose of this chapter.
In addition to discussing the basics of structured applications, this chapter also looks at some techniques you can use to create applications quickly and easily. You'll discover tools such as the Macro Recorder and how even using Help can make ...
